Microsoft is making a big change to how its Office software files are stored. Starting in the next few weeks, users will be able to password protect their Office files. This will make it much harder for anyone to access your work or personal documents without your permission. This change is part of Microsoft’s effort to make Office more secure and protect users’ data from unauthorized access. Microsoft has also created a new security feature in Office that helps you keep track of who has accessed your files and when. This information can help you prevent someone from accessing your data without your permission. If you’re not comfortable with this new security feature, you can still password protect your Office files. However, if you do choose to password protect your files, be sure to remember the four-digit code that Microsoft has provided for this purpose. This code can be found on the bottom of each file in the Office program’s main window.
“The default is more secure and is expected to keep more users safe, including home users and information workers in managed organizations,” says Kellie Eickmeyer, a principal PM at Microsoft, in a blog post.
People would have malicious macros inside Office files, so when you ran them, they could install malware. When this change goes live, Microsoft will make it so clicking on these macros won’t run them by default in Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, and Word.
The specific wording of the change is “VBA macros obtained from the internet will now be blocked by default.” Basically, that means that when you download an Office file and open it, any VBA macros within it will be blocked automatically and you’ll have to manually override for each file.
Unfortunately, that also means that legitimate macros will also not work. If a coworker sends you an Excel file with VBA macros in it, you’ll need to manually enable them through the file’s properties menu. It’s an extra step, but considering how prevalent these malicious macros are, it might be worth it.
As far as when this change will go live, Microsoft said that it plans to add it to Version 2203, starting with Current Channel (Preview) in early April 2022. It’ll roll out to other Office update channels later, though the company didn’t get more specific.
