ActiveX controls do not load or function as expected when you open a document with Office 2003 program

When you open an Office document, you may be prompted to grant permission for ActiveX controls to be loaded or to allow the controls to maintain persisted data, and some ActiveX controls may not load at all. Additionally, the ActiveX controls that are loaded do not behave as you expect.

This problem occurs when you try to open a file that contains ActiveX controls that are marked as unsafe for initialization (UFI) . By default, Office 2003 does to not load or activate ActiveX controls that are not marked safe for initialization (SFI). This problem also applies to the ActiveX controls that come with Office 2003.

To resolve this problem, apply the Office 2003 group policy template (office11.adm) to computers that are experiencing the problem. This template is available on the Office 2003 Resource Kit CD in the Core Tool Set . You can also download the Core Tool Set from the Office Resource Kit. For more information about how to do so, visit the following Microsoft Web site:To apply the group policy template, follow these steps:

1. Quit all Office programs.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. Type %WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\GPEDIT.MSC, and then click OK.
4. Under Computer Configuration, click Administrative Templates.
5. On the Action menu, click Add/Remove Templates.
6. Click Add, and then click to select the office11.adm file.
7. Click Open, and then click Close.
8. Expand the Administrative Templates branch, then expand the Microsoft Office 2003 branch.
9. Click Security Settings, and then click Unsafe ActiveX Initialization.
10. On the Action menu, click Properties.
11. On the Setting tab, click Disable if you want to turn off this policy.
    
    Click Enable to turn the policy on, and then set the Unsafe ActiveX Initialization behavior to one of the following:
    • Prompt user to use control defaults.
    • Prompt user to use persisted data.
    • Do not prompt.
12. After you make your choice, click Apply, then click OK.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.