It’s been three years since Microsoft released a new version of Office. With Office 2024, the company will implement a new change to the ActiveX controls. Unlike the previous Office versions, Microsoft will turn off ActiveX controls by default in Office 2024. The company reconfirmed the change in a new support document advisory spotted by Windows Latest.
This change will impact both consumer and non-consumer editions of Office 2024, which will be released in October 2024. So, all the Win32 desktop versions of Office apps (Word, PowerPoint, Visio, and Excel) will implement this change. There are also plans to disable ActiveX controls in Microsoft 365 apps, which will commence in April 2025.
“Starting in new Office 2024, the default configuration setting for ActiveX objects will change from Prompt me before enabling all controls with minimal restrictions to Disable all controls without notification,” Microsoft noted in an advisory message seen by Windows Latest.
ActiveX is a legacy framework that helps to create objects like buttons in Office documents. Microsoft decided to disable it after it proved to be a security nightmare. Multiple incidents have occurred in which malicious actors tried to install malware by leveraging ActiveX in documents.
There are multiple workarounds to keep using ActiveX in Office 2024, which involve changing the Trust Center settings or modifying the registry settings. But we suggest you keep it at bay because it’s not worth the risk with the new Office version.
Office 2024 is available in preview
Office 2024 offline edition will not be dramatically different or as good as Microsoft 365 in terms of new features because it’s based on past releases. In other words, Office 2024 isn’t designed from scratch or built around Microsoft 365.
Instead, it closely resembles the past perpetual versions of Office with a few new features from Microsoft 365 apps, such as the ability to create new meeting options and improved integration with Outlook search.
You’ll also get new features in Excel, including Dynmatic Charts and Arrays. Of course, the primary focus of Office 2024 is performance and security, which have been missing in the previous perpetual compared to Microsoft 365.
Office 2024 will not pack any AI-focused features/security the company offers.
Thankfully, Office 2024 will be a one-time purchase that offers support for five years before the next one comes out. The UI is slightly different from the previous version, yet nothing major would impact your workflow.
There aren’t as many new features mentioned in the official announcement, but we’ll explore that when the release becomes publicly available.