Unlock files and authorise macros

OubreakTools linelists rely on VBA macros for most of their functionalities. Microsoft Office often blocks files with macro when they come from the web (i.e. received through mail, or Teams, or from a zip archive as we just did)1 so extra steps are often necessary to access the file full functionalities.

1 You can go read the full explanation of why and when this happens to better predict when you can expect it.

Note

This protection is independent from the password protection that a user or a developer may add to an Excel file.

Unblock files

When you receive a file, before opening it, always check whether Windows blocked it or not, and unblock it if needed:

  1. Right click on the file (the locally saved Excel file) and select “Properties” from the menu

A screeshot of the Property menu of an Excel linelist, accessed by right-clicking on a file.

Access the property menu of a file
  1. Check the Unblock box on the bottom right. If you don’t see such a button on the bottom right it means that the file is already unblocked.

A screeshot of the Property menu of a blocked word file.

State of the property menu for a blocked file
  1. Click OK and you can proceed to open the file.

See the Microsoft Help page on how to unblock a file for more explanations.

Enable macros

Once the file is open, you need to enable and authorise macros in Excel to use the file.

  1. Make sure the file is not protected (see section above)

  2. Open the file (a password may be needed at this stage)

  3. If this is the first time you use an Excel file with VBA macros, you probably need to go and enable them in the Trust Center. To do that:

    1. In the Excel file, select the File tab at the top, and open the Options popup window

    2. Select the Trust Center tab, and open the Trust Center settings window

    3. In the Trust Center, select the Macro Settings tab.

A screeshot of the trust center popup windows, on the Macro settings tab

Trust Center menu for macros
d) Tick the "Disable all macros with notification".

e) Restart Excel and reopen the file.
  1. With this setting, you get a notification when you open the file if the macros had been disabled. The notification manifests with a yellow band at the top of the sheets informing you that the macros have been disabled. Click on the “Enable content” button to authorise them for this file.

A screeshot of the yellow band informing an Excel user that macros have been disabled in an Excel file.

Trust Center menu for macros

You can read more about authorising VBA macros on the Microsoft help page.

Warning

If you have a red band informing you that macros have been disabled, but no button to authorise them, it means that the Trust Center option is to block them. Go check the Trust Center options, as in step 3.

A screeshot of the red band informing an Excel user that macros have been disabled in an Excel file.

Trust Center menu for macros
Note

These steps are common to all files with VBA macros in it, not just OBT files; you may have to do the same for a number of other linelist templates.

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