I'm aghast, stunned, and flabbergasted that Microsoft just removed the thesaurus from Word

[Windows Central]

Microsoft removed Smart Lookup from Word recently, meaning you can no longer use the feature to search for synonyms or definitions.

I'm aghast, stunned, and flabbergasted that Microsoft just removed the thesaurus from Word : Read more

 

[ShinyProton]

It was getting seriously stale.
Also, Microsoft just can't wait to force you to use Copilot for this kind of task.

 

[dougpaw57]

I just tested the thesaurus (shift+F7) in Word Professional 2019 and it works fine.

 

[GraniteStateColin]

Not at the start of the year for me. I just confirmed my Office 365 is up to date (in fact, it did install the latest update when I checked). Right-click/Menu key -> Synonyms still works to show a list as does SHft+F7 to bring up the full list.

Can anyone clarify who this affects?

 

[D0nH0ward]

Not only do the synonyms still work for me, but the bottom option on the right-click still opens the Thesaurus. It seems you just need to get to it without using SmartLookup.

 

[GraniteStateColin]

Not at the start of the year for me. I just confirmed my Office 365 is up to date (in fact, it did install the latest update when I checked). Right-click/Menu key -> Synonyms still works to show a list as does SHft+F7 to bring up the full list.

Can anyone clarify who this affects?

Oh, and I do now get a hovering Copilot icon in Word's margin when I do that (never seen that before). So it does appear that the Theasurus remains even after getting Copilot.

I think @D0nH0ward must be right and it's not the Thesaurus that's going away, but just SmartLookup. Losing Thesaurus would be bad, but losing SmartLookup doesn't bother me. I never found its lookup features particularly usable. Faster to use Thesaurus or just look the word up in a standalone dictionary (and better definitions).

I would like it if Word added a full offline dictionary with instant definition lookup that I could access with a keypress (OFFLINE), but I don't think it's ever had that.