Official Guide v1.0.3

MarginPro User Guide

Everything you need to know — from loading the add-in for the first time to using templates, inserting notes, and syncing to OneDrive.

Email Support → Install on AppSource

Welcome

Welcome to MarginPro!

This guide walks you through every feature — from installing the add-in to using templates, managing your notes library, and syncing to OneDrive. If anything feels confusing, email us at support@marginproapp.com and we'll get you sorted.

Part 1

Getting the Add-In Into Word

What you need: The manifest.production.xml file — which can be downloaded directly from your organization portal or Microsoft AppSource.
🍎

On a Mac

  1. 1Open Finder and press Cmd + Shift + G to open "Go to Folder."
  2. 2Paste the following path and press Enter:
    ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Documents/wef/
  3. 3If the wef folder doesn't exist, create it (right-click inside Documents → New Folder → name it wef).
  4. 4Copy your manifest.production.xml file into the wef folder.
  5. 5Quit and reopen Microsoft Word.
  6. 6The MarginPro button appears at the far right of the Home tab in the ribbon. ✅
🪟

On Windows

  1. 1Create a new folder on your PC, e.g. C:\AddinManifests. Copy manifest.production.xml inside it.
  2. 2Right-click the folder → Properties → Sharing → Share. Ensure your user account has Read permissions. Copy the Network Path shown (e.g., \\YourPC\AddinManifests).
  3. 3Open Word → File → Options → Trust Center → Trust Center Settings.
  4. 4Click Trusted Add-in Catalogs. Paste the network path into the Catalog Url box, click Add catalog, then check Show in Menu → OK.
  5. 5Restart Word completely.
  6. 6Go to Insert tab → Get Add-ins → Shared Folder → select MarginPro → click Add. ✅
Part 2

Opening the Add-In

Click the MarginPro button in the Home tab ribbon. A task pane slides open on the right side of Word. It stays open while you work — you can scroll your document normally.

What you'll see in the pane header

→

Margin logo — top left, always visible.

→

Cloud Sync Active ✅ — confirms your notes are syncing to OneDrive. If you see "Enable OneDrive" instead, see Part 8.

→

Sign Out — top right corner.

→

Plan badge — shows Free / Pro / Enterprise tier and your note count.

→

Four tabs — New Note · My Notes · Store · Management (admin only).

Part 3

Signing In

  1. 1On first launch, click Sign in with Microsoft.
  2. 2A Microsoft login dialog opens — use your work or personal Microsoft account.
  3. 3After sign-in, MarginPro sets up your profile automatically and returns you to the main pane.
Part 4

Creating a Note

The New Note tab is your main workspace. Everything you create here is saved, searchable, and optionally stamped into your Word document.

Step-by-step

  1. 1Title field — Type a short descriptive name (e.g., "ADKAR Change Management"). This is the label that appears as a link in your document if you insert the note.
  2. 2Content editor — Rich text: bold, italic, underline, numbered lists, bullet lists, font color, and text highlight.
  3. 3(Optional) Attachment — Click the dashed box to attach an image or PDF. Stored securely in the cloud, not embedded in Word directly.
  4. 4(Optional) Note Type — Choose who can see the note: Private Notes, Shared Notes, or Team Notes.
  5. 5(Optional) Make Note Global — Toggle this on to make the note visible across all documents, not just this one.
  6. 6(Optional) Display Mode — Set how this note's link looks in the document: Default (follow the document setting), Visible (green, dotted underline), or Discreet (blends into your text with a small icon). See Note Display Modes for details.
  7. 7Save it — Choose one of the two save actions below.
ButtonWhat it does
Save OnlySaves the note to your library silently — no change to the Word document. Use this when you want to capture something and decide later.
Save & InsertSaves the note AND places a green, dotted-underlined link at your cursor position in the document. Clicking that link later re-opens the note instantly.
Tip: Click in your document first to set the cursor where you want the note link to appear, then click Save & Insert.
Part 5

The Note Library (My Notes Tab)

The My Notes tab shows all your saved notes. It has two sub-tabs:

Document Notes

Notes linked to the document currently open in Word. Switch documents and the list updates automatically.

Global Notes

Notes marked as Global. Available across every document you open — great for standing frameworks or org-wide references.

ActionDescription
ViewOpens a read-only dialog showing the full note content or template — without inserting anything.
InsertPlaces a green dotted-underline link at your cursor in the document, tethered to this note.
✏️ EditLoads the note back into the New Note tab so you can update it. Save again when done.
📋 PasteDumps the full note content (tables, rich text, images) directly into the document at your cursor — no link marker, just the raw content.
🗑️ DeletePermanently removes the note. A confirmation dialog appears first.

Search: Use the Search bar at the top of the tab to filter notes by title. Results update as you type.

Part 6

Using Notes Already in Your Document

This is one of MarginPro's most powerful features. Once a note link is in your document, it stays live — clicking it retrieves the full note instantly.

How it works

  1. 1When you saved a note with Save & Insert, MarginPro placed a green, dotted-underlined text in your document (e.g., "ADKAR Change Management").
  2. 2Click or select that text in the Word document.
  3. 3A MarginPro dialog window opens automatically, showing you the complete note — tables, rich text, images — with no searching needed.
Real-world use case: A colleague opens your document, sees a note link, clicks it, and reads the full research record — without ever needing to open the MarginPro sidebar themselves.

🎬 Video Notes

If your note content contains a YouTube or Vimeo link — either pasted as plain text or embedded as a hyperlink — MarginPro automatically detects it and displays a full-width embedded video player at the top of the note dialog. The note text appears below the player.

  1. 1Create a note and paste any YouTube or Vimeo URL into the content area (e.g., https://youtube.com/watch?v=...).
  2. 2Save and insert the note as normal.
  3. 3Click the note link in your document — the video plays directly inside the note dialog, no browser required.
Tip: This works great for training materials, tutorials, or any research that references a video source. The first YouTube or Vimeo URL found in the note is used; additional URLs remain as clickable links in the text below.
Part 7

The Template Store

The Store tab gives you access to 15+ professional note templates organized by category. Professional and Enterprise plan subscribers get full access to every template at no cost.

📊 Strategic Planning

SWOT Analysis · Current vs. Future State · VRIO Framework · Business Model Canvas

📋 Project Management

Action Items Log · ADKAR Change Management · RAID Log · MoSCoW Matrix

📚 Academic & Research

Cornell Notes · Literature Review Matrix · The Diamond Method™

⚡ Professional Productivity

Blank Note · Weekly Planner · Personal Budget · Recipe Tracker

Using a template

  1. 1Click the Store tab. Use the Category dropdown to browse by pack.
  2. 2Click 👁 Preview on any template to see its exact Word-formatted layout in a read-only dialog.
  3. 3Click Use Template. MarginPro loads it into the New Note tab, pre-fills the title, and switches you there automatically.
  4. 4Fill in the placeholders (e.g., replace [Enter your position here] with your actual content).
  5. 5Click Save Only or Save & Insert — just like a regular note.
Tip: After using a template it becomes a normal note in My Notes. You can re-insert it, view it, or edit it from there at any time.
Part 8

OneDrive Cloud Sync

Every note is automatically backed up to a folder called MarginPro_Vault in your OneDrive — accessible from any device and discoverable by Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Connecting OneDrive (first time)

If you see "Enable OneDrive" in the pane header instead of "Cloud Sync Active ✅":

  1. 1Click Enable OneDrive in the pane header.
  2. 2Follow the Microsoft sign-in prompt (same account you use for Word).
  3. 3The banner switches to Cloud Sync Active ✅ and all future notes sync automatically.
Note: If you sign out and back in and see "Enable OneDrive" again, MarginPro will first try to restore the sync token from your profile automatically. If it can't, click the button to reconnect.
Part 9

File Attachments

You can attach an image or PDF to any note. The file is stored securely in Firebase Storage — not embedded in the Word document itself.

  1. 1On the New Note tab, click the dashed attachment area below the content editor.
  2. 2Select an image or PDF from your computer.
  3. 3The file uploads automatically. Image attachments are also embedded directly into your Word document when you insert the note.
Part 10

Team Management (Admins Only)

Visible only if your account has the Admin role. From here you control who has access to MarginPro within your organization.

What Admins can do

  • View all users in your Microsoft 365 organization and their assigned roles.
  • Add individual email addresses to grant access.
  • Import a CSV file to bulk-enroll team members in seconds.
  • Remove users from the whitelist.

Bulk enrolling via CSV

  1. 1Create a .csv file with email addresses (one per row or mixed with other text).
  2. 2Click Import CSV and select the file.
  3. 3MarginPro extracts every valid email and enrolls them automatically.
Part 11

Excel Live-Link

Connect your research notes to live data in Excel. Snapshot specific ranges and maintain a permanent link to the source workbook.

  1. 1In the New Note tab, click the Excel icon (Spreadsheet) in the editor toolbar.
  2. 2Paste a Share Link from OneDrive or SharePoint for your Excel workbook.
  3. 3Once connected, select the Sheet Name and enter the Range (e.g., A1:D10).
  4. 4Click Load Range to see a live preview of the data.
  5. 5Click Link Excel to Note to attach the data snapshot to your research record.
Refreshing Data: If the Excel data changes, open the note and click the refresh icon on the Excel card to pull the latest values from the cloud.
Part 12

Create an Instant Appendix

Turn your notes into a clean, professional appendix at the end of your document. Perfect for reports and PDFs.

How to generate the Appendix

  1. 1Switch to the My Notes tab and ensure you are in the Document Notes view.
  2. 2Click the Insert Appendix button at the bottom of the list.
  3. 3MarginPro automatically scans your document for citations and appends a formatted "Research Appendix" to the end of the file.

Bidirectional Anchors

MarginPro adds hidden bookmarks. Clicking a citation in the doc jumps to the appendix entry, and clicking the entry header jumps back to the citation.

Excel Table Rendering

Any linked Excel data is rendered as a clean, read-only HTML table in the appendix, ensuring the data is preserved in the final PDF.

Word Constraint: Note labels are shortened to 40 characters in the hidden bookmarks to comply with Microsoft Word's technical limits.
Part 13

Note Display Modes

You control how note links look inside your Word document. Choose between two display modes — and the whole note label is clickable either way.

👁 Visible

Note links appear as green, dotted-underlined text so they stand out from the surrounding document. Great when you want collaborators to spot the links easily.

◆ Discreet

Note links blend into your document text — same font and color as the surrounding words — with just a small icon as a subtle marker. Perfect for polished documents where you don't want the links to draw attention.

Set the mode for the whole document

  1. 1Open the Settings tab in the MarginPro pane.
  2. 2Under Note Display Mode, choose 👁 Visible or ◆ Discreet.
  3. 3When Discreet is selected, pick the icon you want from the icon set (diamond, star, flag, bookmark, and more).
  4. 4Click Apply Now to reformat every note link already in the open document to match. MarginPro shows you how many notes will be updated before it applies.
Travels with your document: The display mode is saved inside the document itself, so anyone who opens it sees your note links the same way.

Override a single note

You can give an individual note its own look that differs from the document-wide setting.

  1. 1Open the note in the editor (from the My Notes tab, choose Edit).
  2. 2Use the per-note display mode & icon selector to set Default (follow the document), Visible, or Discreet with a specific icon.
  3. 3That note keeps its own setting even when you switch the document-wide mode.
Tip: When you click Apply Now at the document level, custom per-note overrides are kept by default. To wipe them and force every note to the document setting, tick "Include notes with custom overrides" first.
Appendix is always Visible: Note links inside a generated Research Appendix always use the styled (green) format with a visible icon, so the appendix stays readable and printable regardless of your document's display mode.
Part 14

Troubleshooting

ProblemSolution
Button doesn't appear in ribbon Mac: Verify the wef folder path and restart Word. Windows: Check the network path in Trust Center and restart Word.
Excel link returns error Ensure the Excel file is stored on OneDrive/SharePoint and that you are using a "Share" link, not the browser URL.
Appendix anchors not jumping Ensure you have saved the document after inserting the appendix. Some versions of Word for Web require a manual save to activate internal bookmarks.
Pane is blank / "Waking up Word…" Wait 10–15 seconds for the Office JS runtime to initialize, then try clicking the ribbon button again.
"Access Restricted" screen Your email hasn't been added to the organization whitelist. Email support@marginproapp.com or contact your admin.
Notes not showing in My Notes Check you're on the right sub-tab: Document Notes vs. Global Notes. Notes are scoped to the document open when they were created.
Cloud Sync "Waiting for Login" Click the Reconnect button that appears in the status bar to re-link your Microsoft account.
Still stuck? Email us at support@marginproapp.com with a screenshot and we'll reply within one business day.
Part 15

Quick Reference Card

New Note Tab

  • • Title: Label shown in Word link
  • • Editor: Rich text formatting
  • • Excel Icon: Link live spreadsheets
  • • Attachment: Image or PDF upload
  • • Save & Insert: Vault + Link in doc

My Notes Library

  • • Doc Notes: Scoped to open file
  • • Global Notes: All documents
  • • Insert Appendix: Create PDF glossary
  • • Insert: Link marker at cursor
  • • Paste: Raw content dump

Store & Sync

  • • Preview: Read-only template view
  • • Use Template: Load into editor
  • • Cloud Sync: Auto-save to OneDrive
  • • Vault Path: /OneDrive/MarginPro_Vault

In-Doc Interaction

  • • Citation Link: Click to open dialog
  • • Appendix Header: Jump to citation
  • • Label Click: Jump to appendix
  • • Display Mode: Visible or Discreet (Settings)
  • • Audit Trail: Permanent records

Help & Support

EMAIL SUPPORT

support@marginproapp.com

QUICK TIP

If the pane hangs, click the ribbon button again to refresh the connection.