This article explains what a trusted publisher is, why it is more secure to use only functionality that was created by trusted publishers, and how you can add or remove trusted publishers from the Trusted Publishers list in the Trust Center for the Microsoft Office system.In this article

What is a trusted publisher?

A publisher is a developer who has created a macro, ActiveX control, add-in, or other application extension for use by you and other people. Before you can considered a publisher to be trustworthy, you need to know who the person is and whether the person's credentials are valid. Trusted publishers are reputable developers who meet all of the following criteria:

If you try to run published code that does not meet all these criteria, the Trust Center disables the code by default, and the Message Bar appears to notify you of a potentially unsafe publisher.message bar

If you click Options on the Message Bar, a security dialog box opens, giving you the option to enable the content, leave it disabled, or explicitly trust the publisher. See the next section for how to make a secure decision before you click an option.

Note In Microsoft Office Outlook and Microsoft Office Publisher, security alerts appear in dialog boxes, not in the Message Bar.

Add a developer to the Trusted Publishers list

When a security dialog box appears, you have the option to leave the macro disabled, enable the macro, or explicitly trust the publisher. You should enable the macro only if you are sure it is from a trustworthy source.

Microsoft Office security options

You can explicitly trust the macro developer by clicking Trust all documents from this publisher in the security dialog box.

This option appears only if the signature is valid. Clicking this option means that all software from that publisher will be trusted.

Important If you receive a warning indicating there is no signature present or that the signature is invalid, you should not enable the content or trust the publisher unless you are sure the code comes from a trustworthy source. For example, if the document that contains the macro was sent to you in e-mail, it is important that you know who the sender is and that you expected the e-mail message. If not, contact the source of the document for more information before you click an option. Similarly, before you download files from a Web site, make sure the Web site is safe. For details, see .

Remove a developer from the Trusted Publishers list

  1. Do the following in these Microsoft Office system programs:

    Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Access

    1. Click the Microsoft Office Button button image, and then click Program Name Options, where Program Name is the name of the program you are in, for example, Word Options.
    2. Click Trust Center, click Trust Center Settings, and then click Trusted Publishers.

    Visio, Outlook, Publisher, or InfoPath

    1. On the Tools menu, click Trust Center.
    2. Click Trusted Publishers.
  2. In the Trusted Publishers list, click the name you want to remove, and then click Remove.

Remove a developer from the Prior Trusted Sources list

The Prior Trusted Sources list is based on trusted publishers who were used in earlier versions of Office. In versions earlier than Microsoft Office 2003, Office kept its own list of trusted publishers separate from Windows Internet Explorer. In Office 2003, Office and Internet Explorer began to share the same trusted publishers list. For example, if you used Internet Explorer to download an ActiveX control signed by Microsoft and you trusted the publisher when prompted, any content that you downloaded from Microsoft Office Online that was signed by Microsoft was also trusted by Office programs. The developers in the Prior Trusted Sources list are still trusted, but you cannot add to this list. If you no longer trust a publisher in the list, you can remove the publisher by doing the following:

  1. Do the following in these Microsoft Office system programs:

    Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Access

    1. Click the Microsoft Office Button button image, and then click Program Name Options, where Program Name is the name of the program you are in, for example, Word Options.
    2. Click Trust Center, click Trust Center Settings, and then click Trusted Publishers.

    Visio, Outlook, Publisher, or InfoPath

    1. On the Tools menu, click Trust Center.
    2. Click Trusted Publishers.
  2. In the Prior Trusted Sources list, click the name you want to remove, and then click Remove.

View the certificate for a name in the Trusted Publishers list

Viewing the certificate for a developer name allows you to see details such as who issued the certificate and when the certificate was issued. For more information about certificates, see .

  1. Do the following in these Microsoft Office system programs:

    Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Access

    1. Click the Microsoft Office Button button image, and then click Program Name Options, where Program Name is the name of the program you are in, for example, Word Options.
    2. Click Trust Center, click Trust Center Settings, and then click Trusted Publishers.

    Visio, Outlook, Publisher, or InfoPath

    1. On the Tools menu, click Trust Center.
    2. Click Trusted Publishers.
  2. In the Trusted Publishers list, click the name of the publisher whose certificate you want to view, and then click View.