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Macros disabled and can't enable them to run

Anonymous
2017-09-07T17:36:44+00:00

I have moved my default folders for templates and add-ins to customized locations, so Normal.dot and my macro add-in template are both in other folders that are not the defaults.  I just went through a situation where Word did an "update" and they blew away all my macros that I've been building up over months.  Now that I have customized the folders and created some macros, they worked for a few days and then stopped working on a particular file.  I get the warning, "The macros in this project are disabled." I have gone into the macro options on the Developer tab (as well as File > Options) and enabled all macros, but it still doesn't work.  I have closed and restarted Word after changing settings.  Any ideas on how I can get my macros to work?  Thanks in advance for any help.

[Moved from: Office / Word / Windows 10 / Office 2016]

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-09-25T13:38:31+00:00

    Go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Trusted Locations and add your customized template folders to the list. Templates (and the macros they contain) that are stored in trusted locations are not checked by the Office security code.

    Actually, if you haven't already made those folders trusted, I don't know how the macros ever worked.

    I have the same problem. I followed your directions but there is no trusted location option.

    Robert,

    Which options are available when you go to the Trust Center Settings?

    Version of Word you are using?

    Are you on a corporate network?

    Thank you. I was having this problem with Outlook 2016. I had created some small personal macros to open templates that I use frequently. 

    I am on a corporate network. Here are my options.

    Trusted Publishers

    Privacy Options

    Email Security

    Attachment Handling

    Automatic Download

    Macro Settings

    Programmatic Access

    I did discover the problem. A recent set of updates had been installed and a dll had not been enabled. I was able to locate it under the developer tab. I enabled it and all was well.

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  1. Jay Freedman 207.1K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2017-09-07T18:05:12+00:00

    Go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Trusted Locations and add your customized template folders to the list. Templates (and the macros they contain) that are stored in trusted locations are not checked by the Office security code.

    Actually, if you haven't already made those folders trusted, I don't know how the macros ever worked.

    4 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2017-09-25T11:43:39+00:00

    Go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Trusted Locations and add your customized template folders to the list. Templates (and the macros they contain) that are stored in trusted locations are not checked by the Office security code.

    Actually, if you haven't already made those folders trusted, I don't know how the macros ever worked.

    I have the same problem. I followed your directions but there is no trusted location option.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  3. Charles Kenyon 164.1K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2017-09-25T13:12:13+00:00

    Thanks for the follow-up, Jay.  I actually couldn't get my macros to save in the custom template, even when I had the template open as I was working on another document.  So I ended up just changing the default location of my Word templates and just let everything save into that Normal.dotx file.

    Another thing that occurred to me is this:  Could this have anything to do with all my files opening in separate instances of Word?  I can't get my files to open as windows in one Word session; when I have one open and open another Word file from Windows Explorer, it starts a new instance of Word.  It seems like Word can save changes into any of the files that appear in the "Save changes in" drop-down -- isn't that a list of currently open files?

    This may be persnickety, but...

    1. Normal.dotm, not Normal.dotx
    2. If you are trying to protect your macros from problems with Normal.dotm being messed with, you need to either save them directly in a different location or move them to a different location once saved.
    3. There are three places you can save a recorded macro as you record: (1) in the open document (but only if it is a macro-enabled document or .docm), (2) in the Normal.dotm file (this is the default.) and (3) in the template attached to the open document, if that is not the Normal template (provided that it is a macro-enabled template--that is, a .dotm rather than .dotx).

    Are multiple instances of Word showing up in your task manager, or are you simply seeing multiples on the taskbar? It is normally very difficult to get Word to open multiple instances. One way is, with Word closed, to select and open a number of documents at the same time.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-09-15T20:17:32+00:00

    Thanks for the follow-up, Jay.  I actually couldn't get my macros to save in the custom template, even when I had the template open as I was working on another document.  So I ended up just changing the default location of my Word templates and just let everything save into that Normal.dotx file.

    Another thing that occurred to me is this:  Could this have anything to do with all my files opening in separate instances of Word?  I can't get my files to open as windows in one Word session; when I have one open and open another Word file from Windows Explorer, it starts a new instance of Word.  It seems like Word can save changes into any of the files that appear in the "Save changes in" drop-down -- isn't that a list of currently open files?

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