How to open an Excel Workbook with Macros Disabled in PowerShell - excel

Question

I'm trying to write a PowerShell script to scan a path for an Excel file (.xlsm) containing a specific string.
The script I'm working on currently opens the files with macros enabled and this could cause issues. There are a few Excel files that have scripts to run on open and I would like to prevent these from being executed.
Is there a way in Powershell to state that I want to open the file and not run macros?
Most of this script was initially taken from: https://shuaiber.medium.com/searching-through-excel-files-for-a-string-using-powershell-964db62348ef
Function Search-Excel {
[cmdletbinding()]
Param (
[parameter(Mandatory, ValueFromPipeline)]
[ValidateScript({
Try {
If (Test-Path -Path $_) {$True}
Else {Throw "$($_) is not a valid path!"}
}
Catch {
Throw $_
}
})]
[string]$Source,
[parameter(Mandatory)]
[string]$SearchText,
[bool]$ShowWarnings
#You can specify wildcard characters (*, ?)
)
$Excel = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
Try {
$Source = Convert-Path $Source
}
Catch {
Write-Warning "Unable locate full path of $($Source)"
BREAK
}
Write-Host $Source
$Workbook = $Excel.Workbooks.Open($Source)
ForEach ($Worksheet in #($Workbook.Sheets)) {
# Find Method https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vba/excel-vba/articles/range-find-method-excel
$Found = $WorkSheet.Cells.Find($SearchText) #What
If ($Found) {
# Address Method https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vba/excel-vba/articles/range-address-property-excel
$BeginAddress = $Found.Address(0,0,1,1)
#Initial Found Cell
[pscustomobject]#{
WorkSheet = $Worksheet.Name
Column = $Found.Column
Row =$Found.Row
Text = $Found.Text
Address = $BeginAddress
}
Do {
$Found = $WorkSheet.Cells.FindNext($Found)
$Address = $Found.Address(0,0,1,1)
If ($Address -eq $BeginAddress) {
BREAK
}
[pscustomobject]#{
WorkSheet = $Worksheet.Name
Column = $Found.Column
Row =$Found.Row
Text = $Found.Text
Address = $Address
}
} Until ($False)
}
Else {
If ($ShowWarnings) {
Write-Warning "[$($WorkSheet.Name)] Nothing Found!"
}
}
}
$workbook.close($false)
[void][System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject([System.__ComObject]$excel)
[gc]::Collect()
[gc]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()
Remove-Variable excel -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}
$SearchText = Read-Host -Prompt 'What text do you want to search for in every excel file'
Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\JunkSaves" -Recurse -Include *.xls, *.xlsx, *.xlsm | Foreach-Object { Search-Excel -Source $_.FullName -SearchText $SearchText -ShowWarnings $false }
Read-Host -Prompt "Press Enter to continue"

Answer 1

You can set this property on the Excel object you create before opening the file:
$Excel.AutomationSecurity = 3
Here value 3 is the 'msoAutomationSecurityForceDisable' value
from the MsoAutomationSecurity Enum
The msoAutomationSecurityForceDisable should disable all macros in all files opened programmatically, without showing any security alerts, according to the docs.