February 12, 2007

Microsoft Office Macros and Digital Certificates

Part II You have, no doubt, noticed that there is also a 'very high' security setting. This means that in the Tools > Macro > Security section >Trusted Publishers Tab, the 'Trust all installed add-ins and templates' must be checked and that the macros must be in trusted folders.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827725 gives a full breakdown of default trusted folders. The ones for Excel are:
\Documents and Settings\user name\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART
or
\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\XLSTART
I was only able to get macros within a spread sheet to work when I placed the spread sheet in one of these folders. This means the spreadsheet loads whenever Excel is opened. In Office 2007 there are some more tools for setting trusted folders. A good treatment of this is at http://blogs.msdn.com/excel/archive/2006/08/01/672308.aspx If you are using Office 2003, however, the added benefit of 'very high' security may not outweigh the inconvenience if you are used to using macros.

Mark Meredith

Part I