Copilot Crashes Word with User Form

Question

Since the latest couple of Updates, more particularly 2510 and 2511, a copilot icon appears on the bottom right corner of word once a new document starts.

Some of our Word Templates cause word to crash as soon as these Mail Merge documents open.

Sometimes this crash just closes word, sometimes there is a error message.

"Automation error

The object invoked has disconnected from its clients"

My assumption its due to copilot not being able to start correctly as the dialog box is halting code execution

Conditions to replicate the crash:

Require the version of word that has copilot widget on the bottom right corner (not in the ToolBar, see below image)

Create a template document, .dot file, in the VBA (ALT+F11) add a form with a button, add a AutoNew Sub

This will call the form to display as soon as the document is opened.

Save the document

Close any open words (prevents crash from occurring, as copilot is already launched)

Double Click to Run the document and note it will crash word, opening word again will attempt to start word in safe mode.

Other Observations

If the first call to the AutoNew function is a message box, I note that copilot does not start until that message box is closed.

Also it does not crash if at the exact moment the user form appears if that form its moved, then copilot does not start until you let go of the form. (This method generates the error message)

Is there a way to disable copilot in Word?

There used to be an option to disable it, but that has been removed...

I tried some registry edits, but no luck.

This new feature is causing these crashes and when there is no crash the time it takes to generate a letter has increased significantly. Please fix this issue or provide a workaround as reverting the office version is not a simple thing most users are willing to do.

Regards,

[Moderator note: personal info removed]

Answer 1

Dear @Michael Veloso, 

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.   

I understand that you have thoroughly attempted various workarounds, including multiple registry edits and disabling methods, on your test environment, but without success in resolving the conflict. 

Currently, on my test environment, I have tried many ways to turn it off, but it still doesn't work. Therefore, in this case, I suggest you ask the Global Admin to submit a ticket and reach out directly to the Microsoft technical team, so they can investigate and see if they can provide any suggestion (because we have already done the general steps like editing the registry). I have also searched many other articles already, but I haven't found anyone sharing a solution. So, your immediate action in escalating this to Microsoft will be the most effective path forward. 

Please help me ask they follow this article to submit a support ticket. Get support for Microsoft 365 for business

Looking forward to your response!  

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