name.jpg "is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash."

aOf8T3OD4AO · Jan 6, 2020

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)
OSX Sierra (Version 10.12.6)

I am able to open messages such as name.jpg "is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash" only from a running app's open dialog. Clicking the file itself brings up the message. This applies to any file downloaded from the internet or along with email. It began about 2 weeks ago and I haven't been able to do anything that makes it go away. I don't want to upgrade the OS. Can anyone help me?

Henry Korman

MacInWin · Jan 6, 2020

Welcome to the forum.

I am unable to figure out what you are saying, sorry. I have a ton of questions. What application are you struggling with? What messages? You can you can open name.jpg, which is an image type, but what does "only from a running app's open dialog" mean?

Are all of these trouble files images? What do you use to open them? How do you try to open them? (Inside an app, double click, right click, what?)

What did you change about two weeks ago? What does upgrading the OS have to do with it?

Sorry, but I'm totally lost as to what is going on.

aOf8T3OD4AO · Jan 6, 2020

Sorry for being so opaque.
I wrote "message" but meant file. Not struggling with any application. It's any file downloaded from the web—image files such as jpg, psd, pdf, tiff, etc. Others such as .dmg or Word files, .doc, and so forth. I can open any of these only inside an app. Double clicking, right clicking result in the message.
To the best of my knowledge I didn't change anything. I mentioned upgrading because all I could find on the web regarding solving my problem involves upgrading the OS.
Thanks,
Henry

MacInWin · Jan 6, 2020

Ok, that helped. Find one of these files that is giving you trouble and Right Click on it (Ctrl-click). Then Get Info. In the resulting window will be some information on the file. One of the boxes will list the app that is the default used to open the file if you double click it. If what is in the box is NOT what you expect to use with that file, click on the lock icon lower right corner, give an admin password to unlock the window, then click in the Open with: box and find the app that is the right one. Now just below that box is another option to "Use this application to open all documents like this one." Click the "Change all" box and give it time to run through all the same kind of files. Now try double clicking on the file again an it should open in that app. If that works, you will need to now repeat that process for each of the kinds of file you are struggling with. Sorry for PITA, but that's what it takes to reassociate the files with the apps.

aOf8T3OD4AO · Jan 7, 2020

I tried your suggestion for a .jpg file and a .pdf file. Get info showed Preview as the default app for the .jpg and Adobe Acrobat Pro as the default for the .pdf. Each is the expected app for the type of file. I tried changing the default app for the .jpg to Photoshop. Double clicking the file resulted in the same error message. I again checked the default app for the file and it is Photoshop.

Screen shot of the message attached in case it provides any useful information.

Any other ideas would be most welcome.

Thanks,
Henry

Screen Shot 2020-01-06 at 10.56.46 AM.jpg

IWT · Jan 7, 2020

Hi Henry

Until Jake has time to reply, let me just say that your screenshot is very helpful.

The image was downloaded from the web via Firefox; but it is "damaged" or corrupted in such a way that none of the usual apps (Adobe or Preview) can open it. You've tried treating it as a PDF and as a JPEG without success.

You have done all the right things to try and open it. I don't see a solution unfortunately.

You could try to download the image again if that is feasible. Otherwise, I think the download is lost.

Ian

Lifeisabeach · Jan 7, 2020

This seems really odd to me. You sometimes see this message for apps that are not signed by a developer. It’s a Gatekeeper feature, and a misleading one since unsigned apps aren’t really “damaged”. But a jpg? This doesn’t make any sense to me because it’s not an app and jpg files don’t get “signed”. It sounds like something has happened to make Gatekeeper go haywire. I’m not sure how to resolve this, short of reinstalling macOS.

MacInWin · Jan 7, 2020

LIAB, I've not seen that message for Gatekeeper. The message for GK is that the file came from a source GK is unaware of, not safe, etc. Never seen "damaged" from GK. Not that it wouldn't, but I've not seen that.

aOf8T3OD4AO, can you try a different browser to download the same file(s)? I don't use, don't trust FF. It started getting flaky when they went to the high-frequency release model. I wonder if the issue is that FF is not properly downloading, leaving the files in "broken" status?

Lifeisabeach · Jan 7, 2020

MacInWin said:
LIAB, I've not seen that message for Gatekeeper. The message for GK is that the file came from a source GK is unaware of, not safe, etc. Never seen "damaged" from GK. Not that it wouldn't, but I've not seen that.

I’ve certainly seen it, though only with apps. I don’t know what triggers this one vs the one you mention, but it is attributed to Gatekeeper. Info below with recommended solutions, although in this case, trying a different browser as you recommended would be a good first step.

Mac: "Downloaded .app is damaged and can't be opened" Error Solved

How to Fix App “is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash” Error on Mac

MacInWin · Jan 7, 2020

As I said, I've not seen that at all. The first link was really old, from 2013. The second was more current, but didn't suggest changing the same thing to avoid GK. So maybe it was a bug back in 2013 that has been fixed, so that now the message is more associated with xattr being corrupted? Who knows?

Anyway, the second article also recommended re-downloading, so that's probably what is best here, with a different browser.

aOf8T3OD4AO · Jan 7, 2020

Thanks all for your comments.
I tried downloading with Safari. Same result, this time with a .dmg.
Looks as if I'll need to reinstall the system after all.
Please let me know if anything else occurs to anyone.
Henry

aOf8T3OD4AO · Jan 7, 2020

Boing.
The mentions of Gatekeeper triggered a memory of the default choices for allowing downloads. Opening System Preferences/Security and Privacy revealed the two choices: App Store or App Store and Identified Developers. I googled: mac osx sierra "restore anywhere button in Security and Privacy" and opened "How to allow apps from anywhere" (mac osx sierra "restore anywhere button in Security and Privacy"). Restoring the Anywhere button as a choice, and selecting it, did the trick.

I had reinstalled the button a long time ago and forgot about doing it. I don't know how it was removed, but I'm making a note to myself for next time (just in case!)

Once again thank you all for your efforts.

MacInWin · Jan 7, 2020

Reinstalling the OS is an overkill. Hold on to see what other suggestions may come along. Did you try any of the solutions in the articles that LIAB suggested?

aOf8T3OD4AO · Jan 7, 2020

MacInWin said:
Reinstalling the OS is an overkill. Hold on to see what other suggestions may come along. Did you try any of the solutions in the articles that LIAB suggested?

Yes, I tried both. The second link led to the "How to allow apps from anywhere" page. Although many of the files that would not open with a double click are not apps, the method worked for them as well as apps. I'll wait as you suggest. I'm not in a hurry to reinstall.

Lifeisabeach · Jan 7, 2020

Good to know you aren’t getting the error anymore, but I wouldn’t quite call the problem fixed since this shouldn’t have been happening in the first place. For the moment you are just bypassing the issue. Of course it’s up to you how to proceed, but if OS X “thinks” so many of these files are damaged for some reason, maybe there’s an issue with the file system. Using Onyx to run some routine maintenance tasks may fix it, but also consider the possibility that your drive is failing. I just don’t know what else to think right now, but given the age of your Mac, it’s worth exploring. My signature has a link to a post discussing how to do some testing.

aOf8T3OD4AO · Jan 8, 2020

Lifeisabeach said:
Good to know you aren’t getting the error anymore, but I wouldn’t quite call the problem fixed since this shouldn’t have been happening in the first place. For the moment you are just bypassing the issue. Of course it’s up to you how to proceed, but if OS X “thinks” so many of these files are damaged for some reason, maybe there’s an issue with the file system. Using Onyx to run some routine maintenance tasks may fix it, but also consider the possibility that your drive is failing. I just don’t know what else to think right now, but given the age of your Mac, it’s worth exploring. My signature has a link to a post discussing how to do some testing.

Yes, I do realize that I haven't fixed the problem. I'll run Onyx although I doubt that will "fix" things. I recently installed a new 1T SSD drive to replace the 1T disk drive I had installed a few years ago to replace the original, failing drive. I'll look into the testing link tomorrow.

Thanks for your followup comments. Much appreciated.

Henry