"XYZ Is Damaged and Can’t Be Opened. You Should Move It To The Trash".

My goodness. And there even is an incompetent reply from Apple themselves.

When an application gets downloaded from any source other than those that Apple seems suited, the application gets an extended attribute "com.apple.Quarantine". This triggers the message: "<application> is damaged and can't be opened. You should move it to the Bin."

Remove the attribute and you can launch the application.

To do this, open a console and type:

$ xattr -c <path/to/application.app>

Lauch, smile and enjoy.

@Apple: You certainly MUST know this. Why don't you hand it to your customers?

1. I did read the comments: I just updated to Monterey ... Did you check for updates...?
2. Glitch? What sort of "glitch" would you think? If there are installed apps from third party sources that Apple seems not trustworthy enough, those applications are marked.
3. Users that don't know Unix commands still can launch a terminal and type one single command.

I do agree with your concern about malware. If one doesn't know where the application comes from, one should indeed delete it. However, malware can come in several disguises.

My complaint was that Apple deliberately (and repeatedly, not only in this thread) suggests to reinstall, do some magic hokus-pokus but does not set up a solution with a warning.

"Lauch, smile and enjoy."

And hope what you launch is not ransomware, malware, or some other nasty? Great advice you’re giving there, especially to a user who likely doesn’t know what a Unix command looks like, much less how to enter it. In addition the user says ALL of their files are exhibiting this error message so how long do you think it will take to ‘fix’ them one at a time?

Much more likely this is some glitch from the user’s recent macOS update. Try reading the user’s post.

Mr. Hoffmann,

before you come up with something like in your last post, I would recommend you try first.

Under Monterey, downloading GeoGebra (also available from AppStore) from github is flagged with a quarantine attribute. The OS suggests to delete. The same file from the AppStore launches perfectly.

Deleting the xattr launches the github version.

Same with mackeepass.app, same with libreoffice.app (both downloaded with brew and directly).

It is the quarantine attribute.

And none of the files were corrupted.

If a file is corrupted (by either injecting something into the MacOS Content or exchanging files) the internal checksums will prevent the file from launching and then you can delete xattrs but that will not help. In this case, I would recommend deletion of the file.

liaocd wrote:

I just updated my MacOS this morning. Is there something else I should do in order to patch it?

Did you check for updates? If you did and none were offered, you’re current. Sometimes folks use older installers, or an update for a specific Mac becomes available. Then check for Office updates, as sometimes a new macOS means new Office updates, and sometimes the apps in the system haven’t been updated in a while. If you’re current on Office, then check with Microsoft Support.

If you don’t have current backups, get one now.

Try a restart.

Patch macOS and Office to current, and try again.

That message can mean the files are damaged, though.

Are these files all stored local, or stored on iCloud, or on some other file share service?

The usual cause of a damaged error is either a damaged file, a maliciously-modified file, or a download with an expired or unverified or invalid digital certificate chain. Not the quarantine flag. A quarantined file is not damaged.

The quarantine attribute will block launch, and the attribute is added for all apps arriving on a Mac other than via the app store.

The expected diagnostic for this attribute is encountered on a file is this:

This is an application downloaded from the Internet. Are you sure you want to open it?

Removing the quarantine flag might serve as a workaround, as removing that probably also suppresses the signature check as a side effect. But it’s not the quarantine flag that’s causing the {application-name} is damaged and can’t be opened.You should move it to the trash. error. It’s a busted or corrupt app, or problems with the app and its signature, or it’s actual malware. Or something has co-opted or corrupted the signature check.

Restart the Mac, reinstall the apps from the App Store, then check with the app developer and/pr contact Apple Support.

Confirm a current backup exists, try a restart, patch macOS and Office to current, then check with Microsoft Support.