Excel 2010 Security

Owned by Thomas Sherman (Deactivated)
Last updated: Jul 28, 2020

If you are reading this page, then most likely you have run into a problem opening Projector reports with Microsoft Excel. Common problems we see:

  • Reports display blank when opened
  • Unable to make edits
  • Really annoyed that you need to click through a bunch of security warnings every singe time you open the report

This page shows you how to get rid of these annoyances. This page is specifically written to cover Excel 2010. If you are using a different version of Excel, then try one of these other links:

The reason you encounter these issues is because Projector uses macros in many of their reports. The macros arrange data, create pivot tables, and apply formatting to make your reports easier to read. Excel does not run macros by default. You can make Excel run macros by default and save yourself some frustration. There are two ways to do this that need to be used in different scenarios:

  • Trusted Publisher - Projector is a trusted creator of Excel reports. You can choose to trust us and Excel will no longer prompt to run macros.
  • Trusted Location - You can specify locations on your computer where Excel should just run the macros. This is useful because Excel blocks files (even trusted publisher files!) if they are downloaded from your web browser or opened from Outlook.

Trusted Publishers

The first step out of Excel security message mayhem is to add Projector as a trusted publisher. \

  1. Open up any Projector report
  2. You should see a message reading - Macros have been disabled. Don't Click the Enable Content button. If you clicked it, see the troubleshooting section at the end of this article.
  3. Click File | Enable Content shield | Advanced Options
  4. Tick the radio button for Trust all documents from this publisher. 

 

 

Troubleshooting

Problem

Solution

I clicked the enable content button

Open another Projector that triggers the error message. Or you can navigate to the following screen and untrust all documents.

I don't have an enable content button

You most likely have notifications disabled. You should be able to still follow the steps above. You can turn on notifications from the following screen.

When I click Enable Content, the security message doesn't have the three options.

There is a bug in Office2010 where it cannot parse our security certificate. There is a hotfix for this issue. Please download and install the hotfix.

 

Something else

Contact the ever helpful Projector Support Team!