WD97: Macro Virus Warning Displayed When No Macros Exist in File

When you open a Word 97 document or template, you get the following macro virus warning, although the document or template does not contain any macros:

When you delete macros from a document or template, some macro storage components are left behind. The macro virus protection feature finds this information, and the warning message is displayed.

Use one of the following methods to create a new Word document that does not contain Word macro storage components.

Method 1: Copy All Information to a New Word File

Create a new document or template and then copy all text, styles, AutoText entries, and so forth, but do not copy any macros to the new file. To create a new Word file, do one of the following:

• Copy and paste the document to a new file. To do this, follow these steps:
  
  
  1. Press CTRL+END to go to the bottom of your Word document.
  2. Press CTRL+SHIFT+HOME to select everything from the end of the file to the beginning of the file.
  3. On the Edit menu, click Copy.
  4. On the File menu, click New. On the General tab, click Blank Document, and then click OK.
  5. On the Edit menu, click Paste.
  6. On the File menu, click Save As and save your new Word document with a new file name.
  -or-
• Insert your file into a new Word document. To do this, follow these steps:
  
  
  1. On the File menu, click New. On the General tab, click Blank Document, and then click OK.
  2. On the Insert menu, click File.
  3. In the Insert File dialog box, select your problem file, and then click OK.
  4. On the File menu, click Save As and save your new Word document.
  -or-
• Create a new Word template from the problem template. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. On the File menu, click New.
  2. Select your problem template. Under Create New, click Template, and then click OK.
  3. On the File menu, click Save As and save your new template.

Method 2: Save the Word File as Rich Text Format (RTF)

1. Delete all the macros from the file.
2. On the File menu, click Save As.
3. In the Save As dialog box, under Save As Type, click Rich Text Format, and then click OK.
4. Close and then reopen the RTF file that you just saved.
5. On the File menu, click Save As.
6. In the Save As dialog box, in the Save as type box, click Word Document (*.doc), and then click OK.
7. Close and reopen the document. The macro storage components have been reset.

The macro virus warning no longer appears when you open the document.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Macro storage components are not present in a Word document or template until you store a macro in the file. These components exist as supporting structures for the existence and storage of macros in a file. When you delete all of the macros in a file, the macro storage components are not removed. The macro virus warning feature of Microsoft Word 97 detects the macro storage components in the file and presents the macro virus warning when you open the file.

To remove macros from a Word document, do the following:

1. Open the file in Word.
2. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros.
3. In the Macros dialog box, select a macro name, and then click Delete. This removes the macro from the file.
4. Repeat step 3 for each of the macros that you want to remove.

To turn off macro virus protection, do the following:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the General tab.
2. Clear the Macro Virus Protection check box, and then click OK.

NOTE: Microsoft does not recommend that you disable the macro virus protection warning even if you have an updated macro virus protection software program installed on your system.