Disable/Enable Macros message on launch

[Peter]

Lately (since I installed my Palm PDA), whenever I launch
MSWord, is receive an error message:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10
\STARTUP\PALMAPP.DOT contains macros.

.... with buttons to "Disable Macros" or "Enable Macros".

Whichever button I select, everything then seems to
proceed normally after that. But it IS a hassle having to
go through that error message each time -- and it's
probably there for a reason.

I suspect this has something to do with a "digital
certificate", but don't really know if that's true, and --
if so -- what I need to do about it.

I'm running Word 2002 SP-2 in WinXP Pro.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Mark Tangard]

Peter,

See if this helps:

Click Tools­> Macros­> Security
Click the Trusted Sources Tab.
Check both of the boxes at the bottom of the tab. (Probably
only 'Trust installled add-ins and templates' is checked).

Now close and reopen Word.

 

[Peter]

Thanks for the reply, Mark, but I've just checked and BOTH
those boxes were already checked. But under "Trusted
Sources" I see only Adobe listed -- nothing for any Palm
PDA add-ins or macros. Does that give us any clues?

Peter

 

[Peter]

Well, Jay, you were right: I moved palmapp.dot as you
suggested and the warnings stopped. But do you think I'll
still have access to that template when my Palm calls for
it? And why was I never able to label the dot or the
macro as being from a "trusted source"?

Either way, thank you very much.

Peter

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi, Peter,

The Palm software doesn't call directly to the palmapp.dot template; it
calls to Word (which is registered in Windows as the handler for *.doc
files) and expects the macros from palmapp.dot to be loaded automatically as
Word starts. As long as the template is in one of the two Startup folders,
those macros will be available whenever Word is running. However, they
certainly aren't necessary, just as Suzanne suggested -- I deleted
palmapp.dot from my system long ago and never missed it.

As far as what's a trusted source: Word doesn't have any mechanism for
trusting specific templates or macros. It trusts certain locations,
including the Startup folder you moved the template into and the User
Templates location; and it can trust security certificates that are attached
to specific templates (but palmapp.dot doesn't have a certificate).

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word

Well, Jay, you were right: I moved palmapp.dot as you
suggested and the warnings stopped. But do you think I'll
still have access to that template when my Palm calls for
it? And why was I never able to label the dot or the
macro as being from a "trusted source"?

Either way, thank you very much.

Peter

 

[Peter]

Thanks, Jay, for the lucid explanation. Don't know what
I'd do without you guys!