Problem with Add-on Macros

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 3, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


There are dozens (if not hundreds) of add-ons available for Word. Many of them make changes to your toolbars and menus so that whatever features they enable are readily accessible from within Word itself. These changes, more often than not, are implemented through macros that automatically execute when you first run Word.

There is a downside to this, of course. Word, when it starts, will ask if you want to enable macros, depending on your security settings. If you know that your add-on contains the only macros installed, then you have no problem—you can simply enable them. How do you know, however, that some other macros haven't infected your system and you would be enabling them when you only want the add-on enabled? This is, indeed, a perplexing problem.

Depending on your comfort level and your knowledge about what is installed on your system, you may choose to simply not use add-ons. For some people this may seem like a harsh choice, but it is nonetheless a viable choice. If you have already installed some add-ons, then you may need to remove them. If the add-on didn't include an "uninstall" option to get rid of the Word modifications, then you should jump up and down and scream at the vendor—good software should always include a way to do an uninstall.

If the software doesn't have an uninstall option, however, you can generally remove the effects by remembering where macros are stored—in templates. If you delete the templates, the macros are also deleted. If you feel comfortable with the process, you can also open the questionable templates and simply remove the macros using the VBA Editor. If this still doesn't get rid of the macros, then you should also check the Startup folder to make sure there are no documents being loaded from there. You can find the location of the Startup folder in this manner:

  1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
  2. Make sure the File Locations tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The File Locations tab of the Options dialog box.

  4. In the list of File Types, choose Startup.
  5. Click on Modify.

The resulting dialog box indicates the location of the Startup folder being used by Word. You can close the dialog boxes and exit Word, and then examine the contents of the folder using Windows. If you see documents or files you don't recognize, then move them to a different folder. Now they will not be loaded when Word starts, and you may remove your problem.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1598) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Counting Colors of Cells

Many people use colors of cells as a common method of communicating information in a worksheet. If you need a way to ...

Discover More

Generating Double-Digit Random Numbers

Normally you use the RAND and RANDBETWEEN functions to generate random numbers. What if you want to generate random ...

Discover More

Checking for Valid Hyperlinks

If you have a document containing a lot of hyperlinks, it would be cool if there was a way to check all those hyperlinks ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Selecting to the Next Punctuation Mark

Writing macros often involves selecting different parts of your document so that some sort of processing can be ...

Discover More

Repaginating Your Document in a Macro

When processing a document with a macro, you may need to have the macro repaginate the text. It's easy to do using the ...

Discover More

Word's Object Model

Understanding Word's Object Model and how it relates to macros in VBA.

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 9 - 8?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.