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How to turn off Copilot in Outlook
Copilot adds a button to the Outlook ribbon, a summary bar above long emails and a set of drafting and coaching prompts in every new message. If you don't use any of it, one switch turns the lot off for your account. This guide covers Outlook on the web and the new Outlook app, which share the same Settings window. Classic Outlook for Windows, Outlook for Mac and the mobile app are covered under Variations. Word, Excel and PowerPoint have their own Copilot setting — see Troubleshooting.
What you'll need: An outlook.com, hotmail.com or Microsoft 365 account that currently shows Copilot. A desktop or laptop browser, or the new Outlook app for Windows or Mac.
Open Outlook
Go to outlook.com (or outlook.office.com for a work or school account) and sign in, or open the new Outlook app. Make sure you're looking at Mail — the envelope icon in the bar down the left-hand edge.
Open Settings
Click the gear icon near the top-right of the window. A Settings window opens over the top of your inbox.
Go to Copilot
In the left-hand column of the Settings window, click Copilot. It sits below the usual Mail, Calendar and People entries. The page that opens is headed Preferences.
Turn off the Copilot switch
Click the switch labelled Turn on Copilot so it moves to the off position.
Save and close
If a Save button appears at the bottom of the window, click it. Then close Settings with the X in the top-right corner. The Copilot button leaves the ribbon, the summary bar stops appearing above emails and the drafting prompts disappear from new messages. If anything is still showing, reload the page or close and reopen the app.
Variations
Classic Outlook gained its own on-off setting over the summer of 2026. Click File, then click Copilot in the list on the left and switch it off. If there is no Copilot entry there, click Options, then Copilot, and clear the Enable Copilot box — the same layout Word and Excel use. If neither exists, your copy hasn't received the update yet: click File, then Office Account, then Update Options and Update Now, and look again once it has restarted.
Until the setting arrives you can at least hide the button. Right-click anywhere on the ribbon, choose Customize the Ribbon, expand Home (Mail) in the right-hand list, select the Copilot group, click Remove and then OK.
Click the gear icon near the top-right of the window, click Copilot and turn off Turn on Copilot. The switch needs Outlook version 16.95.3 or later: if it's missing, click Help in the menu bar, then Check for Updates, and try again after updating. Because the switch is tied to your account, you can skip this step if you've already turned Copilot off on the web for the same account.
Tap your profile picture or initials in the top-left corner, then tap the gear icon at the bottom of the panel to open Settings. Tap Copilot and turn the Turn on Copilot switch off. If there's no Copilot entry, update the app from the App Store or Google Play first. As on the Mac, this is the same account-wide switch, so it may already be off if you did it on the web.
Troubleshooting
The entry only appears on accounts that have Copilot in the first place — in practice a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription, Copilot Pro, or a work or school account with a Copilot licence. If you have one of those and still can't see it, check you're signed in to the right account. On a work or school account, your organisation's IT department can also turn Copilot off centrally, in which case the entry disappears rather than showing as off.
Reload the browser tab, or close and reopen the app, so the new setting takes effect. If it's still showing, check whether you're looking at a different account: Outlook can hold several, and the switch only covers the one you changed. If the switch keeps turning itself back on after a work or school sign-in, your organisation's policy is overriding it, and only its IT department can change that.
They use a separate setting, and it's per app. On Windows, open the app, click File, then Options, then Copilot, and clear Enable Copilot. On a Mac, click the app's name in the menu bar, then Preferences, then Authoring and Proofing Tools, then Copilot, and clear the same box. Repeat in each app you want it gone from.
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