Word Startup Message?

Question

Each and every time I start up Wurd, it pops up a message inviting me to "Use Office connected experiences" and it gives me two choices: go to Privacy Preferences or Cancel.

I have my privacy preferences set JUST THE WAY I $#&^&*# WANT THEM, thank you very much, and those preferences don't happen to include MS's desperate need that I use this "feature." So, if I want to use Wurd, I have to specifically cancel this popup window each and every time.

I can set preferences to use this "feature" and the popup doesn't pop up. But that's not how I want to set my preferences. Why does Microsoft think they know better than I what I want? How can I make this popup go away forever without enabling this "feature"?

This appears to be fairly new behavior, and it doesn't happen with Excel or PowerPoint, so it appears to be a recently-introduced bug.

Answer 1

Whether we like it or not, cloud based services are here to stay. By refusing to enable what Microsoft refers to as Connected Experiences you are denying yourself the availability of these features:

Connected experiences in Office

There seems to be some concern about Microsoft violating the privacy of their users but that just isn't how it works. Users are far more at risk by using email & browsers as well as other practices which subject them to exposure. If you haven't already done so, examine the links at the bottom of the Manage Connected Experiences Preferences pane in addition to the link above.

You also have the opportunity to use Help> Feedback to submit the issue to the developers. Don't expect a personal response but comments submitted in that way do go directly to those who produce the software. Enough demand just might make the popups go away once they've done their job.

Answer 2

Other posters in the forum have reported that you have to accept using the connected experience to get rid of the pop-up permanently.