Macro Security

[Lesa H.]

I have a client who has an application that adds a macro to Word. The macro
doesn't work unless Macro security is set to low or medium. The macro isn't
digitally signed but I was wondering if there is a way to add it to the list
of trusted manufacturers so that we could use it and still keep the macro
security high.

Thanks in advance,

Lesa H.

 

[Jay Freedman]

I have a client who has an application that adds a macro to Word. The
macro doesn't work unless Macro security is set to low or medium. The
macro isn't digitally signed but I was wondering if there is a way to
add it to the list of trusted manufacturers so that we could use it
and still keep the macro security high.

Thanks in advance,

Lesa H.

If the macro is coming from a template supplied by the application, store
that template in Word's Startup folder. To find out where that is, look in
the Tools > Options > File Locations dialog. It will be some levels below
the Documents and Settings folder.

Then go to the macro security dialog and check the box for "Trust all
installed add-ins and templates". This allows macros from any template
that's in the User Templates or Startup location (I think the Workgroup
Templates location also qualifies).

Microsoft confused things by providing a second "Startup" folder in the
Program Files tree, but not making that one of the trusted locations.
Application developers who don't know about that sometimes install their
add-ins there because it's easy to find.

This is discussed in the footnote of
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/WhatTemplatesStore.htm.

You could specifically trust macros from that manufacturer only if they've
signed their code with a digital certificate, which you could then accept.
It seems pretty clear that they haven't done that.

 

[Lesa H.]

Thanks Jay,

I'll give that a try. I did try the setting to trust add in's and it didn't
work so I guess the macro is stored somewhere else. I'll find it and see if
I can fix it.

I'll post back with the results.

Lesa

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Digitally sign the macro with a commercial certificate and temporarily set
the security to medium. When you try to open the template containing the
macro you should be given the option of adding the publisher to your trusted
publisher's list.

It can also be trusted by position if placed in:
The User Templates Folder
The Workgroup Templates Folder
The Word Startup Folder (not the Office Startup Folder)

For more on the different kinds of templates, tabs on the file new dialog,
and locations of templates folders see
http://addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm.