Microsoft Office has identified a potential security concern Word Mailmerge containing INCLUDETEXT fail

Question

Hello All,

Half of our clients have reported that they are getting this error message when performing a word MailMerge from our software.

These documents are .DOT files that get mailmerged into .DOC files and could contain INCLUDETEXT fields.

E.g { INCLUDETEXT "{DOCVARIABLE SettsPlusDoc }\statp1 header.doc" }

{DOCVARIABLE SettsPlusDoc } is a variable that gets replaced with the users letters path, something like

C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Settlement\data-USER3\Letters\Templates\statp1 header.doc

This path is added to the word Trusted locations.

And any path that is related to data added to this documents is added to words trusted locations.

The users are greeted with the following error message:

Microsoft Office has identified a potential security concern. This document contains fields that can share data with external files and websites.

Then the document fails to merge correctly, regardless of the selection of YES or NO to that security Message.

All areas that fail are parts that contain { INCLUDETEXT }. It appears that the files cannot be found (They are there).

The users are on Version 2207(build 15427.20210)

The strange thing is that my office 365 is on the same version and I do not experience this issue.

Reverting back to version 2202 (build 14931.20660) works correctly.

I have added the registry entry HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Word\Security\DisableWarningOnIncludeFieldsUpdate

This just hides the error message, but the documents still fail to generate correctly.

Is there a fix for this problem?

Or reverting the office update and turning off auto updates is the intermittent solution?

Answer 1

*** UPDATE ***

We found that the issue seams to also be related to the word templated being in Readonly mode. If the files is changed to not read only, then the issue does not occur. Strange.

And stranger thing is I still connot get this issue to occur even when reverting office to the build/update that caused the issue. But testing on a clients PC, changing the templates to not read only fixed the issue.

***

Hi, the word documents fail to merge as they used to. We have a custom merging tool that we wrote, this chains several templates together.

When the clients generate 1 document that has other documents attached, the first do works correctly, then the 2nd doc get that security warning and fails to Merge, same with subsequent documents.

Clicking yes or no provides the same outcome.

I have narrowed it down to the { INCLUDETEXT } fields, if I remove these from the templates, then that error message does not appear.

All paths that are "touched" while merging are all in the trusted locations, but the Error still appears.

Would you know what is the Bug number that Microsoft gave to this Bug?

I have tested all current updates and the issues still appears to be present.

Any news on a resolution date?

Do you require additional information?

We have told all our clients to not update, or to revert to version (Current Channel) Version 2206 (Build 15330.20264).

This bug started after that build.

But our clients Insurance companies are not happy as their policies require them to be no older than 1 month behind updates, Windows / Office. So our clients are not happy and keep calling us asking if the issue has been addressed.

Its been an ongoing bug for over 2 months now.

Answer 2

In what way do the documents fail to generate correctly?

Office Version 2209 (Build 15629.20156 Click-to-Run) is now available to users of the Current Channel. However the fix for the default blocking of macros contained in documents that originate from the web is for an issue that is almost certainly not related to your problem

Answer 3

Thank you for the update, that has been the course of action we took.

But It cannot be the solution for every time something like this happens!

It’s simply not time efficient getting their IT support team to revert each of the PCs in the office.

Our clients require by their insurance to be on the most up to date Version of Office. By telling them to Revert to the 2206 (Build 15330.20264) or the 2202 (Build 14931.20660)  they are not complying with that requirement.

As far as I know the 13th of September release on the Current update Channel still has this issue

I just wanted to check if the Version 2209: September 26 Version 2209 (Build 15629.20156) had this issues Fixed? I cannot update to that version by standard means, but I'll try and force the update to happen so I can test it.

I did see in the release notes that they fixed an issue related to All office products running Macros "We fixed an issue to default blocking macros from the Internet from executing."

But our issue was never about about the internet, or is this "Documents originated from the internet"? Once I have determined if this is fixed, I will post here again.

Thanks

Answer 4

Hello ,

I'm Mukesh and I will be happy to help you out with your question.

Sorry for the inconvenience caused by this. Recently, we have received several users reported the same issue as yours.

This is a new bug that Microsoft is aware of and working on a fix for. See https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/microsoft-office-has-identified-a-potential/0d072242-dac0-441c-a4d6-802387b52fa7

Currently, the only workaround for this issue is to use the previous version of Word application.

I hope this information helps. If you have any questions please let me know and I will be glad to help you out.

Help the next person who has this issue by indicating if this reply solved your problem. Click Yes or No below.

Regards Mukesh

Answer 5

Hello Mike,

I have a very similar problem.

The fields in our document are not updated, ignoring if hte user clicks yes or no. The document is protected and when I unprotect it and Update Fileds afterwards they do update correctly.

is this the same for you? Did you solve your problem fully yet?