Microsoft Takes the Wraps Off Office 2016 Macro Protection

As long as I can remember, macros have been a huge potential for problem with Microsoft Office. Whether they were deliberately infectious or just poorly written, bad macros can halt Office apps, freeze the entire system, and even cause corrupted files.

It’s about time, but Microsoft is releasing a new feature for Office 2016 that effectively blocks highly suspect macros.

According to the feature announcement, this new feature:

Controlled using Group Policy, administrators can control how macro access works in each application and protect against local, Internet, and email-based macros. The GPO Administrative templates for Office 2016 are required, and once applied the settings can be accessed at:

Administrative templates > Microsoft Word 2016 > Word options > Security > Trust Center

The setting to configure is called:

Block macros from running in Office files from the Internet