Rolling out RibbonKeys to a team

A team licence puts RibbonKeys on the Macs of a company with one licence code: each Mac enters the code and takes a seat, and the people who manage the licence see the Macs, the seats and the invoices on the team page. It covers Excel, Word and PowerPoint on every one of those Macs.

What it costs

The price a seat depends on the size of the team and applies to every seat: 30 seats are 30 × €55.

Team prices are before VAT. Stripe adds the VAT at checkout, from the company's billing address and VAT number.

Every Mac can try RibbonKeys first: it is free for 7 days from the first time it is opened, with no account and no code.

Buying

1. Sign in on the team page

   Go to team.ribbonkeys.com and sign in with a Microsoft or Google account. That account becomes the licence's manager. Nobody else needs an account.

2. Choose the seats

   A seat is one Mac. Choose between 5 and 500. The page shows the price for a year, at the price a seat above, before you pay.

3. Pay in Stripe Checkout

   Stripe asks for a card, the billing address and the company's name and VAT number, adds the VAT and issues the invoice. Back on the team page, the licence's code is shown, in the form RK-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX.

Installing on each Mac

1. Download and copy

   Each Mac needs macOS 13 or later and Excel, Word or PowerPoint for Mac. Open the downloaded disk image and drag RibbonKeys onto Applications. It is a direct download, not in the Mac App Store, and runs on Apple silicon and Intel Macs.

2. Allow Accessibility

   The first time RibbonKeys opens, macOS asks to give it the Accessibility permission, under System Settings, Privacy & Security. The person at the Mac switches it on. Until then the RibbonKeys menu in the menu bar shows ⚠️, and its Open Accessibility Settings… leads there. The privacy page says what the app does with that permission.

3. Start at login

   RibbonKeys lives in the menu bar. Under Settings…, on the General tab, Start RibbonKeys at login is off until someone ticks it.

Entering the team's code

On each Mac, open Settings… in the RibbonKeys menu, go to the Licence tab, choose Enter Licence Code…, paste the code and choose Use This Code. The Mac takes a seat if one is free, and the Licence tab then says that this Mac uses a seat of a team licence, paid through a date, and that the team's manager looks after its seats and billing. Until it has the code, a Mac runs the free trial of 7 days.

Team codes need RibbonKeys 0.3.3 or later. A Mac with an older copy gets the newest version with Check for Updates… in the RibbonKeys menu, or from the download below.

Seats

• Who holds one. The team page lists the Macs that hold a seat, by the name of the Mac, with the day each was last seen, and how many seats are free.
• Freeing a seat. Release, beside a Mac on the team page, frees its seat. On the Mac itself, Remove this Mac… on the Licence tab does the same. A Mac that has not confirmed its seat for 60 days frees it by itself. A released Mac does not take the seat straight back: its Licence tab offers Use on This Mac.
• All seats taken. A new Mac then gets no seat, and its Licence tab says so and asks to have a seat freed or added, then Check Again.
• More seats. A manager adds seats on the team page. They are charged at once, pro rata for the rest of the paid year, and the page shows the amount with its tax before you confirm.
• Fewer seats. A manager can lower the number, to no fewer than 5, from the next renewal. Nothing is refunded. If more Macs then hold a seat than the new number allows, the Macs that took their seats first keep them.

Managers

• A second manager. The account that bought the licence can invite one second manager. Create an invitation on the team page; the code is shown once and works for 7 days. The other person signs in and enters it. Both can then release seats, change the number of seats, see the invoices and cancel.
• Keeping access. The licence code lets a Mac use the licence and never gives anyone its management. Under Your account, the team page can add a second way to sign in, with the other of Microsoft and Google, so that losing one does not lock you out. Someone who signs in without an invitation is not a manager.

Billing

The subscription renews every year, at the price for the number of seats it then has. The team page shows the invoices and opens Stripe's customer portal, where a manager changes the card, pays an open invoice or cancels. A cancelled licence works until the end of the paid year. If a renewal is not paid, the team's Macs stop when they next check, and have their seats back once it is. The terms of sale have the details.

If the code has leaked

If the licence code has reached someone who should not use it, choose Replace this code, if it has leaked… on the team page. The licence gets a new code and keeps its seats, subscription, invoices and managers. The old code stops at once. Every Mac of the team keeps its seat, and once it is given the new code with Enter Licence Code… goes on as before; a Mac without it stops when it next checks. A Mac you do not know then still holds a seat, which Release frees.

Offline, updates and privacy

• Offline. A Mac confirms its seat when RibbonKeys opens and about once a week, and keeps working without a connection for at least three weeks. A Mac whose seat was released keeps working until it next checks.
• Updates. RibbonKeys looks for a new version once a day and asks before installing it. The Accessibility permission stays across updates.
• Privacy. The app does not read the contents of sheets, documents or slides, and sends nothing about them. For a seat it sends the licence code, a code that stands for the Mac and the Mac's name. Using a seat needs no account. The privacy page says what the team page keeps about managers.

More questions are answered on the questions page. How the letters work in each app: Excel, Word and PowerPoint.

From 5 to 500 seats, €45 to €69 a seat a year before VAT.

Needs macOS 13 or later, and Excel, Word or PowerPoint for Mac.