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ascribe's avatar
ascribe
Copper Contributor
Sep 13, 2025

Macros crashed Word, then disappeared, now back again but not working

My problem started with a few macros in Word (Office 365) crashing Word, then the list macros, while still showing up with Alt+F8, disappeared from VBA. I played around with templates and such, and now have the VBA showing the whole list of macro scripts. However, there is a red scroll icon on my macros list and I have had the message "Your organizations administrator turned off the service required to use this feature", which is odd because I am the administrator (this is a home Office 365 subscription). So I can see the macros in VBA but I can't run any of them, nor can I create any new macros. How do I get my macros up and running again? (I tried to 'repair' Office, and after the full repair ended up with a version of Word that isn't as customised as it used to be.) And what might be the cause of this problem?

developer
office 365
windows 10
word

2 Replies

  • emmajohn's avatar
    emmajohn
    Copper Contributor
    Sep 30, 2025

    Hey there! Ugh that sounds sooo frustrating😐

    1st 

    Check Macro Security Settings:

    1. Go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings
    2. Click on Macro Settings
    3. Make sure it's not set to "Disable all macros without notification"  try selecting "Enable all macros"
    4. temporarily just to test
    5. Click OK and restart Word

    2nd 

    1. Since you mentioned templates, your Normal.dotm file might be corrupted:
    2. Close Word completely
    3. Press Windows Key + R, type %appdata%\microsoft\templates and press Enter
    4. Rename "Normal.dotm" to "Normal_old.dotm"
    5. Restart Word - it will create a fresh Normal template

    3rd

    1. Sometimes add-ins interfere:
    2. File > Options > Add-ins
    3. Look at the list of active add-ins
    4. Try disabling them temporarily to see if macros work

    4th

    1. Let's test if it's Word itself or something in your configuration:
    2. Hold Ctrl while opening Word
    3. Click "Yes" to start in Safe Mode
    4. See if you can run macros there - if yes, then it's an add-in or template issue

    Give these steps a try and let me know what happens...... Start with the security settings since that "administrator" message is the most immediate blocker. We will figure this out together..........🙂🙂

  • Kidd_Ip's avatar
    Kidd_Ip
    MVP
    Sep 28, 2025

    Try this:

     

    1. Enable Macros in Trust Center

    Go to:

    • File → Options → Trust Center → Trust Center Settings
    • Click Macro Settings
    • Choose:
      Trust access to the VBA project object model
    1. Add Your Templates to Trusted Locations

     

    • Go to Trusted Locations
    • Add the folder(s) where your macros or templates live (e.g., Normal.dotm, custom templates, etc.)

     

    1. Check File Format

    Make sure your macro-enabled documents are saved as:

    • .docm (not .docx, which doesn’t support macros)
    1. Repair Didn’t Fully Restore Settings

    Since you mentioned doing a repair:

    • It may have reset your customizations and macro settings.
    • Reapply your Trust Center settings and recheck your macro locations.

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