How to Turn Off “Protected View” in Microsoft Office 2013

Did you just open a document in Microsoft Word 2013 and nothing is happening? Oh, that’s right….. You forgot to click on that annoying, little, yellow button on the top of the window. Welcome to the world of Protected View in Microsoft Office 2013.

As annoying as it may be, there are valid reasons for this security feature in Office 2013, which first appeared in Office 2010. As explained by the Microsoft Office Engineering Team…

“Files from the Internet and from other potentially unsafe locations can contain viruses, worms, or other kinds of malware that can harm your computer. To help protect your computer, files from these potentially unsafe locations are opened in Protected View. By using Protected View, you can read a file and see its contents while reducing the risks..”

It goes without saying that you shouldn’t open a document from a sender that you don’t know. If you’re ready to turn off this annoying alert permanently, here’s how you can do it:

1. Open any Office 2013 application (Ex: Word or Excel).

2. Click on Office or File button, and select Options.

3. Under Options select “Trust Center” in the left pane.

4. Click on Trust Center Settings in the right pane.

5. Click on the Protected View in the left pane of “Trust Center” window.

6. Check/Uncheck Protected Mode Options below to fit your needs

If you want to take advantage of this security feature in a customized way, you can actually go back to step 6 and set specific Trusted Publishers, Locations and Documents right from this Window.

Unfortunately, you need to apply these setting to each Microsoft Office application individually.

Hope this tip is helpful and saves you some time!

Click here to learn how to Turn Off Enable Editing in Microsoft Office 2010.