Some Microsoft 365 customers have started seeing Copilot appearing in their Microsoft 365 / Office apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Why is Copilot there when you haven’t paid for it?
Microsoft is rolling out new Microsoft 365 Family and Personal plans which include a limited Copilot component. We’re calling this ‘Copilot Lite’ and is currently being trialled in some countries with a good chance it’ll spread worldwide. It’s separate from the paid Copilot Pro addon.
In the trial countries, Microsoft 365 customers are seeing Copilot appear, without warning in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
The most obvious appearances of Copilot are in Word where a Copilot icon appears in the left-margin like this.
And in a new document, like this (or worse)
TIP: getting rid of this ‘new document’ prompt is easy, just start typing and it’ll disappear.
Copilot gets a button on the Home tab of each app and there are right-click menu options in some apps like Excel.
No notice
There’s no introduction window to explain the change. Microsoft’s is confusing and worrying paying customers when Copilot just appears with no explanation.
Copilot doesn’t affect the way Office apps work unless you select one of its features. What’s annoying customers is the on-screen intrusion.
Some are concerned they’ve accidently signed up for the Copilot Pro add-on.
We’d expected to see an introductory window “Good news! You now have Copilot in your Office apps” with a few steps to explain the basics.
Maybe that will come later in the trial but, for the moment, Copilot is just being dumped on Microsoft’s guinea pigs paying customers.
The bad news
There’s no way to control or hide the Copilot elements.
Customers are already asking how to hide the Copilot icon in Word documents and the prompt for a new document. The terms “rubbish” and “crap” are being used.
Microsoft SHOULD provide more controls on the appearance of Copilot (menu options, Group Policy or Registry). However, Microsoft wants to push Copilot and especially the paid Copilot addons.
The company has to decide which is more important, the wishes of paying customers or their relentless marketing of Copilot.
Copilot comes to Microsoft 365 with many limits and a high price
