At times, you might not want to prevent macros, ActiveX Control, data connections, etc., from running in a Word document, Excel spreadsheet, or PowerPoint presentation. If so, you can disable or turn off Trusted Documents features in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This explains how you can enable or disable trusted documents in Word and other Office apps.
What is a Trusted Document?
When you open a protected document, spreadsheet, or slideshow, a notification appears to let you know that it may contain macros and other active content. However, if you need to open such files frequently, navigating the security settings to open the document for editing can be a bit time-consuming.
In such situations, you can disable the Trusted Documents feature to allow all files to open without any security warning. In other words, the Trusted Documents feature prevents macros, ActiveX Controls, and other active content types from running without the user’s permission.
Note: For this example, we have used Microsoft Excel. However, you can use any of the other two apps and follow the same steps.
Enable or disable Trusted Documents in Word, Excel, PowerPoint
To enable or disable Trusted Documents in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, follow these steps:
- Open Excel on your computer.
- Click on the Options.
- Switch to the Trusted Center and click the Trust Center Settings.
- Go to the Trusted Documents tab.
- Tick the Disable Trusted Documents checkbox.
- Click the OK button.
To know more about these steps, continue reading.
First, you need to open Word, Excel, or PowerPoint and click on the Options visible in the bottom-left corner. Then, switch to the Trust Center tab and click on the Trust Center Settings button.
After that, go to the Trusted Documents tab and tick the Disable Trusted Documents checkbox.
Click the OK button to save the change.
How to enable or disable Trusted Documents in Word, Excel, PowerPoint using Group Policy
To enable or disable Trusted Documents in Word, Excel, PowerPoint using Group Policy, follow these steps:
- Press Win+Rto open the Run prompt.
- Type msc and click the OK button.
- Navigate to Trust Center in User Configuration.
- Double-click on the Turn off trusted documents setting.
- Choose the Enabled option.
- Click the OK button.
Let’s check out these steps in detail.
To get started, you need to open the Local Group Policy Editor. However, this method requires you to install the administrator templates for Office.
Press Win+R to display the Run prompt, type gpedit.msc, and click the OK button. Once it is opened on your computer, navigate to the following path:
Word:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Word 2016 > Word Options > Security > Trust Center
Excel:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Excel 2016 > Excel Options > Security > Trust Center
PowerPoint:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Microsoft PowerPoint 2016 > PowerPoint Options > Security > Trust Center
Double-click on the Turn off trusted documents setting and choose the Enabled option.
Click the OK button to save the change.
Turn on or off Trusted Documents in Word, Excel, PowerPoint using Registry
To turn on or off Trusted Documents in Word, Excel, PowerPoint using Registry, follow these steps:
- Search for regedit and click on the search result.
- Click the Yes button.
- Navigate to Microsoft\office\16.0\excel in HKCU.
- Right-click on excel > New > Key and name it as security.
- Repeat these steps and name the key as trusted documents.
- Right-click on trusted documents > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Set the name as disabletrusteddocuments.
- Double-click on it to set the Value data as 1.
- Click the OK button and restart your computer.
Let’s delve into these steps in detail to learn more.
Search for regedit, click on the individual search result, and click the Yes button to open the Registry Editor on your computer. Then, navigate to this path:
Word:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\word
Excel:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\excel
PowerPoint:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\powerpoint
Right-click on word/excel/powerpoint > New > Key and name it as security.
Repeat the same steps to create a sub-key under the security key and name it as trusted documents. Then, right-click on trusted documents > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it as disabletrusteddocuments.
Double-click on it to set the Value data as 1.
Click the OK button and restart your computer to apply the change.
Hope this guide helped.
How do you remove trusted documents from Excel?
To remove trusted documents from Excel, you can follow the above-mentioned guides. As said earlier, you can disable this setting with the help of the Local Group Policy Editor and the Registry Editor. For that, you need to open the Turn off trusted documents setting and choose the Enabled option. Finally, click on the OK button.
How do I turn off Trust Center?
There is no way to turn off Trust Center in Office app because it contains several settings and options, including macros, ActiveX controls, etc. However, it is possible to disable protected View or manage each of those settings one after one. For that, you can use the Options panel, the Local Group Policy Editor, and the Registry Editor.
Read: How to change File Block settings in Microsoft Office programs.
