Set a preference for macro security in Office for Mac

  • 2 minutes to read
  • Contributors
    • Daniel H. Brown

Applies to: Office for Mac, Office 2019 for Mac, Office 2016 for Mac

In Office for Mac, there are three levels of macro security available, as seen in the following screen shot:

Shows the macro security options for Security & Privacy

If you're an admin, you might want to configure macro security for your users, in either of the following ways:

  • Set a default setting, which users can change.

  • Force a particular setting, which users can't change.

In either case, you can configure this setting by using a preference. The following is the information that you need to set the preference:
Domain
com.microsoft.office
Key
VisualBasicMacroExecutionState
Possible values
DisabledWithWarnings (default)
DisabledWithoutWarnings
EnabledWithoutWarnings (not recommended)

Here is some additional information about using this preference:

  • It's available starting with version 15.33 of Office for Mac.

  • It applies to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

  • It's CFPreferences-compatible, which means that it can be set by using enterprise management software for Mac, such as Jamf Pro.