Visit macro.com to download the latest version for Windows. There are only two versions of the software: Mac and Windows. "Enterprise" users and free users, multi-device install and single-user install use the same exe and dmg.
1. Get the application
Download the latest version of the software from our website homepage :arrow_down:. There are only two versions of the app: exe for Windows and dmg for Mac.
2. Setup License
In order for end users to have access to all features without entering a credit card, they must be part of a licensed organization in Macro's backend license system.
If you have signed a contract with Macro, we will have already added you to our licensing backend.
Upon downloading the software, Macro requires users to enter their corporate email for license activation. If the customer email extension matches one in our license database (e.g. @acme.com is in our database and user@acme.com is the input) a 6-digit code will be sent to their email. The user will enter this code on the next screen. The software is now activated.
From time to time, currently set as every two weeks, the software will check to ensure that the license is active. If the license server can't be reached (e.g. user has no WiFi) the application will continue to operate.
To verify that your organization is set up, go to the Settings screen and you should see an Organization name that roughly matches your company (note: it need not exactly match the legal name of your company and it probably will not).
Screenshot of Settings page showing a valid Organization has been set up in the license server.
If you do not see an Organization in the Settings screen, please contact support@macro.com with your request to create an Organization in our backend.
Adjusting who can access the software
The simplest way to adjust who can access the software is to do so via MECM or SCCM. Simply restrict access to the group of users who you'd like to have access. Alternatively, in Macro's license activation backend, we can set up license activation in a variety of ways. If your company is Acme, Inc. with domain acme.com:
- Configured to permit all @acme.com emails
- Configured to permit a specific list of emails
- Configured to permit multiple emails e.g. @uk.acme.com, @eu.acme.com
- Configured to permit wildcards e.g. @*.acme.com
By default, we will usually set up your organization to permit all @acme.com emails but we can change this if you let us know you'd like something else.
3. Test in your environment
In rare instances, anti-virus or other software may interfere with the running of the application. To ensure the application is running properly, open the following pdf and ensure it looks OK. You should be able to click on defined terms which will appear in blue and section references which appear in green by default.
Open this example.pdf in the application to ensure it is working properly on your Desktop.
4. Special setup for Virtual Desktop
Macro has been tested and is verified to work on numbers virtual desktop configurations like VMWare® and Citrix®. In some virtual desktop configurations, local data is not persisted across user sessions by default. On virtual desktops please ensure C:Users{USER_NAME}\\AppData\\Roaming\\Macro is persisted across logins and restarts, as the application will cache user preferences to this folder. If this folder is not persisted then user preferences will be wiped every login!
5. Optional DMS Integration
Macro has a native first-party iManage and we are currently working on a NetDocuments integration. For iManage, we can support on-prem or cloud instances using a Work 10 backend or later (even if the frontend is a 9.x instance e.g. DeskSite, the integration can still be performed so long as the backend is version 10 or later).
Please email your point of contact or support@macro.com with your iManage tenant URI in order to enable this integration. For on-prem setups this varies while for cloud setups this is usually http://cloudimanage.com/.
Connecting your iManage tenant to the Macro application does not mean that Macro has access to your iManage - we do not have access to your files!
6. Deployment
There are two ways to deploy the application based on the preference of the customer. The first is end-user installation where each end user downloads the application. The second is multi-user installation via MECM (formerly known as SCCM).
Please note that we no longer provide msi builds, only exe because of limitations we experienced in file system interoperation and updating.
Multi-user install
If installing via CLI, you can provide the /allusers flag to install Macro at a system level.
Please see EXE Installer with MECM for a detailed walkthrough.
End-user install
End-users can simply download the app from macro.com and activate the license with their corporate email.
Deployment FAQ
Does Macro have to be the default PDF app?
No, it does not. We recommend setting Macro as the default PDF handler, especially if integrating with DMS, but this is not required.
Can we prevent the user from setting it as PDF default and/or remove the "set as default" option?
No, as far as we know, there is no way to force Windows or Mac on a multi-device level to prevent the user from changing their defaults. For this reason, we also don't provide configurability to remove this option in the app. The option in the app is the same as if the user had set as default through the open-with menu in Windows or Mac.
Where can I download the Pro version? Are there multiple versions?
There is only one Windows version (exe) and one Mac version (dmg) and you can download them from macro.com. Whether or not pro-level feature are enabled depends on the license server and the email the user enters into the software.