Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) April 2023
Service Line Inventory, Instructions on How to Unblock and Enable Macros for Excel Spreadsheet Page 1 of 2
Instructions on How to Unblock and Enable Macros for Excel Spreadsheet
After downloading the Excel spreadsheet from MDE’s website, you may need to enable editing of the spreadsheet as
well as unblock and enable macros. Follow the steps below depending on the message you encounter.
“PROTECTED VIEW” Message
If you encounter the “PROTECTED VIEW” message located near the top of the spreadsheet (as depicted in the figure
below), click on the “Enable Editing” button to allow the spreadsheet to be edited/updated.
“SECURITY RISK” Message
If you encounter the “SECURITY RISK” message located near the top of the spreadsheet (as depicted in the figure below),
follow the steps below.
1. Close the Excel spreadsheet.
2. Locate the spreadsheet file on your computer where the file is saved. It could be in your “Downloads” folder.
3. Right-click on the file name and select “Properties”.
Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) April 2023
Service Line Inventory, Instructions on How to Unblock and Enable Macros for Excel Spreadsheet Page 2 of 2
4. Select the "Unblock" checkbox on the "General" tab next to the text "This file came from another computer and
might be blocked to help protect this computer." Then click “Apply”, then click “OK”.
5. Open the spreadsheet file again and the “SECURITY RISK” message should no longer be there. Note: You may
encounter a different warning message after you open the file.
“SECURITY WARNING” Message
If you encounter the “SECURITY WARNING” message located near the top of the spreadsheet (as depicted in the figure
below), click on the “Enable Content” button to allow the spreadsheet to be edited/updated.
