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Microsoft Word macros are disabled... no matter what

Anonymous
2020-07-29T21:40:24+00:00

When Microsoft added macro security to Office, it seems to have made macros secure by making them impossible to use.

Here's the situation I'm in.

I've written a macro, debugged it in a document file, and stored it in a template. I now need to run it from another document file.

The template is attached to the document file. When I display the list of available macros in the Customize Keyboard dialog, it is there.

I have assigned the macro to an otherwise unneeded keychord.

When I enter the keychord, I get the message "The macros in this project are disabled. Please refer... to determine how to enable macros."

I find a Microsoft support article titled "Enable and disable macros in Office files." One section, "Change macro settings in the Trust Center," tells me to select File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings, and select the appropriate setting, which must be "Enable all macros."

I do that, then close the Trust Center dialog and the Options dialog and try to execute the macro again. I get the same message again.

Another section int the article, "Enable macros in the Backstage view," tells me to click the File tab, click Enable Content in the Security Warning area, and do some more stuff. There's a little picture that shows what I should see when I click Enable Content in the Security Warning area.

But the tab has no "Security Warning area."

Have I found a support article for the wrong version of Office? The heading says "Office 365 Subscription, Office Online,..." My Word's Account page says "Subscription Product / Microsoft 365 for enterprise," which I assume is synonymous with "Office 365 Subscription."

What is going on here???

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-07-29T21:49:24+00:00

    Hi

    The key is the template or document that holds the macro. That needs to be "trusted" in some way. For me, the simplest way is "Trusted Locations." You store the holder of the macro in a trusted location. I've made both my User Templates folder and my Custom Office Templates folder trusted locations and any macros in templates in those folders run fine.

    File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings (button)

    Then find the Trusted Locations tab on the left and set the folders as trusted locations. OK your way back to your document.

    Note: Enable All Macros is not what you want. You probably want Disable all macros with notification.

    If you are using an Enterprise edition you may be on a corporate network that may have set rules that you are not able to override. If that is the case, you would need to speak with your IT folks.

    This forum is a user-to-user support forum. I am a fellow user.

    I hope this information helps.

    Please let me know if you have any more questions or require further help.

    You can ask for more help by replying to this post (Reply button below).

    Regards

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-07-29T22:29:33+00:00

    One other point is that it is important to store the keyboard shortcut (chord) in the same template as the one holding the macro. Otherwise the shortcut can lose track of the macro and generate that message.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-07-30T22:24:17+00:00

    Thank you, that works. Apparently it's not so crazy after all; it's just the documentation that's worthless.

    I checked the shortcut -- it's already defined in the macro, so I should be good now.

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