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When enabled, Protected View opens Office documents in read-only mode with macros and other content disabled. To protect yourself and your computer from malware and other threats, Microsoft offers a feature called Protected View. Opening Microsoft Office documents from unknown sources can present a security risk because such files can carry viruses.
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We may be compensated by vendors who appear on this page through methods such as affiliate links or sponsored partnerships. Microsoft's Protected View feature tries to protect you against potentially malicious files and documents. If you need to add protection to your document, you have to check with Microsoft Office for other options to protect the document, such as restricting people from editing a file or protecting the file with a password.How to work with Protected View in Microsoft Office Remember, once you have removed the Protected View status of the file, you can’t bring it back. If there’s no option to do so, you have to check with the app’s settings or its own security setting if there’s another option for disabling the Protected View status of the file. Any spreadsheet, PowerPoint presentation or document that can be opened using any Microsoft Office program can have its Protected View status disabled this way. If you have other files who are on Protected View, you have to remove the Protected View status of each file using the process we discussed above.ĭon’t worry, this step is applicable to all Microsoft Office program files. This function applies on the selected file alone. Now, you can go ahead and open the file and you will not see the Protected View bar at the top of your document, slideshow or spreadsheet. Just tick this Unblock box and click Apply -> OK. Here, you can read the security message and then there’s an Unblock button. A dialog box will appear, and here, under the General tab, which usually is the one you see first, look for the Security section at the bottom. Once you see the file, right-click it and select Properties.
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To remove the protected view status of a file you have downloaded, just go to Windows Explorer and search for the file in the folders. Remove the Protected View of an Office File You will know that your file is in Protected View when you see a “Protected View” bar on top of your file with a message that serves as a warning, as files from the internet may contain viruses. You can actually remove the protected view for the files you open using any of the Microsoft Office programs. If you’re worried about having to start from scratch because you can’t open the file you need, worry not. Still, this shouldn’t stop you from working on the file.
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