Tips, tricks, tools, and techniques for Microsoft Office

Microsoft has issued a security bulletin (and program patch) about a flaw that lets macros automatically execute in Word (versions 97 through 2002) documents. The potential for hacker mayhem is significant.

In typical use, Word's security mechanism guards against automatically running macros. In Word 97, for example, a pop-up window appears whenever Word opens a file and discovers a macro if that's the security setting you've chosen.

Here's how Microsoft describes it: "By default in Word 2000 and 2002, only macros that are signed by a trusted party are enabled; all others are disabled. In Word 97, if the document contains macros, the user is prompted regarding whether to enable them or disable them."

Unfortunately, it turns out that it is possible to modify a Word document so the security scanner won't recognize an embedded macro -- and lets the macro execute no matter what. (Microsoft doesn't give any details about what that modification is.) Given the power of the macro language, that's a huge security hole.

The company has posted patches for Word (for both Windows and the Mac) at: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS01-034.asp

While we don't know how widely such hacked files may be circulating, we suggest you apply the fix right away.

-- James E. Powell

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It's official - Office XP is now on store shelves. The question is - is it worth your money?

The press has taken a look at the early betas. I wrote an extensive evaluation of the first beta when I was Managing Editor of Reviews for Winmag.com. At that time I said I'd reserve judgment until the product actually shipped. The general consensus of my colleagues: nice product but not a compelling upgrade.

I sensed this might just be the case two months ago -- I found lots to like, but wasn't convinced Office XP was going to create much excitement. Back then I put the question to Office XP Product Manager David Jaffe, confessing to him that I, too, hadn't found anything that was a "must have" feature. Since working with the final version, I admit that I like some nice user interface touches XP introduced. But shell out my own money? I wasn't so sure. I asked David to convince me.

David's enthusiasm for the product is genuine. It's not just because he works for Microsoft that he thinks Office XP is worth a close look.

This week I'll discuss the first three of the seven reasons David gave me why you should upgrade - with my reactions to each. The first three focus on individual users. The other four, which I'll examine next week, benefit workgroups or corporations.

Reason #1: Office XP helps you take full advantage of the suite. David notes that Microsoft didn't want you to feel you needed retraining. Instead, the goal is to make features more "discoverable." David cites Web Queries (the technique of grabbing content from the Web and refreshing it in an Excel spreadsheet) as one example, and I'd have to agree. They are far, far easier to set up. When I selected a table of stock values from Quicken.com and pasted it into Excel, a small icon (called a Smart Tag) appeared with options to keep the original (source) formatting, make the data match the formatting of the existing cells, or create a refreshable Web Query. For those of us who didn't know you could control the formatting in a paste operation, that's a blessing. If you'd never even heard of a Web Query - all the better.

Verdict: On this point, I concur 100%. The program gives you far more information and puts the controls where you need them without being obtrusive.

Reason #2: The program is more reliable. David points to the improved ability of suite applications to recover from a crash. My experience from all the early betas bears this out - you're less likely to lose your work with Office XP. Of course, that's really a back-handed slap at Windows. It's problems with Windows that drive me crazy - system lock ups, unexplained behavior, and crashes. I'd rather Microsoft work on fixing all applications by fixing Windows - but it looks like we'll have to wait for the NT-inspired reliability of Windows XP before this comes to pass.

Verdict: True, but…

Reason #3: Better security. David notes that Outlook security protects against viruses, and since you can turn VBA "off" you can protect yourself from attacks that sneak in through VB code. XP lets administrators decide who gets what kind of file attachments. This may or may not be a blessing. The end user can't open an executable file (.EXE files), but you can open a Zip file. The logic: Zip files don't execute, so you can't accidentally run a program attached to an e-mail; Zip files take determined action on your part. True, but for the careful user such a restriction is a pain. Yes, you're protected from yourself…but it takes more work to remove the restriction. (These security changes can also be found as an upgrade on Microsoft's site.) The good news: the security settings are in a single place.

Verdict: Yes, but it's a mixed bag. Nice, but most features are already available.

Next week I'll explain some of the group- and corporate-oriented features that might persuade you to upgrade. I'll give you the bottom-line then, too.

No matter what the conclusion, rest assured that The Office Letter is devoted to helping you get the most out of Office -- be it Office 97, 2000, or XP.

-- James E. Powell

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Last Spot Edited

Q. When you explained how to write macros, you provided an example of a macro that opens the last document you've worked on as soon as you launch Word. Is there a way to refine that macro so it will also go to the last spot I was working on? --Jeffrey MacMillan

A. Lotus 1-2-3 did it. Excel does it. Why can't Word take you to the last place you worked on in your previous session? The good news is, it's not a bug, it's a feature (or lack thereof). You can overcome this shortcoming with a couple of simple macros. The first one, FileSave, replaces the internal save procedure with steps you provide. It creates a bookmark (called "here") at the position of the cursor, then saves the document. The second macro is AutoExec (see above URL for more), to which I've added a line that takes you to the bookmark in the last file you worked on.

Add the following macros to your collection:

Sub AutoExec()
'
'
RecentFiles(1).Open
Selection.GoTo What:=wdGoToBookmark, Name:="here"
End Sub


AND:


Sub FileSave()
'
With ActiveDocument.Bookmarks
.Add Range:=Selection.Range, Name:="here"
End With
ActiveDocument.Save
End Sub

Since FileSave() will replace all your save routines (Ctrl-S, File/Save, etc.), it will add a bookmark to any file you save. NOTE: When you open a file via the File/Open menu, you can go to that bookmark by pressing F5 (Go To), clicking Bookmark, selecting "here," then clicking the Go To button.


Turn Off Headers

Q: I have a 30-page document created in Word 97. My boss wants the first 26 to have a header, and last 4 not to have a header. I created a new page section break. Heck, I even created two! Still, either every page has a header, or no page has a header. Please help. -- Jacki

A: First of all, for the benefit of those readers who've never used sections, here's the skinny. The Sections feature in Word lets you identify different parts of a document for the sake of formatting, headers/footers, and so on. To designate the beginning of a Section, go to the end of the previous section, select Insert, Break and click next to Next Page. If you created a continuous section, click the paragraph mark button on your toolbar, locate the Section Break marker and delete it. Next, insert the section break as discussed above.

On the next page, double-click the header or footer you want to modify (if you don't see the header, select View, Print Layout). Delete or edit the header to reflect the new section, then click the Same As Previous button on the floating Header/Footer toolbar.


Making the CUT

Q. How do I put the CUT button on my Word toolbar next to COPY and PASTE, the way it is on PowerPoint? -- Jim Holeman

A: Hold down the Alt key, then drag any toolbar button to any new location.


Gimme a (Non-)Break

Q. Is it possible to turn on non-breaking hyphen as the default? I often don't want them to break. -- Bruce and Gail Veale

A. The simplest fix is to select the text you want to affect (if it's the entire document, press Ctrl-A), then press Ctrl-H to launch the Replace dialog box. In the Find What field, type a hyphen. In the Replace With field, type ^~ (that's a caret followed by a tilde). Click Replace All, and all your hyphens will become non-breaking.

--Yael Li-Ron

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