2.2.4.6.3 Ensure 'Do not show AutoRepublish warning alert' is set to 'Disabled'

Information

This policy setting controls whether Excel displays an alert before republishing a workbook to the World Wide Web.

AutoRepublish is a feature in Excel that allows workbooks to be automatically republished to the World Wide Web each time the workbook is saved. A number of changes might need to be made to allow the workbook to be successfully published, including the following:

External references are converted to values.

Hidden formulas become visible.

The 'Set precision as displayed' option, which appears beneath the 'When calculating this workbook' heading in the Advanced section of the Excel Options dialog box, is no longer available.

These types of changes can mean that the version on the Web page might not be the same as the Excel file.

The recommended state for this setting is: Disabled.

Rationale:

By default, a message dialog box appears every time the user saves a published workbook when AutoRepublish is enabled. From this dialog box, the user can disable AutoRepublish temporarily or permanently, or select 'Do not show this message again' to prevent the dialog box from appearing after every save. If the user selects 'Do not show this message again,' Excel will continue to automatically republish the data after every save without informing the user.

Impact:

Configuring this setting to 'Always show the alert before publishing' reinforces the default functionality in Excel, and is therefore unlikely to cause usability issues for most users

Solution

To establish the recommended configuration via GP, set the following UI path to Disabled:

User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Excel 2016\Excel Options\Save\Do Not Show AutoRepublish Warning Alert

Default Value:

Disabled.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/12129

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6, 800-53|CM-7

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: ad0232898a5314c0a7cbc6e7390c5c0929542d241aba7d49be991270828eb0e7