Hi

I hope someone can help. Just installed Office 2013 and under File -> Options ->Trust Center -> Trust Center Settings...-> Allow Office to connect to the internet is greyed out. I don't have any GPOs set to disable this, however, if there is a GPO to manage this, I would appreciate a hint as to where it is.

I've also followed a previous thread that suggested to regedit HKCU->Software->Microsoft->Office->15.0->Common->Internet->UseOnlineContent Set DWORD to value of 1 which didn't work.

Appreciate if someone could assist.

Thanks

Have a look at this thread : https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/c624feee-393e-4086-b072-0b418e8a2220/allow-office-to-connect-to-the-internet-greyed-out?forum=officeitpro

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I've already done the suggestions on that thread without success.

Hi Crystal_Hot_Sauce,

Based on my tested, if we changed the registry key HKCU->Software->Microsoft->Office->15.0->Common->Internet->UseOnlineContent Set DWORD to value of 1 or 2, it would enable the "Allow Office to Connect to the Internet " option.

Did you reboot the pc after you changed the registry key? If not, please try to do it.

Then, we may check the Group Policy. See the below image:

Path:

Microsoft Office 2013\Tools | Options | General | Service Options...\Online Content.

Hope it's helpful.

Regards,

George Zhao
TechNet Community Support

Thanks for replying George.

I've added the registry already, but it doesn't work.

Can you please provide the full path of the group policy location. eg., Computer or User configuration.

I didn't have the admin template installed for 2013. I've now done this and made the recommended gpedit change as you've mentioned. However, the box is still greyed out in Excel.

 

Hi,

Based on my research, the issue also may be caused by the Internet settings, please open IE and check them:

Internet Options > Security Tab > Internet > Custom Level > Miscillaneous > Display Mixed Conent > "Disable"    

We can change the Display Mixed Conent > "Disable"  to "Prompt".

Regards,

George Zhao
TechNet Community Support

Hi George

I've checked this setting which is set by GPO and is currently set to Prompt.

I did notice that when I go into Word, and try to "Sign in to get the Most Out of Office", I get a pop up "This feature has been disabled by your administrator". Yet, when I login as the local administrator, "Allow Office to connect to the internet" is still greyed out, but it is ticked and I am able to login onto the Internet from Word.

My domain account is also a local admin so I'm not quite sure what is going on.

Thanks for your help.

• Edited by Crystal_Hot_Sauce 15 hours 37 minutes ago

Hi George

I've checked this setting which is set by GPO and is currently set to Prompt.

I did notice that when I go into Word, and try to "Sign in to get the Most Out of Office", I get a pop up "This feature has been disabled by your administrator". Yet, when I login as the local administrator, "Allow Office to connect to the internet" is still greyed out, but it is ticked and I am able to login onto the Internet from Word.

My domain account is also a local admin so I'm not quite sure what is going on.

Thanks for your help.

• Edited by Crystal_Hot_Sauce Tuesday, February 17, 2015 8:14 PM

Hi George

I've checked this setting which is set by GPO and is currently set to Prompt.

I did notice that when I go into Word, and try to "Sign in to get the Most Out of Office", I get a pop up "This feature has been disabled by your administrator". Yet, when I login as the local administrator, "Allow Office to connect to the internet" is still greyed out, but it is ticked and I am able to login onto the Internet from Word.

My domain account is also a local admin so I'm not quite sure what is going on.

Thanks for your help.

• Edited by Crystal_Hot_Sauce Tuesday, February 17, 2015 8:14 PM

Hi,

From your description, I suppose that your local administrator account is corrupted. I recommend you re-create a new local administrator account to assign/modify the registry key.

Regards,

George Zhao
TechNet Community Support

Hi George,

I figured it out and it's the simplest thing.

Turns out the previous administrator set the following in GPO:

Microsoft Office 2013/Tools | Options | General | Service Options.../Online Content

"Do not allow Office to Connect to the Internet"

Very annoyed it was something so simple.

Thanks for your guidance on this.

• Marked as answer by Crystal_Hot_Sauce 13 hours 3 minutes ago
• Edited by Crystal_Hot_Sauce 13 hours 2 minutes ago