Article ID: 290949 - Last Review: March 23, 2006 - Revision: 3.0

You receive a macros are disabled message when you run a macro in Word 2003 or Word 2002

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This article was previously published under Q290949
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SYMPTOMS

When you open a document that contains macros, you may not be prompted with the "Enable or Disable Macros" message. When you try to run the macro, you may receive the following message:
The macros in the project are disabled. Please refer to the online help or documentation of the host application determine how to enable macros.
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CAUSE

The macro security level is set to High. Because of the history of macro viruses, the security level is set to High by default.
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WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, close the document and change the macro security level to Medium. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. On the Tools menu, click Options and then click Macro Security.
  2. On the Security Level tab, click to select Medium, and then click OK.
  3. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Microsoft Word.

    NOTE: Though there is no warning message telling you to restart. You must quit and restart Microsoft Word for the security level change to take effect.
This sets the security level to Medium. You will see a prompt to enable or disable macros when you reopen the document.
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APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Office Word 2003
  • Microsoft Word 2002 Standard Edition
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Keywords: 
kbmacro kbsecurity kbprb KB290949
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