Windows 10 doesn’t include Microsoft Office, but it does include regular advertisements encouraging you to download it. If you don’t want to get Office on your Windows 10 PC, you can prevent those notifications from bothering you.
These “Get Office” notifications will pop-up on the screen regularly while you use your system, and they’ll also be stored in your Action Center, encouraging you to “Try Office 365 for 1 month.” It’ll cost you at least $7 per month afterwards.
Where Are These Notifications Coming From?
RELATED: Screenshot Tour: The 29 New Universal Apps Included With Windows 10
You can dismiss the notifications when they appear, but they’ll just keep coming back in the future. This may not be entirely clear if you’re new to Windows 10, but these notifications aren’t actually system notifications. Instead, they’re notifications provided by a specific app — the “Get Office” app preinstalled with Windows 10. This app just provides a link and live tile that encourages you to download Office. Having it installed also allows Microsoft to spam you with ads for Office.
It’s possible to uninstall the Get Office app by opening the Start menu, locating “Get Office” under All Apps, right-clicking it, and selecting Uninstall. However, some Windows 10 users claim the Get Office app is automatically reinstalled after a period of time if they do this. Instead, you’re better off disabling these notifications.
Disable the Get Office Ads
To actually disable these ads, open the Start menu and select Settings.
Select the System icon in the Settings window that appears.
RELATED: How to Use and Configure the New Notification Center in Windows 10
Select the “Notifications & actions” category at the left side of the window.
Scroll down in the list of notification settings. Under “Show notifications from these apps,” you’ll see a list of apps with permissions to display notifications. Locate the “Get Office” app and slide it to “Off.”
Repeat this process to disable any other type of notification you don’t want to see, including notifications from desktop apps. For example, you can disable News notifications from here as well.
Remove the Get Office Tile
RELATED: How to Add, Remove, and Customize Tiles on the Windows 10 Start Menu
Windows 10 also pins a “Get Office” tile to the Start menu by default. You’ll see an ad recommending you “Try Office 365 for 1 month” every time you open your Start menu. Those are the default settings, anyway.
To remove it, open the Start menu, right-click the tile, and select “Unpin from Start.” You can also long-press it and tap the unpin icon. As with the notification trick, you can use this method to unpin other tiles from your Start menu. You could even remove them all.
Other Microsoft apps included in Windows 10 may use notifications to advertise to you in the future. For example, the Get Skype app could encourage you to download Skype, the Groove Music app could encourage you to pay for a music subscription, and the Movies & TV app could encourage you to rent or purchase digital videos. Apps you install yourself could also use the notification system for ads.
If you see obnoxious notifications in the future, note the name of the app displayed in the Action Center, head to the Settings app, and disable notifications for that specific app.
