How to Enable Macros in Microsoft Excel

If you are a Microsoft Excel user, you must know there are so many great features that you can take advantage of. Enabling macros is one of the best features of Microsoft Excel. The developers use Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) codes to store macros in a workbook.

You can use macros to automate repeated tasks in Excel. However, macros can be a carrier of potential viruses threat to your computer. That’s why Microsoft Excel decided to disable macros by default. But in this article, we are going to teach you how to enable macros in Microsoft Excel in ways that shall not harm your computer.

Methods to Enable Macros in Microsoft Excel:

There are 6 methods to add the macros to the Microsoft Excel, you can follow any method given below.

Method 1: Enable Macros for Individual Workbook

When you open a macro-enabled workbook, you will receive a warning message that says, “Some active content has been disabled.” But in that same yellow bar of the “Security Warning,” you can see the “Enable Content” option. If you already know the macro present in the workbook is from a trusted source, then click on the “Enable Content” option to take advantage of the macro.

Method 2: Enable macros in the Microsoft Office Backstage View

You can also enable macros temporarily from the Microsoft Office Backstage view. Follow these steps.

After you open the workbook file, click on the File tab.
You have to click on “Enable Content” in the Security Warning bar.
You can see the “Enable All Content” option.
Click on the Enable All Content option and choose the “Always enable this document’s active content” option.
Now, you can use macros on that workbook.

Method 3: Enable Macros for one time only

By using this method, you will be able to enable macros temporarily for a workbook. When you reopen that workbook, you will receive the Security Warning again, and the macros will be disabled. Follow these steps.

Open the macro-enabled workbook in Excel.
Select the “File” option.
Then, you have to click on the “Enable Content” option in the Security Warning section.
Choose Advanced Options.
Go to the Microsoft Office Security Options dialog box.
Then, click on the “Enable content for this session” option for every macro present in that workbook.
Press “OK” and you are ready to use macros for that one session only.

Method 4: Change Macro Settings in the Trust Center Settings

You already know the macros are disabled in Microsoft Excel by default. But we are going to show you how you can change the macro settings in the Trust Center Settings option.

Note- When working in an organization, your system administrator might have modified the settings so that no one can change it. In this case, you have to take permission from the administrator.

Now, follow these steps to change macros settings in the Trust Center Settings.

Click on “File,” then choose “Options.”
Now, select the “Trust Center” option, then choose “Trust Center Settings.”
Choose the “Macro Settings” option.
Select one of the following options-
- Disable all macros without notifications: You won’t be able to run macros in that workbook.
- Disable all macros with notifications: You will receive a Security Warning, but you will be able to enable macros.
- Disable all macros except digitally signed macros: If the macros are created by VBA coders who have certificates from a commercial authority or a security administrator in your organization, then the macros will be enabled automatically. You won’t receive any Security Warning.
- Enable all macros (not recommended; potentially dangerous code can run): You will be able to run all the macros.
- Trust access to the VBA project object model: This option will allow other macros/ external analytics programs to modify macros.

Choose the option which suits your requirements.

Method 5: Enable macros permanently for a specific workbook

You can enable macros for a particular workbook by modifying settings in the Trusted Documents option. Generally, trusted workbooks are present in a private list, and they are associated with your Windows login. Still, you can make some changes in the Trusted Documents by following these steps given below.

Choose “File” and then click on “Options.”
On the left side, choose “Trust Center” and on the right side, select “Trust Center Settings.”
When the Trust Center dialog opens up, click on “Trusted Documents.”
You can choose “Clear” to clear the list of trusted workbooks.
If you want to disable the trusted documents, then check the box beside “Disable Trusted Documents” option.

Method 6: Add the workbook to a trusted location

If you move your workbook to your computer’s trusted location, then you can use macros on the workbook. The workbooks will open without any security warning. You can also add all your workbooks to the trusted location, follow these steps.

Go to File > Options.
In the left pane, select “Trust Center“, and then in the right pane, click on “Trust Center Settings.”
Select “Trusted Locations“
In the right pane, you can see all the trusted locations set by Excel.
Select the “Add new location” option.
You can see the Microsoft Office Trusted Location dialog box.
Here, you can enter the path of the folder you want to use. You can also choose the “Browse” option to go to your preferred folder.
If you want to add all the subfolders of that particular folder, you can check the box beside “Subfolders of this location are also trusted.“
In the Description tab, you can write a description of the macros’ folder. It can come useful while you are managing several locations. You can also choose to skip the Description option.
Click “OK,” and now you can enable macros in your Excel without any interruption.

Macros follow a set of sequences and can automate repeated tasks. Using macros can help you in saving time and energy. But if the macros are from hackers or hijackers and you enable them in your computer, you can lose valuable data and resources.

To save your files and data, Microsoft Excel chooses to disable macros. But if you know the macros’ creators, or you know the macros are from a trusted source, then there’s no worry. You can use our methods given above to enable macros in Excel. We hope this article was helpful. If you have any queries or feedback, please write down the comment in the below comment box.