Disabling Smart Tags (Win and Office XP)

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I *thought* at one point I read an article here that discussed where in the registry you edit to PERMANENTLY disable the use of Smart Tags but I can’t find it. Does anyone know if there are registry keys to edit and if so which ones? We’ve tried following MS’s advice and going to Add/Remove Programs and uninstalling Smart Tags but they’re still available – so I guess we’re not quite certain what that’s doing. These smart tags are causing havoc with our DMS (DOCS Open) documents and the SmartTaghotfix MS has available *if requested* won’t work with DMS documents. Anyone have any ideas outside of opening EVERY document and EVERY template and turning this feature off?

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I don’t know of a way to edit the registry, but I have two suggestions that may or may not work for you.

Are you running ActiveDirectory? If you are, there is an option to make Word not recognize Smart Tags. It’s under Microsoft Office XP – Tools | AutoCorrect Options – Smart Tags. If you don’t have that option, the .adm files (I think that’s what they are called) for Office XP are in the Office XP Resource Kit.

I’m assuming that you used a network install point to install Office. The other option would be to use the Custom Installation Wizard (also in the Office XP Resource Kit) to create a new install of Office with Smart Tags not installed. You could put a reinstall command in their login scripts and that should get rid of the ability to put Smart Tags in new documents.

Hope this helps!
Becky

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Thanks Becky and Jefferson……very helpful especially the VB Script.

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Thanks Becky and Jefferson……very helpful especially the VB Script.

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I don’t know of a way to edit the registry, but I have two suggestions that may or may not work for you.

Are you running ActiveDirectory? If you are, there is an option to make Word not recognize Smart Tags. It’s under Microsoft Office XP – Tools | AutoCorrect Options – Smart Tags. If you don’t have that option, the .adm files (I think that’s what they are called) for Office XP are in the Office XP Resource Kit.

I’m assuming that you used a network install point to install Office. The other option would be to use the Custom Installation Wizard (also in the Office XP Resource Kit) to create a new install of Office with Smart Tags not installed. You could put a reinstall command in their login scripts and that should get rid of the ability to put Smart Tags in new documents.

Hope this helps!
Becky

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(Edited by jscher2000 on 05-Nov-03 14:23. Added a note)

To prevent SmartTags from getting added to documents in the future, you could run a VBScript in the logon script. This would be the code you’d need:

dim appWord
Set appWord = CreateObject(“Word.Application”)
appWord.Options.LabelSmartTags = False
appWord.Quit
Set appWord = Nothing

As for extracting existing SmartTags from documents, if they are saved with the text (?), I’ve never explored that. I’m not sure there’s going to be a simple way (e.g., Find/Replace)…

Note: This change is saved in the Registry for the current user. I didn’t check where it was saved, but assuming that it is saved in the Data key, you really don’t have the option to write directly to that key, as its binary structure is (to my knowledge) undocumented.

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Jefferson

I do have a question after looking at this more closely. Our issue is disabling the Embed Smart Tag option under Tools, Options, Save AND to disable the use of Smart Tags all together. I think, if I’m understanding your code, that it would only do the later, correct? When we upgraded machines, we deleted the following registry key out of HKey_current_user “NoSmartTagActions” (mystery solved on where I saw something about the registry). So I guess I’m wondering if you have the exact location of where that key is so that I can go in and add it back and see if eliminates future use of embedding? Am I barking up the wrong tree here or what?

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I missed the Save tab. I recorded a macro, and it appears that that setting is document-specific. There might be a way to place a policy in the Registry to force it to off. Otherwise, as indicated in your original post, it probably would default to whatever setting was saved in the template. For more information on policy settings, search in the Office XP Resource Kit for the Policy Editor and related .ADM files. (There might be better sources, but it should be in there somewhere.)

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I missed the Save tab. I recorded a macro, and it appears that that setting is document-specific. There might be a way to place a policy in the Registry to force it to off. Otherwise, as indicated in your original post, it probably would default to whatever setting was saved in the template. For more information on policy settings, search in the Office XP Resource Kit for the Policy Editor and related .ADM files. (There might be better sources, but it should be in there somewhere.)

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Jefferson

I do have a question after looking at this more closely. Our issue is disabling the Embed Smart Tag option under Tools, Options, Save AND to disable the use of Smart Tags all together. I think, if I’m understanding your code, that it would only do the later, correct? When we upgraded machines, we deleted the following registry key out of HKey_current_user “NoSmartTagActions” (mystery solved on where I saw something about the registry). So I guess I’m wondering if you have the exact location of where that key is so that I can go in and add it back and see if eliminates future use of embedding? Am I barking up the wrong tree here or what?

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(Edited by jscher2000 on 05-Nov-03 14:23. Added a note)

To prevent SmartTags from getting added to documents in the future, you could run a VBScript in the logon script. This would be the code you’d need:

dim appWord
Set appWord = CreateObject(“Word.Application”)
appWord.Options.LabelSmartTags = False
appWord.Quit
Set appWord = Nothing

As for extracting existing SmartTags from documents, if they are saved with the text (?), I’ve never explored that. I’m not sure there’s going to be a simple way (e.g., Find/Replace)…

Note: This change is saved in the Registry for the current user. I didn’t check where it was saved, but assuming that it is saved in the Data key, you really don’t have the option to write directly to that key, as its binary structure is (to my knowledge) undocumented.

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