Add a Local Network Path as a Trusted Location in Microsoft Office

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I recently started a new job at a small business and I discovered that whenever I opened a document from their local server, I would get the following message:

Protected View - Be careful - files from the internet can contain viruses. Unless you need to edit, it's safer to stay in Protected View. [Enable Editing]
This was getting very repetitive and annoying as I know the documents that I'm creating and saving on the local server are safe, so I did some investigating as to how to stop this from happening, ultimately the easiest way to stop this is by using Group Policy.

Using Group Policy you can add a trusted path and Microsoft Office will trust all the documents stored in any paths that you setup.

PROTECTED VIEW Be careful—files from the Internet can contain viruses. Unless you need to edit, it's safer to stay in Protected View. Enable Editing

How to stop protected view in Microsoft Word using Group Policy

Depending on what version and edition of Windows you have installed, you may or may not have to ability to access the Group Policy for your device, if its a company device then you would have to talk with your IT department about this.

  1. In the start menu, search for "group policy" you should see Edit Group Policy, if you don't see this, you probably don't have access to Group policy on your device.
    All Apps, Best match Documents, Web, More, Edit group policy, Edit local users and groups
  2. In the Group Policy Editor, you will want to navigate to Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Internet Explorer > Internet Control Panel > Security Page
    Local Group Policy Editor File Action View Help Credential User Interface Data Collection and Preview Delivery Optimization Desktop Gadgets Desktop Window Manager Device and Driver Compatibi Device Registration Digital Locker Edge UI Event Forwarding Event Log Service Event Logging Event Viewer File Explorer File History Find My Device Handwriting HomeGroup Internet Explorer Accelerators Application Compatibilit Browser menus Compatibility View Corporate Settings Delete Browsing History Internet Control Panel Advanced Page Content Page General Page Security Page Internet Settings 17 setting(s) Site to Zone Assignment List Edit Requirements: At least Internet Explorer 6.0 in Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack I Description: This policy setting allows pu to manage a list of sites that you want to associate with a particular security zone. These zone numbers have associated security settings that apply to all of the sites in the zone. Internet Explorer has 4 security zones, numbered 1-4, and these are used by this policy setting to associate sites to zones. They are: (I) Intranet zone, (2) Trusted Sites zone, (3) Internet zone, and (4) Restricted Sites zone. Security settings can be set for each of these zones through other policy settings, and their default settings are: Trusted Sites zone (Low template), Intranet zone (Medium- Low template), Internet zone (Medium template), and Restricted Sites zone (High template). (The Local Machine Extended Standard Setting Intranet Zone Local Machine Zone Locked-Down Internet Zone Locked-Down Intranet Zone Locked-Down Local Machine Zone Locked- Down Restricted Sites Zone Locked-Down Trusted Sites Zone Restricted Sites Zone Trusted Sites Zone Intranet Sites: Include all local (intranet) sites not listed in at... Locked-Down Internet Zone Template Internet Zone Template Locked-Down Intranet Zone Template Intranet Zone Template Locked-Down Local Machine Zone Template Local Machine Zone Template Locked-Down Restricted Sites Zone Template Restricted Sites Zone Template Locked-Down Trusted Sites Zone Template Trusted Sites Zone Template Turn on certificate address mismatch warning Intranet Sites: Include all sites that bypass the proxy server : Intranet Sites: Include all network paths (UNCs) Site to Zone Assignment List Turn on automatic detection of intranet Turn on Notification bar notification for intranet content State Not configured Not configured Not configured Not configured Not configured Not configured Not configured Not configured Not configured Not configured Not configured Not configured Not configured Not configured Enabled Not configured Not configured
  3. In the list of policies, double click on Site to Zone Assignment List
  4. In the policy window that opens, ensure that the policy is enabled by clicking the Enabled radio button
    Site to Zone Assignment List Site to Zone Assignment List Previous Setting Next Setting C) Not Configured @ Enabled C) Disabled Options: Comment: Supported on: Enter the zone assignments here. At least Internet Explorer 6.0 in Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack I Help: This policy setting allows you to manage a list of sites that you Show... want to associate with a particular security zone. These zone numbers have associated security settings that apply to all of the sites in the zone. Internet Explorer has 4 security zones, numbered 1-4, and these are used by this policy setting to associate sites to zones. They are: (I) Intranet zone, (2) Trusted Sites zone, (3) Internet zone, and (4) Restricted Sites zone. Security settings can be set for each of these zones through other policy settings, and their default settings are: Trusted Sites zone (Low template), Intranet zone (Medium Low template), Internet zone (Medium template), and Restricted Sites zone (High template). (The Local Machine zone and its locked down equivalent have special security settings that protect your local computer.) If you enable this policy setting, you can enter a list of sites and their related zone numbers. The association of a site with a zone will ensure that the security settings for the specified zone are applied to the site. For each entry that pu add to the list, enter the following information:
  5. Under "Options" click the Show... button.
  6. The "Show Contents" dialog that opens displays all the trusted locations for Microsoft Office, here you can enter addresses in the "Value name" field, the value is simply the number of that entry.
    Show Contents Enter the zone assignments here Value name 168
  7. Paths that you enter here need to be UNC (network) paths prefixed with file:// e.g. "file://192.168.1.10" if you have network drives mapped to letters, see below how to find the UNC path.
  8. Once you've added the trusted network locations, click OK to all open dialogs and close the Group Policy Editor.

How to find the network UNC path of a mapped drive

  1. Open Command Prompt
  2. Type in net use, this will list all the network mappings on your device, you should see something similar to this:

    Status     Local   Remote                                      Network
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    OK           Z:        \\192.168.1.10\SuperDrive    Microsoft Windows Network
  3. You can not take these network paths and add them as trusted locations for Microsoft Office.

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