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Trusted Locations for Office files

Designates safe locations where Office files execute without security warnings. Reduces helpdesk tickets for legitimate business documents while maintaining security posture.

10 May 20264 min —
Policy path
User Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Office 2016 > Security Settings > Trust Center > Trusted Locations
Supported on
Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2016 and later

Designates safe locations where Office files execute without security warnings. Reduces helpdesk tickets for legitimate business documents while maintaining security posture. Security baselines recommend setting it to https://internal.company.com/safe-docs.

Description

Trusted Locations for Office files is a Windows Group Policy setting located under User Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Office 2016 > Security Settings > Trust Center > Trusted Locations. It applies to the User Configuration branch and is classified as a Informational-level policy in the Microsoft Office / M365 Apps category.

Designates safe locations where Office files execute without security warnings. Reduces helpdesk tickets for legitimate business documents while maintaining security posture.

Microsoft sets the default value to Empty while industry security baselines (CIS, NIST, DISA STIG) recommend https://internal.company.com/safe-docs.

Under the hood, this policy is enforced through the Windows registry at HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Security\Trusted Locations using the value name Location1. Modifying the value directly through regedit.exe or PowerShell produces the same effect as configuring the GPO, but going through Group Policy is preferred so that the setting is centrally managed and survives reboots, image rebuilds, and policy refresh cycles.

In-depth explanation

This is primarily an operational or user-experience setting. It does not directly raise or lower the security posture, but it standardizes behavior across the fleet, which is important for predictable support, training, and troubleshooting in an MSP-managed environment.

The policy is grouped under Microsoft Office / M365 Apps, which means it is typically applied through a domain-wide GPO linked at the OU level. In a multi-tenant MSP context, scope it through WMI filters or security group filtering rather than linking at the domain root, so that you can roll out progressively (pilot OU → wider rings → all production).

The setting takes effect after the next Group Policy refresh (gpupdate /force for immediate testing, or by default within ~90 minutes for workstations and ~5 minutes on domain controllers). For computer-side policies a reboot may be required; for user-side policies, a sign-off/sign-on cycle is enough.

Use cases

  • Apply organization-wide hardening of microsoft office / m365 apps on all domain-joined Windows endpoints.
  • Roll out a CIS Benchmark-aligned baseline targeting 'Trusted Locations for Office files' via a dedicated GPO.
  • Reduce attack surface for accounts that handle privileged credentials or sensitive data.
  • Standardize the configuration across multiple customer tenants for an MSP-managed fleet.

Security implications

This control is primarily about consistency and supportability rather than security. The main risk of leaving it unconfigured is divergence between machines, which makes troubleshooting and standardized imaging harder, especially across multiple customer tenants in an MSP context.

How to configure

  1. Open Group Policy Management Console (gpmc.msc) on a domain controller or a workstation with RSAT installed.
  2. Create or edit a GPO linked to the OU containing the target user configurations. We recommend a dedicated baseline GPO (e.g. SEC – Microsoft Office / M365 Apps) instead of editing Default Domain Policy.
  3. Navigate to User Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Office 2016 > Security Settings > Trust Center > Trusted Locations.
  4. Open Trusted Locations for Office files and set it to https://internal.company.com/safe-docs.
  5. Click OK and close the editor.
  6. On the target endpoint, run gpupdate /force (or wait for the next refresh cycle), then verify with rsop.msc or gpresult /h report.html.

Direct registry path: HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Security\Trusted Locations\Location1. You can apply the same change with PowerShell:

New-Item -Path 'HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Security\Trusted Locations' -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path 'HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Security\Trusted Locations' -Name 'Location1' -Value <value> -Type DWord

Registry mapping

Registry pathHKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Security\Trusted Locations
Value nameLocation1
Value typeREG_SZ
Enabled valuehttps://internal.company.com/safe-docs
Disabled valueEmpty

Frequently asked questions

What does the Trusted Locations for Office files Group Policy do?
Designates safe locations where Office files execute without security warnings. Reduces helpdesk tickets for legitimate business documents while maintaining security posture.
Where do I find this setting in the GPO editor?
Open <code>gpmc.msc</code>, then navigate to <code>User Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Office 2016 > Security Settings > Trust Center > Trusted Locations</code> and look for <strong>Trusted Locations for Office files</strong>.
What is the Microsoft default value?
<code>Empty</code> on a fresh Windows install. Domain-joined machines may inherit a different value if a baseline GPO is already in place.
What value do security baselines recommend?
<code>https://internal.company.com/safe-docs</code> – aligned with CIS, NIST, and DISA STIG guidance for current Windows versions.
Can I configure this without a GPO?
Yes, by writing to <code>HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Security\Trusted Locations\Location1</code> directly via <code>regedit</code>, PowerShell, or Intune. A GPO is preferred for centrally managed environments because it survives reimaging and is easier to audit.