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Troubleshooting
PaperOtter is signed, but not yet notarised by Apple, so macOS blocks the first launch. Nothing is wrong with the download. Verified on macOS 26:
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Open PaperOtter. macOS refuses with "PaperOtter" Not Opened. Click Done. Do not skip this: the override does not exist until macOS has actually blocked you.
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System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to Security at the bottom. PaperOtter is named there. Click Open Anyway. This appears for about an hour after the block, then expires.
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A second dialog asks Open "PaperOtter"? with three buttons.
⚠️ The blue default button is Move to Bin (Move to Trash in US English), which deletes the app. Pressing Return here throws PaperOtter away. Click Open Anyway deliberately. -
Authenticate with Touch ID or an administrator password. macOS saves the exception and PaperOtter opens normally from then on.
Older builds (before v1.0.0) shipped a broken signature and produced this harsher message, which has no Open Anyway path. The same applies if the one-hour window expired. Clear the quarantine flag directly:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/PaperOtter.app
Click More info, then Run anyway. Same cause as above, but for Windows code-signing: it's on the roadmap, not a sign of a broken installer.
You need LibreOffice or Calibre installed and on
your PATH. PaperOtter will show a prompt naming the missing dependency when
this happens.
For Unlock, this means the password you entered doesn't match the one on the file, or the PDF itself is corrupted. For Protect, it usually means the source file is corrupted or uses a PDF feature PaperOtter cannot process. Try re-exporting the source PDF and protecting it again.
Open an issue and include the exact error message. Happy to help.
See also: Required Dependencies · FAQ
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