The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a total disaster
You'd think that Microsoft's marketing team would have learned something after last year's shambolic rollout of the Recall feature. Maybe, before trying another rollout, they might talk to a few customers, do some focus groups, even ask a few members of the press and analyst community for their advice.
But no.
Also: How to remove Copilot from your Microsoft 365 plan
Shortly after the New Year, someone in Redmond pushed a button that raised the price of its popular (84 million paid subscribers worldwide!) Microsoft 365 product. You know, the one that used to be called Microsoft Office? Yeah, well, now the app is called Microsoft 365 Copilot, and you're going to be paying at least 30% more for that subscription starting with your next bill.
Microsoft 365 gets a new logo, a new name, and a higher price.
As far as I can tell, the response from customers has been overwhelmingly negative. I monitor Microsoft-focused online forums obsessively, and I read hundreds of complaints without seeing a single compliment. Seriously, the reaction to this rollout was an Excel #DIV/0 error.
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What went wrong? Where do I begin?
They botched the price increase
Let me bend over backward to Microsoft here. They launched Office 365 (which later became Microsoft 365) more than a dozen years ago, and in that time they have not raised the price once. In case you haven't noticed, we are living through some inflationary times right now.
So, there was plenty of room for Microsoft to roll out a gentle price increase. "Hey y'all, we know this isn't welcome news but we need to bump up the Microsoft 365 subscription price by two bucks a month. It's still a great deal!"
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Netflix does that every year or two and no one shows up at Netflix HQ with pitchforks and torches.
But no. Instead, they made it a 30% price increase and blamed it all on artificial intelligence. Bad idea. Why? Because...
No one wants to pay for AI
There's a ton of potential in AI, and it has some solid use cases today, for tasks like writing code and finding patterns in large databases.
But in the places where Microsoft 365 Family and Personal subscribers are likely to see AI, the edges are still very, very rough. If you ask Copilot in Word to write something for you, the results will be about what you'd expect from an enthusiastic summer intern. You might fare better if you ask Copilot to turn a folder full of photos into a PowerPoint presentation. But is that task really such a challenge?
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To top that off, there are similarly rough edges in the way the Copilot features are implemented. For example, I have both work and family subscriptions to Microsoft 365. This combination normally works very well; I can sign in with one account, attach resources like OneDrive from both accounts, and work with almost no friction.
But good luck doing the same with Copilot features. In that configuration, I consistently get error messages telling me, "As a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscriber, you'll be able to use Copilot when you're signed with your Microsoft work or school account (Entra ID) and Microsoft personal account. However, that ability is not yet available."
If you pay for a personal and work subscription to Microsoft 365, you'll pay the higher price but won't get the new features.
Let me see if I understand this: I'm paying Microsoft for not one but two subscriptions, and they raised the price of one of those subscriptions while not allowing me to use its signature feature. That seems like a lousy way to reward your best customers.
The announcement was bungled, too
I pay annually for my Microsoft 365 Family subscription. The price went up more than a week ago, but I haven't received an email telling me about it. As the account manager, I should see that notice before I see the new price in my dashboard.
Instead, I learned about the new price thanks to a pop-up message on my Android phone.
This po-up on my phone is the only notice I've received about a price change.
That notice tells me I have a monthly plan. No, I have an annual plan that will renew in a month or two. It says I can cancel billing in my Play Store settings. No, I can't. I bought this subscription using the web browser on my Windows PC, and when I tap the Subscriptions button in the Android app it opens a web browser and takes me to my Microsoft account page, where I have to tap the Manage button to find the cancel option.
It could be worse, I suppose. Just ask the French and Spanish subscribers who got a similar pop-up message telling them their price had gone from €10 a month to €13,000. (Those pesky decimals.)
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Oh, and I've lost count of the number of people who were baffled and angry that Microsoft had forcibly installed the Copilot app on their devices. It was just a rebranding of the old Microsoft 365 app with the new name and logo, but in my case it was days later before I received yet another pop-up message telling me about the change.
Well, surely you can just turn it off. Right?
The smartest thing Microsoft could have done was to make this initial release of Copilot an opt-in feature for a few months. They could have said, "We're excited to let everyone try this! Just click OK here!"
Instead, they turned the feature on for everyone and gave Word users a well-hidden checkbox that reads Enable Copilot. The feature is on by default, so you have to clear the checkbox to make it go away.
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As for the other Office apps? "Uh, we'll get around to giving you a button to turn it off next month. Maybe."
Seriously, the support page that explains where you can find that box in Word says, "We're working on adding the Enable Copilot checkbox to Excel, OneNote, and PowerPoint on Windows devices and to Excel and PowerPoint on Mac devices. That is tentatively scheduled to happen in February 2025." Until the Enable Copilot button is available, you can't disable Copilot.
Meanwhile, maybe think twice about using the option to disable all of the connected features in your Office apps. As one writer pointed out (with multiple swear words and some threats aimed in the general direction of One Microsoft Way), doing so can have unintended consequences, like making it appear as though all your files in OneDrive have suddenly disappeared.
How long will the Classic option last?
If you try to cancel Microsoft 365 to avoid the price increase (or just to say no to the AI features), Microsoft's subscription management page offers the option to downgrade to a Classic plan, which turns out to be exactly what you signed up for not that long ago, minus the price increase.
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That's purely a retention play, of course. New subscribers can't sign up for this plan, and I expect that it will be discontinued in a year or two.
Why is Microsoft doing this?
I have yet to see a single person praising the implementation of Copilot in Microsoft 365 or telling Satya Nadella they've gotten their money's worth out of this unexpected upgrade.
So, why do it at all? I can think of 3 billion reasons. I could plug the numbers into Excel and tell you about it, but let's have Copilot explain instead.
Microsoft Copilot understands how the subscription business model works.
Microsoft is halfway through its 2026 fiscal year. It's almost like someone was given instructions at the end of the calendar year to bump up that revenue line for the Office Consumer division.
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Here's the funny thing: The price increase is so big that there will still be a huge positive impact even if 10% of Microsoft 365 Personal and Family customers cancel rather than pay the extra monthly fee. Copilot walked me through the math and concluded, "So, even with 10% of your customers canceling their subscriptions, you would still generate an additional $1.714 billion annually due to the price hike. How do you feel about this adjustment?"
I feel like I understand why all those complaints are going to go unheard.
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How to remove Copilot from your Microsoft 365 plan
Those of you with plain old Microsoft 365 subscriptions may have noticed that Copilot now pops up in Word and other applications in the suite. How did it get there when you didn't buy or request Copilot and don't necessarily want it? Blame it on Microsoft's usual sleight of hand.
Also: The Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a total disaster
In an effort to push Copilot, Microsoft has added the AI to its Microsoft 365 Family and Personal plans. Open Excel, PowerPoint, or OneNote, and you'll now see a Copilot icon on the ribbon. That's not so bad, as you can easily ignore it. But launch Microsoft Word, and Copilot gets in your face with an icon in the left margin and a huge, annoying message prompting you to "Draft with Copilot."
It also seems pretty sneaky, right? To be fair, I can't fault Microsoft for trying to add AI to Office. But the way the company went about it was, to use my favorite Yiddish phrase, meshugganah. Or, as my ZDNET colleague Ed Bott wrote, the Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a total disaster.
Setting aside Microsoft's messy rollout, what if you simply don't want Copilot? How do you get rid of it?
You have a couple of options.
How to disable Copilot in Word
For your first option, you can disable Copilot from Microsoft Word so it doesn't show up at all.
You can't yet do that for the other applications in the suite, though Microsoft has promised a disable option for Excel, PowerPoint, and the rest sometime in February.
1. Make sure you're running the latest version of Microsoft 365
You can disable Copilot in Word both on Windows and on a Mac. Just make sure you're running the latest version of Microsoft 365.
To do that on Windows, go to File in Word, Excel, or another program, select Account, click the Update Options button, and then select Update Now. Even then, you may need to refresh or close and reopen Microsoft 365 a couple of times before the option appears.
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To perform the same steps on a Mac, click the Help menu and then select Check for Updates. Allow the latest updates to download.
2. Go to Options or Preferences and uncheck 'Enable Copilot'
To disable Copilot in Word for Windows, click File, select Options, and then select Copilot from the Word Options window. Simply uncheck the box for "Enable Copilot" and click OK. When you return to Word, the Copilot icons and message will be gone.
To disable Copilot in the Mac version of Word, click the Word menu and select Preferences. Open the Copilot icon in the Preferences window and uncheck the box for "Enable Copilot." Close the Preferences window and return to Word to see that Copilot is now gone.
How to remove Copilot from your Microsoft 365 subscription
For your second option, you may want to manage your Microsoft 365 plan to remove Copilot. The change won't take effect right away. Instead, Copilot waits until your next renewal period to vanish.
Also: Agents have entered the Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat
You can change your Microsoft 365 subscription to revert to the classic and less expensive non-Copilot plan. The change won't actually take effect until your next renewal date. But at least switching your plan now will ensure that you're not automatically renewed at the higher price.
Go to the Microsoft 365 section under Subscriptions on your Microsoft account page if you're not already there. Click the dropdown box for Manage Subscription and click the link for Cancel Subscription.
To try to hang onto your business, Microsoft will offer other plans, including the Classic plan sans Copilot. But here's the frustrating part: If you get a discount on your subscription or if you purchased it through a different vendor than Microsoft, you may not be able to pull this off.
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In my case, the Microsoft 365 Family Classic plan shows a price tag of $99.99 without the discount, which would be higher than the discounted price of $90.99 for the plan with Copilot. If you're in a similar boat, your best bet is to contact Microsoft or the vendor from which you purchased Microsoft 365. Otherwise, choose the lower-cost classic plan to complete the switch.
Ah, but here's one last fly in the ointment. In its recent announcement about the new Microsoft 365 Copilot plans, Microsoft said that existing subscribers could switch to Microsoft Basic or to the new Personal Classic or Family Classic plans, but only for a limited time. So you'll want to make the switch before it's too late.
Plus, the company said that "for certain new innovations and features" -- whatever that means -- you'll need a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription with Copilot. Even if you're able to change to a classic plan, you may eventually have no choice but to accept a Copilot plan with the higher price tag.
FAQs
Is Copilot free to use in Microsoft 365?
Is Microsoft freely bestowing Copilot on customers out of the goodness of its corporate heart? Not quite. There's a price hike waiting in the wings for you.
For the privilege of using Copilot, US subscribers to Microsoft 365 Personal will end up paying $99.99 per year or $9.99 per month, up from $69.99 per year or $6.99 per month. Subscribers to Microsoft 365 Family would eventually have to cough up $129.99 per year or $12.99 per month, up from $99.99 per year or $9.99 per month.
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Your cost will vary based on whether you receive a discount on your subscription. For instance, I currently pay $69.99 for an individual Microsoft Family subscription thanks to a discount from my business plan. But that price would go up to $90.99 with the Copilot option added.
Before you blow a fuse, the price hike doesn't actually kick in until your next renewal date. For now, you're able to use Copilot without any increase in the cost of your plan. But if you do nothing and wait for your subscription to renew, the higher price will automatically kick in.
Can anyone try Copilot in Microsoft 365?
Microsoft's hocus-pocus doesn't end here. The Copilot built into Microsoft 365 isn't available to everyone, nor is it unlimited. A Microsoft 365 Family plan normally allows up to six people to take advantage of the different features. But here, only the owner of the plan gets access to Copilot.
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Plus, Microsoft doles out the use of Copilot in Microsoft 365 on a credit basis, granting the owner of the plan up to 60 credits per month. Each use of the AI chews up one credit. Try to use more than 60 in a month, and you'll be stopped and prompted to upgrade to the unlimited and more expensive Copilot Pro plan.
How to view your current Microsoft 365 subscription
To view your current Microsoft 365 subscription, sign into your Microsoft account website. Click the link at the top for "Manage Microsoft 365 Family" or "Manage Microsoft 365 Personal." The resulting page shows you your renewal date, the price you'd pay at that point, and the number of credits you've used so far.
