When opening old Microsoft Word documents, you may receive an error that prevents you from opening or editing your documents.
Issue
These instructions are to help you correct the Microsoft Word error:
"The function you are attempting to run contains macros or content that requires macro language support. When this software was installed, you (or your administrator) chose not to install support for macros or control."
Usually this is due to the concurrent installation of Adobe Acrobat and related software, which installs unsigned macro functions to provide extra "Save as PDF" features. These are not necessary in most cases, as macOS provides native PDF capability.
Adobe Acrobat is only necessary for advanced PDF functions. Many users can simply uninstall it and use the built-in tools in macOS.
Quick Resolution
You will need to run this action again after any Adobe Acrobat updates.
- Go to Applications and launch Self Service.
- Search or Browse for the "Remove Adobe PDF Macros from Office" action -- the icon is a red box with the Adobe cloud symbol and a yellow triangle with an exclamation point.
- Run the action. As of 23 Sep 2024 this has been updated with a new interactive version to give you information about the actions taken.
- Launch your Office app.
Another Resolution (only if suggested by the Help Desk)
- Open the Self-Service app
- Type Office in the search bar
- Select 'Remove MS Office 2016/2019 - Completely'
- Choosing the “completely” one instead of the “gently” one ensures that any pesky preferences files contributing to the error you’re experiencing are removed
- Give the computer some time to uninstall the software
- Restart the computer
- Once the computer powers on again, open the Self-Service app
- Type Office in the search bar
- Select Install Office Apps
- After the software is fully installed, please create a new document, save, and close it out
- Then try to reopen the document again