MacOS – “FileName” is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the bin” when opening files from Finder

catalinamacos

I have tried re-downloading Microsoft Word, Excel multiple times and restarting before trying. However, this problem still persists.

This problem is applicable to all my documents, even PDFs too.

However, when I Command + O in the app itself, the document can be opened and functions normally.

The problem happens if I directly double-click or open the files from Finder.

Please advise me on how I can solve this issue.

Please help, I have been facing this problem for all my documents after I restore from backup

Best Answer

Apparently the document has a quarantine flag. You can verify the same by running the following command in the Terminal.app:

xattr <path_to_the_document>

which should display the following:

com.apple.quarantine

To remove the quarantine flag from a document you trust is coming from a reliable source, run the following command:

xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine <path_to_the_document>

The Terminal.app would ask you to enter your admin/login password. You can verify that the flag is removed by re-running the former command mentioned above.

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