Droplets
Droplets on macOS Sequoia: fixing “damaged” and “Could not complete the Create Droplet command”
Why macOS 15 Sequoia and later block droplets as "damaged", including Adobe Photoshop's misleading "Could not complete the Create Droplet command because the file was not found" error, and the System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Open Anyway steps that fix it.
Droplets are small drag-and-drop applications created by a program on your own Mac. A Better Finder
Attributes makes them, and so do A Better Finder Rename and Adobe Photoshop (File ▸ Automate ▸
Create Droplet…). On macOS 15 Sequoia and later, all of them run into the same security block: the
droplet is reported as “damaged and can’t be opened”, or, in Photoshop’s misleading wording,
Could not complete the Create Droplet command because the file was not found. The droplet is not
damaged and no file is missing: macOS is refusing to run an unsigned, user-created application. The
fix is the same for droplets from any of these programs.
The fix
- double-click the droplet once and dismiss the
damagedorfile was not founddialog - open
System Settings(Apple menu▸System Settings…) - go to
Privacy & Security - scroll down to the
"{Your Droplet Name}" was blocked to protect your Mac.entry - click
Open Anyway - confirm with
Open - enter your password or use Touch ID
macOS ties the approval to the individual droplet, not to the program that made it, so the steps have to be repeated for every newly created droplet. Once approved, a droplet keeps working.
Photoshop droplets
Droplets created with Photoshop’s File ▸ Automate ▸ Create Droplet… are user-created, unsigned
applications just like ours, so macOS Sequoia blocks them in exactly the same way. With Photoshop 26.5
and later, creating the droplet appears to succeed, but the first attempt to run it fails with Could
not complete the Create Droplet command because the file was not found. The droplet has been
created and nothing is missing; macOS has refused to launch it. Older Photoshop versions show the
"…" is damaged and can't be opened dialog instead. The seven steps above fix both.
Why this happens
A Better Finder Attributes has supported droplets for a very long time and many people rely on them. A droplet stores your settings inside a copy of a small application, which means the application is modified after the developer signed it. Apple’s increasingly strict security model treats such a modified application as suspect.
Under macOS 13 Ventura the workaround was simple: hold Control, click the droplet, choose Open,
and click through the warning. The video below shows that procedure and discusses the actual security
implications:
- macOS Ventura Security & Droplets (5m 55s)
As of macOS 15 Sequoia the Control-click route no longer works and the dialog says {Your Droplet
Name} is damaged and can't be opened. You should move it to the Bin. (This file was downloaded on an
unknown date.), which is why the trip to System Settings is now required. There is nothing a
third-party developer can do about this.