I have a purchased, non-subscription version of MS Office 16 and stopped running updates after a version made it impossible for me to disable their unwanted AI features. The very next version, 16.103.4 didn’t have the AI “assistant,” and I’ve stayed with that version for several months now. But I’m concerned that I may be missing important security upgrades.
Can someone here advise on how to keep Office apps updated without the imposition of Microsoft’s AI garbage?
I have no answer but want to jump on board with how bad it has gotten.
My Office is via a company license so it picks up things the company wants. One of these is AI. So now every time I open a Word document, Word inserts a summary by Copilot INTO THE DOCUMENT!!!
It is infuriating – it is actually putting a summary inside the document window. There is no way to stop this.
Has your employer locked-down the app’s preferences? You should be able to turn that off.
Preferences → Copilot → Add a Copilot summary to every document:
Can someone here advise on how to keep Office apps updated without the imposition of Microsoft’s AI garbage?
Three ways, which may also save you some money, depending:
The one-time-purchase version (branded as Office 2024 instead of Microsoft 365) does not include Copilot features at all.
If you buy the subscription version of Microsoft 365, you may be able to switch to the “Classic” versions, which do not include Copilot. Bizarrely, this option seems to be offered only if you log into your account and threaten to cancel*, and not always then. Besides getting rid of Copilot, you should be offered a lower rate. I have heard that this option is only offered if you subscribe directly through Microsoft, not through a reseller.
You can use full-fat Microsoft 365 and just turn the AI features off in the apps’ Settings dialogs, as depicted in @Shamino 's post
* Microsoft apparently heard about Comcast’s business practices and thought, wow, that sounds like a great way to treat our customers!
Settings are not locked down, but there is no Copilot setting in either the macOS or Windows versions of Word.
It may be because we have an Enterprise version of Copilot.
If the page isn’t there, then your employer probably configured the app to remove that page.
Contact your IT people to see if they can do anything about it.
That’s what I have, but it’s a 2021 version. The update just prior to what I’m using now had Copilot and I couldn’t turn it off. That’s why I stopped updating after it was followed by a version (16.103.4) that didn’t have it. Are you saying later versions also don’t have it? Never had 365.
My copy of Office 2024 doesn’t have Copilot, and the MS comparison page says it isn’t included in the 2024 package. 2021 shouldn’t have it either.
Version numbers are weird with current MS Office apps; the same version can be activated with a 2021, 2024, or 365 license key, and the key determines what features (like Copilot) show up. My license (“License: Office Home 2024”) doesn’t unlock Copilot on my copy of Excel (“Version 16.110.3 (26070318)”) but a license for MS 365 would.
If you have a 2021 license key and use it to activate the very latest version (16.111 (26071325)), you should not see Copilot.
Sounds promising — I’ll try it, but probably after I get back from vacation this week. Thanks for clarifying.
No Copilot here. MS Office 2024.
Thanks to everyone who responded here. I updated to versions 16.111 the other day and no sign of the AI ‘copilot’, thankfully. I just got another update notice for 16.111.1. Hoping for the best…
