How do you resolve office has blocked access to the following embedded object?

Problem

An embedded Microsoft Excel OLE object is not opening into a new window from an exported document

Symptom

You have an Excel embedded OLE object inserted into a formal module as an icon.

1. Then, export the module to Word using File -> Export -> Microsoft Office -> Word.
2. Then, open the Excel OLE
3. It opens on the same Microsoft Word document instead of opening into a 'new' window.

Cause

This has been identified and logged as APAR ID: PK96529

Resolving The Problem

To resolve the issue:

1. Right-click on the embedded object in the Microsoft Word document
2. Select Worksheet Object -> Convert
3. On the Convert window Tick 'Convert to:
4. Then check the 'Display as icon' box.
5. Click OK.

Now, try opening an embedded object.

[{"Product":{"code":"SSKR2T","label":"IBM Engineering Requirements Management DOORS"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU059","label":"IBM Software w\/o TPS"},"Component":"General Information","Platform":[{"code":"PF033","label":"Windows"}],"Version":"9.2","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB59","label":"Sustainability Software"}}]

A user complained that Outlook was blocking access to a Word document attachment he sent to a Task using Word's Create Outlook Task command.

I'm receiving this message in Outlook when opening a task created by Microsoft Word:

"Outlook blocked access to the following potentially unsafe attachments"

I tried the Level1Remove registry fix but this did not work. I disabled Protected View (in Trust Settings) within Word. Still no go. Why is Outlook blocking attachments from its own software (Word)?

This security issue affects Outlook 2007 and up. The file is blocked because it's not a doc file, it's a *shortcut* to the doc file and shortcuts are potentially "dangerous".

You need to configure the security settings to not block the file. In Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2010 you can use the following registry keys to change the Security settings. You'll need to restart Outlook for the keys to take effect.

Enabling ShowLevel1Attach will allow users to open or save potentially dangerous attachments. While an updated antivirus will catch older exploits if users try to save or open the attachment, it could miss new exploits not yet in it's virus definition file.

When you double click on an embedded object, a warning message may be triggered:

Some objects contain viruses that can be harmful to your computer. It is important to be certain that this object is from a trustworthy source.
Do you trust this embedded object?

This dialog is controlled by the AllowInPlaceOLEActivation registry value.  Enabling it will allow the embedded object to open without triggering the warning message.

Outlook 2016

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\security DWORD: ShowOLEPackageObj Value: 1 DWORD: AdminSecurityMode Value: 3 DWORD: ShowLevel1Attach Value: 1 DWORD: AllowInPlaceOLEActivation Value: 1

Outlook 2013

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\security DWORD: ShowOLEPackageObj Value: 1 DWORD: AdminSecurityMode Value: 3 DWORD: ShowLevel1Attach Value: 1 DWORD: AllowInPlaceOLEActivation Value: 1

Outlook 2010

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\security DWORD: ShowOLEPackageObj Value: 1 DWORD: AdminSecurityMode Value: 3 DWORD: ShowLevel1Attach Value: 1 DWORD: AllowInPlaceOLEActivation Value: 1

Outlook 2007

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\security DWORD: ShowOLEPackageObj Value: 1 DWORD: AdminSecurityMode Value: 3 DWORD: ShowLevel1Attach Value: 1 DWORD: AllowInPlaceOLEActivation Value: 1

Do It For Me

I have a reg file to unblock all attachments and OLE objects (containing the values above). Download and run the .reg file for your version of Outlook.

Network users may be blocked by group policy, so this should only be used by SOHO users - everyone else should speak to their admin.

ShowLevel1Attach 2016 ShowLevel1Attach 2013
ShowLevel1Attach 2010 ShowLevel1Attach 2007

You'll need to restart Outlook for the key to take effect.

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