Attaching Macros to Documents

If you teach other people how to use Word, it is not unusual to prepare sample documents that your students can use while learning. If you need to teach them how to work with macros, you may even attach some sample macros to the documents you prepare for them. This is easy enough to do, but making it so your students can utilize the macros in the documents may not be so easy.

When the student opens your sample document (with sample macros attached), he or she may see a message indicating that the macros have been disabled. This behavior is normal for Word, and there is no way to disable it from within the macro or the document itself. The behavior is controlled by the security settings on the student's machine. Your student can check these settings in this manner with any version of Word prior to Word 2007:

1. Choose Macro from the Tools menu. Word displays a submenu.
2. Choose Security from the submenu. Word displays the Security dialog box.
3. Make sure the Security Level tab is selected. (Click here to see a related figure.)

Notice that there are three or four possible settings on the tab depending on your version of Word: Low, Medium, High, and Very High. If High or Very High are selected, then any macros attached to a document are automatically disabled, and your students won't be able to use your sample macros. The solution, then, is for your students to choose either the Medium or Low setting. The problem with choosing these lower settings, of course, is that there is a greater risk that the student could inadvertently load a document that contains malicious macro code. (Not your sample document, of course, but perhaps from a downloaded document or a friend's document.)

In some networked environments that have strong security measures in place, the student may not be able to change the security settings in Word. Instead, your network administrator may need to make the changes. This could take some negotiation on your part, as instructor, to see if you can get the settings changed.

If your students are using Word 2007, the steps to enable macros are significantly different. You need to display the Trust Center settings, which can be done in either of two ways:

• Make sure the Developer tab of the ribbon is selected and then click Macro Security in the Code group.
• Click the Office button and then click Word Options. In the resulting Word Options dialog box, click Trust Center and then click Trust Center Settings. On the resulting Trust Center dialog box, click Macro Settings.

The Trust Center also has four settings for macro security, but these settings are somewhat different than in earlier versions of Word. The settings are

• Disable all macros without notification
• Disable all macros with notification
• Disable all macros except digitally signed macros
• Enable all macros

You want to have the students choose the "Disable all macros with notification" option. (You don't want to have them choose "Enable all macros" for the security reasons already discussed.) If they make this choice, then even though the macros are disabled, they can still choose to run them by clicking a rather obvious button that will appear above the document—once it is loaded—and just below the ribbon.

Another possible solution, available for all versions of Word, is to place your sample macros in a template that is accessible to all the students through a network folder. Once in the template, then your students can create a document based on that template, and the macros should be available.

Perhaps the best solution, however, is to find a way to digitally sign your macros so that they are "trusted." If Word believes that macros are from a trusted source, it will load them automatically, even if the student has their security setting on High. Information on how to do this is quite involved. A good place to start looking for information is in the Word online Help system. Do a search for "Security Levels in Word."