Excel Macro Security Settings: What Each One Does

Excel macro security settings explained

Excel keeps four macro settings in the Trust Center, at File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Macro Settings. The default, Disable VBA macros with notification, is the right choice for almost everyone, and this page explains why the other three usually are not.

If the Developer tab is showing, its Macro Security button opens the same screen in one click.

TL;DR: Key takeaways

• Disable VBA macros with notification is the default. Keep it.
• Enable VBA macros runs everything with no prompt. Microsoft labels it not recommended.
• Except digitally signed macros is for organisations that sign their code, not individuals.
• Settings apply to Excel only, not to Word or PowerPoint.
• Changing these does not unblock a downloaded file. That is a different mechanism.

The four settings

Microsoft's descriptions are worth reading in full, but here is what each one means day to day.

Disable VBA macros with notification. Macros do not run, but Excel tells you a file contains them and offers to enable them. This is the default, and it is the only setting that lets you decide file by file.

Disable VBA macros without notification. Macros never run and Excel says nothing. Quiet, but you will not know a workbook was supposed to do something. This is the usual cause of a macro workbook that appears to do nothing at all.

Disable VBA macros except digitally signed macros. Unsigned macros are blocked. A macro signed by a publisher you already trust just runs. One signed by a publisher you have not trusted yet prompts you to trust them. Useful inside organisations that sign their own code, and of little use otherwise.

Enable VBA macros. Everything runs, with no prompt, from any source. Microsoft's own label ends with "potentially dangerous code can run." Do not use this to make a warning go away. If a macro will not run, find the actual cause instead.

Excel adds a checkbox for Enable Excel 4.0 macros when VBA macros are enabled. Leave it unticked. Excel 4.0 macros are a legacy format with a long history of abuse, and unticked means they stay disabled without notification.

The setting people actually want

Most people arriving at this screen are trying to stop a specific file from prompting them, and the Trust Center is not the best tool for that.

Enabling content on a file once marks it as a trusted document, and Excel stops asking for that file. Better still, put the files you trust in a trusted location and Excel skips checking them entirely, without weakening the setting that protects everything else.

That is the trade worth understanding. Changing the global setting lowers the bar for every workbook you ever open. A trusted location lowers it for one folder you control.

Two things these settings do not do

They do not apply to your other Office apps. Microsoft is explicit that macro settings change "only for the Microsoft 365 app that you are currently using." Setting Excel to prompt does nothing for Word.

They do not unblock a downloaded file. A file from the internet can be blocked by a separate mechanism that ignores your macro settings entirely. You can set macros to run without notification and a downloaded workbook will still refuse. That is the red banner case, covered in enabling macros when there is no enable button.

Trust access to the VBA project object model

This checkbox sits below the macro settings and is unrelated to running ordinary macros.

It controls whether code can programmatically read and modify the VBA project itself. Microsoft describes it as per-user and per-application, denied by default, which hinders "unauthorized programs from building harmful self-replicating code." Some legitimate add-ins and automation tools ask you to turn it on. Leave it off unless a tool you trust specifically requires it.

Frequently asked questions

What is the safest macro security setting in Excel?

Disable VBA macros with notification, the default. Macros cannot run on their own, but you are told when a file contains them and can allow them case by case. It is the only setting that keeps you informed without letting anything run unchecked. If you would rather avoid macro prompts entirely, Power Query covers many cleanup jobs without any VBA.

Why can't I change my macro settings?

Because your device is managed. Microsoft notes that on a work or school device the system administrator may prevent anyone from changing these settings. The controls appear greyed out, and the only route is to ask IT.

Does changing macro settings fix a blocked macro?

No. A file blocked because it came from the internet is stopped by a different mechanism, and no Trust Center setting overrides it. Unblock the file in its Properties, or add its folder as a trusted location.

Should I enable all macros to save time?

No. It removes every prompt for every workbook from every source, including files you did not expect to receive. If specific files are the problem, make them trusted documents or keep them in a trusted location instead.

Do these settings apply to Word and PowerPoint too?

No. Macro settings are per application. Changing them in Excel leaves Word, PowerPoint and Outlook exactly as they were, and each has to be set separately.

What to do next

Open the Trust Center once and confirm you are on the default, then leave it alone. If a particular workbook prompts you every time, a trusted location solves that without weakening anything else. For a file that refuses to run at all, the red banner article is the one you want. Every macro in our free tools library publishes its source so you can read it before allowing it.