How to disable the floating Copilot icon in Excel?

Question

Update 25 Apr 2025:

Hi Everyone,

Just to update:

FINALLY, for Enterprise subscription, Microsoft provided the function to make the icon disappeared.

You can set in the Excel Options now:

My Apps version:

Thanks all the amazing solution provided under this thread.

And also HUGE KUDOS to engineers who fix this function.

b(￣▽￣)d

BR,

YL

-------------------------Below is the original issue-------------------------

Dear Team,

Kindly ask is there any option to disable the floating Copilot icon in Excel?

Sincerely I've been driven MAD by this floating icon. As normal users, we don't really need to use Copilot EVERYWHERE in the Excel. Will it be possible that in the future the team can work out a better way to toggle the Copilot function instead of keeping the icon floating?

Btw, the UI of the floating icon is also dysfunction --> keep trembling and shaking, which only distract users' attention.

The Disable function can ONLY work when I keep the file open --> so it still there when I reopen the workbook. This makes no sense at all.

No where in the "Option" panel I can find the disable function. Though there is someone on the Internet teaching us how to disable it using VBA. Anyway, this method is too much and too retro for normal user.

Truly thankful if this bug can be fixed SOON. This is really killing users who need to use Excel like 6-8 hours a day. We just need a smooth Excel function.

Best Regards,

YL

Answer 1

Hi Will LI,

I was annoyed by the same floating Copilot icon and just found a way to disable it. In the desktop Excel application, click on File --> Options --> Copilot --> check the box that says "Show Copilot icon only for highly relevant suggestions". The "i" information icon says this will keep the icon hidden until Copilot can offer relevant suggestions...."

Hope this works for you, too.

Hi HansV,

As attached:

Answer 2

Those of us with Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise do not have the option under File --> Options --> Copilot to disable this as others have mentioned.

Here are the instructions for adding code in "This Workbook" of the VBAProject PERSONAL.XLSX in Visual Basic of Excel to suppress it.

1. Open Excel and press Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) Editor.
2. In the VBA Editor, locate VBAProject (PERSONAL.XLSB) in the Project Explorer. If you don't see it, you may need to create it by recording a simple macro and choosing to store it in the Personal Macro Workbook.
   1. To create a simple macro, go to the Developer tab in Excel, click Record Macro, and select Store macro in: Personal Macro Workbook. Perform any simple action, then stop recording.
      1. If you do not see the Developer tab in Excel, go to the File tab, select Options at the bottom of the menu on the left. A dialog box will open, then click on Customize Ribbon on the left. In the right pane, under Main Tabs, check the box for Developer, click OK to close the Excel Options dialog box.
3. After activating the Developer tab and recording a macro to create VBAProject (PERSONAL.XLSB) in the Project Explorer, double-click on VBAProject (PERSONAL.XLSB) to expand it and right-click on This Workbook and select View Code.
4. That will open a blank (unless you’ve added something here before) scripting page on the right.
5. Copy and paste the code below into that window:

Private WithEvents app As Application

Private Sub Workbook_Open()

    Set app = Application

End Sub

Private Sub app_NewWorkbook(ByVal Wb As Workbook)

    Application.CommandBars("Copilot Menu").Controls("&Hide until I Reopen this Document").Execute

End Sub

Private Sub app_WorkbookOpen(ByVal Wb As Workbook)

    If Not ActiveWindow Is Nothing Then

        Application.CommandBars("Copilot Menu").Controls("&Hide until I Reopen this Document").Execute

    End If

End Sub

1. Save your workbook by clicking File > Save.
2. Close and Save all open Excel workbooks including the Visual Basic window you’ve stored the code in.

Open an Excel file and check that the floating icon is gone.

Answer 3

Select File > Options.

Select Copilot in the navigation pane on the left-hand side.

Clear the 'Enable Copilot' check box.

Click OK.

Quit and restart Excel.

Answer 4

Hi HansV,

Thanks for your prompt reply, but seems like I don't have that Copilot option in the panel as I mentioned in the post:

Answer 5

Which version of Microsoft 365 do you have? Select File > Account, then click About Excel. This is what I see: