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PrismaNote Support

Getting Printhelper to work on Mac

2 min read·Updated 04/08/2026

Getting Printhelper to work on Mac

Problem

When printing via a Mac, the following problems may occur:

  • A yellow message appears stating that Printhelper or the printers are not connected.
  • In the print settings, the printer is displayed in red.
  • Printhelper cannot be started.
  • When opening Printhelper, a message appears such as: "Crash report – do you want to send this report to PrintNode?"

This problem is caused by macOS blocking the Printhelper application.

Cause of the problem

The blockage is caused by macOS Gatekeeper, Apple's built-in security that checks whether applications are safe.

When Printhelper is opened directly from the Downloads folder, macOS can place the application in a secure environment:

App Translocation

macOS can temporarily move an application to a digital quarantine environment (App Translocation).

As a result:

  • the application no longer runs from its normal location;
  • Printhelper cannot make a correct connection to local printer ports;
  • processes can get stuck or be started multiple times;
  • Printhelper can crash on startup.

Solution

  1. 1

    Step 1 – Completely remove old Printhelper from Mac

    Open Terminal on your Mac:

    1. Open Finder
    2. Go to Applications
    3. Open Terminal

    Then execute the commands below one by one:

    rm -rf ~/Downloads/PrismaNotePrinthelper.app rm -rf /Applications/PrismaNotePrinthelper.app pkill -9 -f PrismaNotePrinthelper rm -f ~/Library/LaunchAgents/PrismaNote ~/Library/Preferences/PrismaNote pgrep -fl helper

    This will remove old Printhelper files, processes, and settings.

  2. 2

    Step 2 – Reinstall Printhelper

    Go to:

    Install Printhelper

    Download the latest version of Printhelper for macOS.

    Important step before installation

    ⚠️ Do not open the downloaded file directly from the Downloads folder.

    First, follow these steps:

    Open the Downloads folder. Find the downloaded .dmg file. First, drag the .dmg file to the Applications folder. Start the installation from the Applications folder.

    By using this sequence, macOS sees the application as a normally installed application and it will not be blocked again by Gatekeeper.

  3. 3

    Step 3 – Check

    After installation:

    • Restart Printhelper.
    • Check in PrismaNote whether the printers are reconnected.
    • The yellow message should have disappeared.
    • The printer status should be displayed as normal (green) again.

Important for future installations

Always install Printhelper via the Applications folder.

Never start the application directly from Downloads, as this may reactivate a security block by macOS.

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