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Open your workbooks

Most failed starts come down to one step: Windows blocks macros in files downloaded from the internet. This guide takes you past it, for the Costright Estimate and the Costright Risk. There is no licence key to type in and nothing to activate.

  1. Save the files to a normal folder

    Save them to a folder such as Documents. Do not run a workbook from inside a zip file or an email preview. Keep each one as an .xlsm file, because the buttons are macros, and saving as an .xlsx removes them.

  2. Unblock each file

    Right-click the file, choose Properties, tick Unblock on the General tab and press OK. If you skip this, Excel shows a red Security Risk banner with no Enable Content button. If you see that banner, close the file, unblock it, then open it again.

  3. Open it and click Enable Content

    Excel may ask the first time you open each workbook. If you press Enable Content and the buttons still do nothing, see the note below.

  4. Find your way around

    In the Costright Estimate, Contents links to every sheet and lists the order to work in. In the Costright Risk, Start Here lists the six steps and has a button for each. In both, yellow cells are yours to type in and grey cells are worked out for you.

  5. Keep one workbook for each job

    Costright Estimate: open the blank copy, use File, then Save As to name it for the job, and keep the blank copy clean for next time. Costright Risk: click Start a new project to save a copy under a new name. The copy still holds whatever was in the original, so click Clear sample data and Clear results first if you want it empty.

If a button does nothing, or Excel cannot find a macro. The macros are blocked or turned off. Close the workbook, unblock the file as in step 2, open it again and click Enable Content. On a work computer you may not be able to do this. Ask your IT team to add the folder as a Trusted Location (File, Options, Trust Center, Trust Center Settings, Trusted Locations). If it still does not work, email us.

What you need

Windows desktop Excel: Microsoft 365 or Excel 2024. Excel 2021 may work but is not supported. Mac, Excel on the web, phones and tablets are not supported.

Your estimates, rates and risk registers stay in your workbooks. The workbooks never connect to the internet.

Ready to start?

Open the workbook and try it on a real job.

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