We are just a few weeks away from one of the software launches of the year, we are referring to the new version of Microsoft’s office suite, Office 2024. Here we are going to find a good number of new features, although not all of them will work as we would like.
We must keep in mind that the software giant will not only focus here on everything related to the functionality of its programs. It will also put certain measures in place to take care of security when using documents in Word, Excel or PowerPoint. Let’s say that Office 2024 will be launched next October and we already know a good part of the changes that will occur.
But, primarily to take care of its customers, after the release of Office 2024, Microsoft will disable ActiveX controls by default. This is something that will be done in the applications known to everyone, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Visio.
For those of you who don’t know, ActiveX is a legacy software component that has been around since 1996. It allows developers to create interactive objects that can be embedded into Office documents to enhance their functionality. The new feature we’ll see in the new version of the suite is that Microsoft will begin disabling ActiveX controls in these Office documents in desktop applications.
The change itself will also be extended to Microsoft 365 applications in April 2025. However, this may present a problem for many users around the world. This elimination may negatively affect old documents that were generated at the time in previous versions of Office.
How to fix the problem with ActiveX in Office
This change will be implemented in the default settings of the programs mentioned above. Users will therefore no longer be able to create or interact with ActiveX objects in Office documents when it is finally implemented. Some existing ActiveX objects will continue to appear as static images in documents, but users will no longer be able to interact with them.
This means that many older documents that included these elements will break and will not work as they should. In addition, users of non-commercial versions of Office will receive notifications to make them aware of this. However, the good news is that we have the possibility to reverse the situation so that we can continue working with these older documents that contain ActiveX elements.
Users who need to enable ActiveX controls in their Office files can return to the previous default settings. This can be done through the Trust Center Settings dialog box. Here we will have the possibility to activate the use of these software components. Simply select the Ask me before enabling all controls with minimal restrictions option.
This is a change that Microsoft is probably making due to the security problems with ActiveX. These include Zero Day vulnerabilities that are exploited to deploy all kinds of malware and steal user data. These security flaws have been detected over time in well-known programs such as Word and Excel.
