A warning will often appear in Microsoft Office 2016 applications such as Word if you include a hyperlink to an EXE or other type of file that could be harmful to your system. The message will read:
Microsoft Office has identified a potential security concern.
This location may be unsafe.
Hyperlinks can be harmful to your computer and data. To protect your computer, click only those hyperlinks from trusted sources.
Do you want to continue?
A registry edit will prevent this warning from appearing. Just follow these steps:
- Hold down the Windows Key and press “R“.
- Type “regedit“, then press “Enter“.
- Expand the plus sign next to HKEY_CURRENT_USER
- then Software
- then Policies
- then Microsoft
- then Office
- then 16.0
- then Common
- Select the “Common” key, select “New” on the “Edit” menu, and then click “Key“.
- Type “Security“, and then press “Enter“ to name the key.
- On the “Edit” menu, point to “New“, and then select “DWORD Value“.
- Type “DisableHyperlinkWarning“, and then press “Enter“ to name the entry.
- In the right pane, right-click “DisableHyperlinkWarning“, and then select “Modify“.
- In the “Edit DWORD Value” dialog box, select “Decimal“, and then type “1” under “Value data“.
- Close Regedit and restart the computer.
The warning message about hyperlinks should no longer appear when you attempt to open files from Office applications. This will apply to Word and Excel.
Jon Evans says
May 28, 2019 at 11:43 amThanks. Your solution actually worked. I tried a few others and was very frustrated.
Chaleunsouk says
March 16, 2019 at 6:15 pmWhat about Microsoft PowerPoint?
I have a problem with clicking the external link from PowerPoint presentation to .swf file.
Could you please help me to solve this issue?
Thank you
Connie says
January 1, 2019 at 6:31 amHi,
I use Office 365 and not one of the solutions worked for me.
Not sure why office 365 is not on the registry keys?
I have entered the key as suggested under a number of places in the registry, but to no avail.
Tom the Toolman says
December 7, 2018 at 6:25 pmStill nothing working for me. I can launch .jpg images without the warning but not .png images. Dumb.
I put that key in several places, found here and elsewhere, verified the Trust Center stuff, nothing works.
Patrick says
November 2, 2018 at 2:13 pmThis post helped indirectly – there were references to other sites & links which led me to ultimately find that I had to have the following registry key:
HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Security DisableHyperlinkWarning = 1
Kitefight says
September 7, 2018 at 4:17 amWorks like a charm!!
Thanks for the tips.
ehsan says
January 25, 2018 at 8:40 amthanks alot it works
Rafal says
September 3, 2017 at 11:56 pmIt worked, but in different path… for me it was HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common which means it wasnt under Policies and wasn’t folder 16.0 but mine was 15.0
CMM says
July 19, 2017 at 1:07 pmThe solution here worked for me. Hard to believe a Registry entry is required to control this.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2016-powerpoint/enable-or-disable-hyperlink-warnings-for-office/b6ddd70a-3b57-45b2-87ae-bc6b1dadf229
Åsa says
June 13, 2017 at 5:18 amI followed your instructions but the problem remains. Im at a university computer though using dropbox so maybe I need to change at home on my own computer?
Why is this problem occuring? I haven´t even linked anything, just been using normal excelfiles trying to do diagrams.
Mike says
May 5, 2017 at 4:47 pmI followed the steps above but in step 9, when I select Decimal, it switches back to Hexadecimal after I input 1 then enter…am I doing something wrong?…cheers Mike
Andrew says
May 1, 2017 at 3:49 pmFor anyone else, the key is wrong (leave out Policy)
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common
W Benedek says
January 18, 2017 at 10:55 amHello,
My previous comment indicated the instruction is outdated. It was not quite correct. I mixed up Office 2013 and Office 2016 which are different.
Nonetheless, the procedure did not work for me after restart. When I had to change the value of the DWord to 1, I was not sure what to do. Below are the details.
I had two entries under ‘DisableHyperlinkWarning’.
(Default)
DisableHyperlinkWarning
Each of the above has two applicable entries in the dropdown panel, ‘Modify…’ and ‘Modify Binary Data’. I entered 1 in each of these. I am afraid it may not have been correct. (I was going to include screen shots, but the comment box does not permit it.)
My computer is a Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro, which was originally Windows 8.1 with Office 2013. Now it is running Windows 10.
Could somebody help me to find the right way to handle this?
Thank you,
Doug says
September 26, 2016 at 9:48 amMitch,
Thanks for providing such great help to us pseudo weekend not tech types.
I facilitate workshops and use PowerPoint extensively. I use hyperlinks to bring up some of my video files that are on my laptop. Every time I click on a hyperlink I get that message window. I’ve been clicking through the message but, it’s a very unprofessional thing for my participants to see.
I’m using Office 2016. Windows 7 Pro. I followed the instruction above but, my registry shows a slightly different path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
/Software
/Policies
/Microsoft
/Office (Under the Key Office there are the following Keys:
/11.0
/12.0
/13.0
/14.0
/15.0
/16.0/Common
/15 does not have a Common (Key) location but, /16 does so I created the “DisableHyperlinkWarning” DWORD in the /16.0/Common Key and it still doesn’t work.
Am I doing something wrong?
Pefdsd says
August 16, 2016 at 8:15 pmI only use Excel 2016 and not Office, when I get to the Microsoft folder there are no Office or Excel folders to choose?
Mitch Bartlett says
July 30, 2016 at 8:55 pmOnly works for your computer.
JoAn says
July 29, 2016 at 1:58 pmIf I send the same file to someone else.. will THEY get that error even tho I’ve fixed it on my side?