Troubleshoot macro security and warnings

Your network administrator might have enforced a security level for your workgroup or corporation to ensure that you use only macros that have been determined to be virus-free. For more information, see your network administrator.

You receive this message for one of the following reasons:

• The macro security level is set to Very High.
• The macro security level is set to High.
• The macro security level is set to High and the database is not signed.
• Access cannot detemine the status of the database's signature.

To avoid macro warnings, attach a digital signature to each macro project and add that signature to your list of trusted sources. If the macros are already signed and if you are willing to trust all macros signed with that certificate, add the signer to your list of trusted sources. This will stop macro warnings when your Security setting is set to High or Medium.

Note  The presence of a certificate does not guarantee that a macro is safe. Always review the details of the certificate— for example, look at the Issued to and Issued by fields to determine whether you trust its publisher, and look at the Valid from field to determine if the certificate is current.

A less secure option is to change the security level to Low. When your macro security level is set to Low, Microsoft Access will not provide warnings about macros. To reduce your risk of getting a macro virus infection on your computer, run specialized antivirus software that is up to date and that can check files and add-ins for macro viruses and use macros only from trusted sources.

• The database might not be from a trusted source    If the security level is set to Medium or High, and you open a database that contains digitally signed macros that are not from a trusted source, you receive a security warning. If you are sure you trust the macro developer, add the name to the list of trusted publishers on the Trusted Publishers tab in the Security dialog box (on the Tools menu, point to Macro, and click Security).
• The database might contain a macro virus    If you don't expect the database to contain a macro, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code, a form that contains an ActiveX control, a report that contains an ActiveX control, action query, data-definition query, pass-through query, or update query you might have a virus that is adding a macro virus to the database. Check your computer for viruses, and try to get an uninfected copy of the database from the source.
• The database contains legitimate macros   If you know these are legitimate and safe, you might want to digitally sign the database and then add your name to the list of trusted publishers on the Trusted Publishers tab in the Security dialog box (on the Tools menu, point to Macro, and click Security).