Troubleshooting
The fastest path from a symptom to a fix. Each item below is read as: what you see, what it means, and what to do next — grouped by the part of the product it touches. When a fix has a fuller explanation elsewhere, the link is in the “do next” cell.
Install & the ribbon tab
What you seeWindows SmartScreen warns of an “unknown publisher” during setup.
What it meansThe beta installer isn’t Authenticode code-signed yet.
What to do nextChoose More info → Run anyway. See Install.
What you seeThe ModelXcel Pro tab doesn’t appear in Excel.
What it meansThe VSTO runtime is missing, or the add-in was disabled in Excel’s COM Add-ins.
What to do nextRe-run the bootstrapper to install the runtime; or re-enable it in File → Options → Add-ins → COM Add-ins.
What you seeThe add-in installed but never loads in Excel.
What it meansThe Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office (VSTO) runtime isn’t present.
What to do nextRe-run the bootstrapper — it installs the VSTO runtime automatically. See Install.
Activation & license
What you see“This license is not valid for this machine.”
What it meansThe license was issued for a different machine code.
What to do nextCopy this machine’s code from Help → License Status and request a reissue. See Activation & machine binding.
What you see“Already activated on 2 other machines in the past year.”
What it meansA legacy (v2) license’s move allowance — 2 per 365 days — is used up.
What to do nextRequest a current v3 license for this machine.
What you seeThe machine code shows “Unavailable”.
What it meansFewer than two stable machine signals could be read (common on locked-down VMs).
What to do nextContact support — the machine isn’t exposing enough signals to bind a license.
What you see“System clock appears to have been set backwards.”
What it meansThe clock is earlier than the add-in’s last-seen watermark (beyond a 60-second slack).
What to do nextCorrect the system clock, then reopen Excel.
What you seeFeatures are locked and no trial ever started.
What it meansShipped builds have no self-serve local trial — a machine with no signed license is Unlicensed.
What to do nextRequest an issued trial or paid license. See Licensing model.
Ribbon buttons greyed out
What you seeA whole ModelXcel Pro feature group is greyed out.
What it meansThe license is inactive — feature groups are disabled together when Unlicensed, Expired, or Invalid.
What to do nextActivate or renew (Help, About, and License Status always stay available). See Activation.
What you seeUndo Format is greyed out.
What it meansEither the license is inactive, or there’s simply nothing to undo this session.
What to do nextActivate the license; otherwise note the undo history is per-session and resets when Excel reopens. See Undo Format.
What you seeRestore (Name Conversion) is greyed out.
What it meansThe license is inactive, or there’s no in-memory conversion snapshot for this workbook.
What to do nextActivate the license; a snapshot exists only after a Flatten/Apply this session. See Restore.
When Ctrl+Z doesn’t undo
Add-in writes go through Excel’s object model and bypass native undo
Several ModelXcel Pro commands write to cells programmatically, which does not feed Excel’s native undo stack — and some even clear it. Each one has its own recovery path; Ctrl+Z is usually not it.
What you see
Ctrl+Z didn’t reverse a Smart Formatting pass.What it meansFormat commands don’t populate Excel’s undo stack.
What to do nextUse Undo Format (last 20 passes, this session).
What you see
Ctrl+Z didn’t reverse Flatten / Apply Names.What it meansName Conversion writes formulas programmatically.
What to do nextUse Restore (one snapshot deep, this session).
What it meansCommitting a formula via COM clears Excel’s native undo stack.
What to do nextRe-enter the previous formula (shown read-only in the editor) and commit again.
What you seeThe workbook shows unsaved changes after a Sensitivity run.
What it meansSensitivity perturbs and restores inputs via COM, which marks the file modified and clears undo.
What to do nextExpected — your values are unchanged. Don’t rely on Ctrl+Z; just re-save if you wish.
Proof, ledger & sidecars
What you seeYou emailed the .xlsx but the review issues / audit marks are gone.
What it meansThose live in .mxreview / .mxaudit sidecar files beside the workbook, which didn’t travel.
What to do nextSend the sidecars too (same base name), or use an Export for a self-contained snapshot. See Audit & Review.
What you seeAn exported Certificate failed external verification.
What it meansThe Certificate is SHA-256 self-hashed, not signed — it isn’t externally verifiable.
What to do nextUse Replay Proof’s
.mxreplay.signed for an independently verifiable artifact.What you seeVerify reports the ledger as tampered, or a bound value drifted.
What it meansA record was altered/reordered, or a bound source no longer matches its pinned snapshot.
What to do nextRun Verify & coverage to see exactly what changed.
Highlight lenses (Heatmap, Issues, Audit)
What you seeThe heatmap / issue / audit colors disappear after you save or close.
What it meansThese are temporary lenses — colors are stripped before every save and restored on close, so they never bake into the file.
What to do nextExpected and safe. Toggle the lens on again to see it. See Risk Heatmap.
What you seeTurning on a second lens prompts you and removes the first.
What it meansOnly one in-grid lens (Heatmap / Highlight Issues / Highlight Audit) can be painted at a time.
What to do nextConfirm the switch; the previous lens’s original fills are restored before the new one paints.
What you seeComparison highlights got saved into the file.
What it meansUnlike the lenses above, comparison highlights are persistent real fills.
What to do nextUse the results window’s Remove Highlights before saving — don’t rely on Ctrl+Z.
Compare
What you seeCompare to Previous Version ignored your saved comparison settings.
What it meansIt runs with the built-in defaults and doesn’t read the saved settings file.
What to do nextRun the diff through Compare Workbooks to apply a custom tolerance or scope.
What you seeComparing a OneDrive / SharePoint workbook.
What it meansThe cloud file is fetched read-only into a managed cache; neither side is modified.
What to do nextExpected. If an export needs a local path, save a local copy first.
Shortcuts
What you seeA Smart Formatting shortcut (
Ctrl+Shift+J/Q/X, Alt+Shift+…) does nothing.What it meansThe master toggle is off, the license is inactive, or focus is in a text box / cell-edit mode.
What to do nextRe-enable the toggle, check the license, and click into the grid. See Settings & conflicts.
What you see
Ctrl+Shift+M / E / G do nothing.What it meansThese act on an open Worksheet Map pane.
What to do nextOpen the Worksheet Map pane first, then use them.
What you seeOn a European keyboard, a chord types
@ or € instead of firing a command.What it meansThat’s AltGr (Ctrl+Alt). ModelXcel Pro deliberately never binds Ctrl+Alt.
What to do nextNothing to fix — the add-in uses
Ctrl+Shift / Alt+Shift. See Settings & conflicts.Where to go next