Downloaded files won't open

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Level 1

14 points

Downloaded files won't open

Mail attachments, downloaded files from safari or chrome, or directly from gmail account won't open. I thought I'd resolve the problem by upgrading to Yosemite, but it still persists. The message I get is "file name" is damaged and can't be opened. You should move it to the Trash." It's the same message Gatekeeper will give you if it's programmed to only use apps that have been downloaded from the Apple store, but in my case it's with any downloaded file and any format (pdf, word, ppt, bmp, jpeg, etc.). I've gone through troubleshooting with Apple Support team but they seem to be clueless, too. Meanwhile I am stuck, can't get any work done!!!

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Apr 1, 2015 8:43 AM

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Answer 1

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Biminiblue Author

Level 1

14 points

Apr 1, 2015 8:56 AM in response to Biminiblue

I solved it by changing the Security & Privacy settings to allow apps downloaded from "anywhere" - It does not really make sense as the files I had trouble with were no apps... I hope Apple will fix this.

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Answer 2

pmiles

Level 6

16,013 points

Apr 1, 2015 8:59 AM in response to Biminiblue

Do you have any third party security software installed? That will most definitely be the culprit.

Gate Keeper will warn you when opening anything acquired from the internet that wasn't through the Mac App Store or it's identified developers. You can change this to allow anything, but I would advise against it... because you need to know that you are opening a file that may be suspect.

System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General. Unlock and set it to Anywhere if you want to leave your system wide open. The second setting it the default setting (and best setting).

You should still be able to open a file without changing these settings by holding down the control key as you click on the file then select open. It will prompt you again to confirm that you want to open the file. From then on, that file will no longer be blocked.

Again, if you installed any third party software that is designed to perform a similar function, it will likely override anything OS X is doing. Which is why you don't want to use said software in the first place.

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