How to hide or remove Copilot from the Windows 11 taskbar
Windows introduced the Copilot preview, which adds an icon to the taskbar for many Windows 11 users. However, if that doesn't interest you, let's see how to hide or remove it.
Contrary to what you might imagine, the usual method of right-clicking the icon and selecting "Unpin from taskbar" doesn't work for this icon. And since it appears automatically with the latest Windows update, there's no easy way to disable it either.
How to hide or remove Windows Copilot from the taskbar
Unlike most app icons on the Windows 11 taskbar, right-clicking the Copilot icon doesn't reveal a context menu. This means you'll need to access Settings to find out how to hide it.
Click the gear icon in the Start menu to open Settings.
Go to the Personalization tab on the left.
Scroll down until you find the Taskbar option and select it.
By doing a right-click on the taskbar and choosing Taskbar settings, you can alternatively access this setting.
All of the customization options for your taskbar, including the ability to turn off the Copilot Preview, are located here.
To make the symbol vanish from your Taskbar, just toggle it off. If you'd like, you can always enable it again from the same window.
How Can the Taskbar Icon of Copilot Be Hidden the Best?
Similar to the Chat app, the personalization options are the only method to truly remove Copilot from the taskbar. That approach isn't available because the right-click context menu doesn't show up for this icon.
Yes, you can definitely change it with a registry edit just like any other Windows setting, but since you already have the toggle available, doing so is not advised. You could break something else totally by fiddling with the registry, which will cause more issues than it would solve.
If Copilot is not visible on your Taskbar, you can re-enable it in the customization setting. But be aware that you cannot enable Copilot if you do not see the setting at all; it only appears if you have installed the necessary Windows update.