Summary
This article provides guidance for users for disabling the Equation Editor in Office and WordPad by manually creating and setting registry entries.
More Information
Equation Editor (Microsoft Equation 3.0) is a component that is included in Microsoft Office for compatibility with equations that were written in a version earlier than Office 2007. Users who want to disable the Equation Editor component can manually create and set registry entries for Microsoft Office. If you do so, some equation objects may not function correctly or be available to the user.
Use the following information to create and set the registry entries.
Warning: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you could cause serious problems that could require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using the Registry Editor incorrectly. Use the Registry Editor at your own risk. For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or view the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe.
Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Outlook, and Visio) and WordPad
|
Office version |
Registry subkey |
|
Office 2007 and later |
Update the following registry subkey by changing the DWORD value: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Common\COM Compatibility\{0002CE02-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}] "Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400 Delete the following entries: [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{0002CE02-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Equation.3] |
|
Office 2007 and later, x86 Office on x64 Windows |
Update the following registry subkey by changing the DWORD value: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Office\Common\COM Compatibility\{0002CE02-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}] "Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400 Delete the following entries: [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{0002CE02-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Equation.3] |
Effect of disabling the Equation Editor component
The following table displays the messages that users see in a given situation when the registry subkeys have been enabled and Equation Editor is disabled. There is a difference in the messages between Microsoft Office 2007 and other versions of Office.
|
Office version |
Steps taken |
Message |
|
Office 2016, 2013, and 2010 |
Double-click and edit Equation Editor 3.0 object Right-click and edit Equation Editor 3.0 object |
"One or more objects in this file have been disabled due to your policy settings." |
|
Office 2016, 2013, and 2010 |
Insert > Object > Equation Editor 3.0 |
"This object cannot be inserted due to your policy settings." |
|
Office 2007 |
Double-click and edit Equation Editor 3.0 object Right-click and edit Equation Editor 3.0 object |
"References to external linked OLE files have been blocked." |
|
Office 2007 |
Insert > Object > Equation Editor 3.0 |
"This component cannot be inserted at this location in the document." |
How to re-enable the Equation Editor component
To re-enable Equation Editor, users must follow these steps:
-
Delete the registry subkey in Registry Editor.
-
Repair the Office installation through Control Panel. See Repair an Office application.
|
Office version |
Registry subkey |
|
Office 2007 and later versions |
Delete the following entry: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Common\COM Compatibility\{0002CE02-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}] Repair the Office installation. |
|
Office 2007 and later, x86 Office on x64 Windows |
Delete the following entry: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Office\Common\COM Compatibility\{0002CE02-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}] Repair the Office installation. |
