Microsoft defines macros as a series of commands and instructions that you group together as a single command to accomplish a task automatically. They can be used to help automate processes in Office documents to save time and cut down on repetitive tasks, however they can also be exploited to install malicious software on your computer. In helping to protect your computer and information SUNY New Paltz requires user intervention to run macros in Office, which can help when opening documents from either unknown sources or from compromised senders.
When you open a document that contains a macro you will be prompted to enable content from the yellow ribbon at the top of the document
!! Warning - if you received the document from an untrustworthy source or it seems out of place (like a word document purportedly from FedEx when you weren't expecting anything) do not run any macros !!
Another pop up that you might see is the one below
If you are expecting to run macros click on the enable macros button, if you are not expecting a macro enabled document click on disabled macros
If you do not see the enable content button but instead see the following error or something similar you may have to allow the file to be trusted
Find the file in File Explorer or you can open from the Recent Files list
Right click the file and select the open file location option
Right click the file and select properties, under the General Tab, check the box for Security: This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer - unblock
Try to open the file now and you should be able to enable macros in the document you were trying to use