macOS Permissions

macOS security requires explicit user authorization before an app can access certain system capabilities. PasteMD needs the following permissions to work properly.

Important

All permissions must be granted, otherwise related features will not work.

Quick Check

Check in Settings UI

1. Click the PasteMD menu bar icon
2. Select "Settings"
3. Switch to the "Permissions" tab
4. Review each permission status
5. Click "Open System Settings" to jump directly

Check in System Settings

Open "System Settings" -> "Privacy & Security" and check:

• ✅ Accessibility
• ✅ Screen Recording (macOS 10.15+)
• ✅ Input Monitoring
• ✅ Automation

Permission Details

1. Accessibility (Accessibility)

⌨️

Purpose

Simulate keyboard input for WPS auto paste (Cmd+V)

Required: ⚠️ Conditionally required - required if you use WPS; not required if you only use Office

Setup steps:

1. Open "System Settings" -> "Privacy & Security"
2. Click "Accessibility"
3. Click the lock icon 🔒 to unlock (password required)
4. Find "PasteMD" and check it
5. If PasteMD is missing, click ➕ to add it:
   • Press Cmd+Shift+G in Finder to open "Go to Folder"
   • Enter /Applications/PasteMD.app
   • Click "Open"
6. Restart PasteMD

Verify:

• Open WPS Writer or WPS Spreadsheet
• Copy a Markdown snippet
• Press the hotkey Ctrl+Shift+B
• Content should paste into WPS automatically

---

2. Screen Recording (Screen Recording)

🖥️

Purpose

Detect foreground window and app name (Word/Excel/WPS)

Required: ✅ Required (macOS 10.15+) - without it, app detection will not work

Supported systems: macOS 10.15 Catalina and above

Setup steps:

1. Open "System Settings" -> "Privacy & Security"
2. Click "Screen Recording"
3. Click the lock icon 🔒 to unlock
4. Find "PasteMD" and check it
5. Click "Later" or "Quit Now" (recommended: quit and restart)

Note

Although called "Screen Recording", PasteMD does not record your screen. It only reads window information.

Verify:

• Open Word or Excel
• Check PasteMD logs (menu bar -> "View Logs")
• You should see the detected app name

---

3. Input Monitoring (Input Monitoring)

⌨️

Purpose

Listen to global hotkeys such as Ctrl+Shift+B

Required: ✅ Required - without it, hotkeys will not work

Setup steps:

1. Open "System Settings" -> "Privacy & Security"
2. Click "Input Monitoring"
3. Click the lock icon 🔒 to unlock
4. Find "PasteMD" and check it
5. Restart PasteMD

Verify:

• Open any app
• Press the hotkey Ctrl+Shift+B
• If a notification appears, the permission works

---

4. Automation (Automation)

🤖

Purpose

Control Microsoft Word/Excel via AppleScript for precise insertion

Required: ⚠️ Conditionally required - required if you use Office; not required if you only use WPS

Setup steps:

1. Open "System Settings" -> "Privacy & Security"
2. Click "Automation"
3. Find "PasteMD" and expand it
4. Check the following (only appears after first use):
   • ✅ Microsoft Word
   • ✅ Microsoft Excel

First trigger

This permission usually appears when you first insert content into Word/Excel. If you clicked "Don't Allow", enable it manually in System Settings.

Verify:

• Open Microsoft Word
• Copy a Markdown snippet
• Press the hotkey Ctrl+Shift+B
• Content should insert at the caret

---

Authorization Workflow

First Launch Flow

graph TD
    A[Launch PasteMD] --> B[Open online guide]
    B --> C[Click menu bar icon]
    C --> D[Settings -> Permissions]
    D --> E[Review permission status]
    E --> F{All authorized?}
    F -->|No| G[Open System Settings]
    G --> H[Grant permissions one by one]
    H --> I[Back to PasteMD and refresh]
    F -->|Yes| J[Start using]
    I --> J

Recommended Order

Grant permissions in this order:

1. Input Monitoring - most important; hotkeys must work
2. Screen Recording - next; app detection
3. Accessibility - only if using WPS
4. Automation - triggered when inserting into Office

FAQ

Authorized but still not working

Fixes:

1. Quit PasteMD completely:

   • Menu bar icon -> "Quit"
   • Or force quit in Activity Monitor

2. Restart PasteMD:

   • Launch from Applications
   • Or from Launchpad

3. Refresh permission status:

   • Settings -> Permissions -> "Refresh"

4. Check System Settings:

   • Make sure PasteMD is checked

PasteMD not listed

PasteMD does not appear in the permission list.

Fixes:

1. Make sure PasteMD has run: the list only shows apps that requested permissions
2. Trigger a permission request:
   • Launch PasteMD
   • Try to use the feature (press hotkey)
   • macOS will prompt for authorization
3. Manual add (only for some permissions):
   • System Settings -> Privacy & Security -> target permission
   • Click the ➕ button
   • Select /Applications/PasteMD.app

Security Notes

How PasteMD uses permissions

• Accessibility: only simulates Cmd+V, does not record keystrokes
• Screen Recording: only reads window info (app name and window title), no screenshots or recordings
• Input Monitoring: only listens to your configured hotkey, not other keys
• Automation: only runs AppleScript when you press the hotkey

Privacy Protection

• ✅ PasteMD is open source
• ✅ All operations are local, no network dependency
• ✅ No user data collection
• ✅ No access to unnecessary system resources

Audit Logs

All operations are logged and can be reviewed any time:

• Menu bar -> "View Logs"
• Or open ~/Library/Logs/PasteMD/pastemd.log

Troubleshooting

Diagnostic Scripts

You can run the following commands to check permission status:

# Check Accessibility permission
sqlite3 ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.apple.TCC/TCC.db \
  "SELECT * FROM access WHERE client='com.richqaq.pastemd'"

# List all permissions related to PasteMD
tccutil list | grep pastemd

Verbose Logs

If you run into issues, enable verbose logging:

1. Edit config (menu bar -> "Edit Config")
2. Add or update:

   {
     "log_level": "DEBUG"
   }

3. Reload config (menu bar -> "Reload Config")
4. Reproduce the issue
5. Check logs (menu bar -> "View Logs")

More Help

If permissions still do not work:

• GitHub Issues
• Online Guide