How to disable hyperlink warning messages in Office 2003

This step-by-step article describes how to prevent Microsoft Office 2003 programs from displaying a warning message every time that you click a hyperlink in an Office 2003 program.

In Office 2003, when you click a hyperlink or an object that links to an executable file, you may receive the following error message: Note This behavior occurs regardless of your security level settings. To locate your security level settings, on the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Security. To disable the hyperlink warnings in Office 2003 when an HTTP:// or an FTP:// address is used, you must create a new registry subkey. To do this, follow these steps.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open dialog box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. In Registry Editor, locate and then click one of the following registry subkeys:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common
   Notes
   • You only have to modify one of these registry subkeys, not both of them.
   • If the
     HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common
     registry subkey does not exist, you may have to manually create it.
4. After you click the registry subkey, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click Key.
5. Type Security, and then press ENTER to name the key.
6. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
7. Type DisableHyperlinkWarning, and then press ENTER to name the entry.
8. In the right pane, right-click DisableHyperlinkWarning, and then click Modify.
9. In the Edit DWORD Value dialog box, click Decimal, and then type 1 under Value data.
   
   Note A value of 0 enables the hyperlink warning message, and a value of 1 disables the warning message.
10. Click OK.
11. Quit Registry Editor.

When you open either TIF graphics or Microsoft Document Imaging (MDI) files, you may receive the following warning message, even when you have already implemented the registry key in this article:This additional warning message comes from HLINK.dll when link navigation is handled. You can differentiate the Microsoft Office hyperlink warning message from the HLINK warning message by looking for quotation marks around the file path in the warning message. The Office message contains quotation marks, the HLINK message does not. The warning message tries to determine if the file type itself is unsafe by checking the extension, progid, classid, and mime type of the document.

Note You may still receive a warning message from Microsoft Windows. If you continue to receive a warning message after you follow the methods that are descibed in this article, use one of the following methods to resolve this issue.

Method 1: Turn off the "Confirm open after download" option for the file type that you are trying to open

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Double-click My Computer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
3. On the File Types tab, select the appropriate file extension (for example, WMV) in the Registered File Types box, then click the Advanced button.
4. Click to clear the Confirm open after download check box, then click the OK button.
5. Click the Close button on the Folder Options dialog box.

Method 2: Disable the warning message by modifying the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WMVFile\EditFlags registry subkey

Use this method if the warning message affects multiple computers. To disable the warning message, follow these steps.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WMVFile\EditFlags
3. Click the EditFlags DWORD value, and then click Rename on the Edit menu.
4. Type a new name for the DWORD value, and then press ENTER.
5. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD value.
6. Type EditFlags, and then press ENTER.
7. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
8. Type 10000 (Hexadecimal), and then click OK.

To re-enable the warning message, follow these steps.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WMVFile\EditFlags
3. Click EditFlags, and then click Modify on the Edit menu.
4. Type 0 (Hexadecimal), and then click OK.