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Visual Basic for Applications deleted from Office 365 (2016). How to reinstall?

Question

Monday, October 26, 2015 1:08 PM

It seems that Visual Basic for Applications has been somehow deleted from my computer and now I can't do any macro programming in Word. I can't seem to find a way to install it separately and uninstalling and reinstalling Office doesn't help. Any ideas?

All replies (12)

Tuesday, October 27, 2015 6:55 AM

Hi,

Regarding of the issue, please provide us more information to assist you better.

  • Which Office 365 plan are you using?
  • Did you get some error messages?
  • Did you install the Office 365 from portal?

As far as I know, the VBA is built into many Microsoft applications (including Office 2016) and no specific download. Please make sure we have enabled the macros settings in Office 2016: Go to File=>Options=>Trust Center=> Enable all the macros.

Then, since you are using C2R version Office and if you get the error like this:

"The function you are attempting to run contains macros or content that requires macro language support"

Non-Microsoft registry cleaners and system maintenance applications deleted multiple registry key values that are used for VBA functionality in Microsoft Office applications. Please try to repair Office.

Reference:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2838449 (It also applies to Office 2016)

I hope the above information helps. Reply with the result and I¡¯ll be glad to further assist you.

Regards,

George Zhao
TechNet Community Support

Please mark the reply as an answer if you find it is helpful.

If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected].

Tuesday, October 27, 2015 7:01 AM

I'm using Office 365 small business.

Yes when I open Word and try to create a macro it gives me an error starting with: "The function you are attempting to run contains macros or content that require macro language support. When this software was installed, you (or your administrator) chose not to install support for macros or controls."

It continues with a long explanation:

This error usually occurs because of macro security settings. If you know that the macro comes from a source that you trust, you can change your macro security settings to allow you to enable the macro.

If the file opens in Protected View, click Enable Editing, and then click Enable Content. Editing functions are restored and the active content, including macros, will run. This file is now trusted; security prompts will no longer appear unless the file is opened on another computer.

etc.

Yes I did.

I enabled all the macros.

I tried both repairs. I also tried to completely delete Office using this link:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Uninstall-Office-2013-Office-2016-or-Office-365-from-a-Windows-computer-9dd49b83-264a-477a-8fcc-2fdf5dbf61d8

I reinstalled Office 2016 from the portal and still the problem occurs. I have temporarily downloaded Office 2013 Pro from TechNet on a 60 day trial so that I can work (I need macros!) but I need to resolve this issue within the next 60 days preferably without having to reformat my computer.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015 8:22 AM

Hi Sir,

Ok, I see. Please check a registry key named **Disable VBA for Office applications, if it was enabled, we also can't use VBA. **

Turning Off the Disable VBA for Office applications policy sets the VBAOFF DWORD value to 0 in the following registry subkey:

Office 2016

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/281954

Then, we might try the workaround to fix this issue first:

  • Install Office 2016 from Office 365 portal.
  • Install the only install the optional VBA component from the Office 2013 trial version (Please note: You don't need to enter a key to install this component!)

Hope it's helpful.

Regards,

George Zhao
TechNet Community Support

Please mark the reply as an answer if you find it is helpful.

If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected].

Tuesday, October 27, 2015 9:17 AM

I searched the registry and didn't have such a key. 

I think looked for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common and there wasn't such a path. The closest I had was HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015 9:32 AM

Is there a link to the Office 2013 trial version that I should try? The reason why I ask is because when I tried to install Word 2013 with VBA from the technet trial, Word 2016 didn't "see" the VBA. Is that because I installed Word as well? Should have I only installed VBA without Word?

Right now I have Office 2013 working with VBA, but when I update to Office 2016 VBA disappears.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015 9:40 AM

Hi,

You might install Office 2016 from Office 365 portal first. Then, custom the installation of Office 2013 trial, only install Office Shared Features, exclude the other Office 2013 programs.

Trial version: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-office-professional-plus-2013

Regards,

George Zhao
TechNet Community Support

Please mark the reply as an answer if you find it is helpful.

If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected].

Tuesday, October 27, 2015 9:42 AM

so I should use the trial install from Technet?

Tuesday, October 27, 2015 9:47 AM

You might try it, just follow the process that I mentioned above. It worked for some of our customers with the same issue.

Reply with the result and I'll be glad to further assist you.

Regards,

George Zhao
TechNet Community Support

Please mark the reply as an answer if you find it is helpful.

If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected].

Tuesday, October 27, 2015 10:09 AM

okay these are the steps that I took:

  1. I installed Office 2013 from the portal. Word worked with macros
  2. I updated to Office 2016 from the portal. Word doesn't work with macros.
  3. I installed just the VBA bit from the technet trial of 2013. Word still doesn't work. 

Is there some step I need to take so that Word 2016 knows that there is VBA installed?

Monday, November 16, 2015 9:32 PM

I was wondering whether a solution was found. I'm using Office 365 2016 for Education, and am having the same problem. I too tried the solutions suggested here without success.

Other information: Windows 10 (64 bit), no registry cleaners

Any further suggestions?

Thanks for your help.

Saturday, November 21, 2015 4:34 PM

In my case, I have found that VBA is actually installed, but my system will not allow it to run unless I start the office 2016 applications with the "Run as Administrator" option.

Apparently there is some sort of issue that is preventing it from running without elevated permissions.  I have no idea what the root cause is.  I haven't been able to find any reference to anything similar.

This appears to be true for VBA on all Office 2016 applications on my system.  When I contacted MS chat support they were unable to help.  Wanted to roll me back to Office 2013 as the "solution".

George any ideas?

Friday, September 20, 2019 7:59 AM

Hi TechNet Support,

I have gone thru all forums and it seems that no answers to pertaining to this.

I saw the thread was written in 2015 and currently I'm have installed Office 365 and I tried to install the VBA from Office 2013, deleted and re-install everything, make necessary changes to registry but still futile and not working.

Appreciate if you can suggest any other work around.

Thanks in advance.

Best Regards,

AHDTWK