Enable or disable hyperlink warning messages in Office programs

This step-by-step article describes how to enable or to disable the display of a warning message every time that you click a hyperlink in a Microsoft Office program.

More Information

This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, see How to back up and restore the registry in Windows.

In Microsoft Office applications, when you click a hyperlink or an object that links to an executable file, you receive the following warning message:

Opening "path/filename". Hyperlinks can be harmful to your computer and data. To protect your computer, click only those hyperlinks from trusted sources. Do you want to continue? 

This behavior occurs regardless of your security level settings.

To locate your security level settings, point to Macro on the Tools menu, and then click Security.

Additionally, when you open either TIFF images or Microsoft Document Imaging (MDI) files, you receive the following warning message:

Opening path/filename. Some files can contain viruses or otherwise be harmful to your computer. It is important to be certain that this file is from a trustworthy source. Would you like to open this file? 

You receive this warning message even when you have already implemented the registry key that this article describes. This warning message comes from the HLINK.dll file when link navigation is handled. You can differentiate the Microsoft Office hyperlink warning message from the HLINK warning message by looking for quotation marks around the file path in the warning message. The Microsoft Office message contains quotation marks. The HLINK message does not contain quotation marks. Microsoft Office tries to determine whether the file type itself is unsafe by checking the extension, the progid, the classid, and the MIME type of the document.

How to globally enable or disable hyperlink warnings

To enable or to disable the hyperlink warnings in Microsoft Office programs when an https:// address, a notes:// address, or an ftp:// address is used, you must create a new registry subkey. To do this, follow these steps:

• You have to modify only one of these registry subkeys. You do not have to modify both.
• If the Security subkey already exists, go directly to step 6 after you select the Security subkey.

Note A value of 0 enables the hyperlink warning message. A value of 1 disables the hyperlink warning message.

How to enable or disable hyperlink warnings per protocol

To disable the display of security warnings for a specific protocol, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate the following registry subkey: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\xx.0\Common\Security\Trusted Protocols\All ApplicationsNote In this subkey, replace "xx.0" with 12.0 for Office 2007, 14.0 for Office 2010, 15.0 for Office 2013, and 16.0 for Office 2016 and later.
3. Click the All Applications subkey.
4. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click Key.
5. Type the name of the protocol that you want to exclude. For example, to disable the display of a security warning for the "Notes:" protocol, type Notes:. Note Make sure that you include the colon (:) character.
6. Press Enter.
7. Exit Registry Editor.

If you still receive a warning message

After you disable warning messages, you may still receive a warning message from Microsoft Windows. If you continue to receive a warning message after you follow the steps in this article, use one of the following methods to resolve the issue.

Method 1 applies only to Windows XP and to earlier versions of Windows. For Windows Vista and for later versions of Windows, use method 2.

Method 1: Turn off the "Confirm open after download" option for the file type that you are trying to open

1. Double-click My Computer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
3. On the File Types tab, select the appropriate file name extension (for example, WMV) in the Registered File Types box, and then click Advanced.
4. Click to clear the Confirm open after download check box, and then click OK.
5. In the Folder Options dialog box, click Close.

Method 2: Modify the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\\EditFlags registry subkey

Use this method if the warning message affects multiple computers.

To disable the warning message, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate the following registry subkey: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\\EditFlags For example, if the file name extension is WMV, select HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WMVFile\EditFlags
3. Click EditFlags, and then click Rename on the Edit menu.
4. Type OldEditFlags, and then press ENTER.
5. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD value.
6. Type EditFlags, and then press ENTER.
7. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
8. In the Edit DWORD Value dialog box, click Hexadecimal under Base.
9. Type 10000, and then click OK.

To re-enable the warning message, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate the following registry subkey: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\\EditFlags
3. Click EditFlags, and then click Modify on the Edit menu.
4. Type 0, and then click OK.

Even after you follow these steps, you will receive the warning message if you open files under Protected View.

Did this fix the problem?

Check whether the problem is fixed. If the problem is fixed, you are finished with this section. If the problem is not fixed, you can contact support.