Installing MasterFile - macOS Helper apps
Native macOS utilities and apps we use with MasterFile -- and some Windows applications too!
Foxit Reader is our preferred PDF viewer, and is free. We like its tabbed interface too. Alternative options are Foxit Creator or Acrobat Pro for macOS. If you already have another, that's fine too.
- Download Foxit Reader here.
- Click 'Free Foxit Reader Download', then macOS and then 'Free Download'.
Make sure your choice of PDF viewer is set as the default for your Mac. For Foxit, the steps are here.
Go to Apple menu > System Preferences > Security & Privacy. You'll be asked for your password.
- Click on the General tab.
- Click OK on the LinCastor alert above to dismiss it.
- Then click 'Open Anyway'. You may have to click the lock first.
Open the Foxit installer if it did not open itself. There will be an Open option now.
Note that only Acrobat Pro, Windows version, is integrated with MasterFile for redaction; on the Mac you must redact your document and then either load the redacted version using Express Load's "Revised documents and profile data" function or simply drag and drop the redacted PDF back into the original document's profile field shown below.
What Mac users call aliases are actually an Apple specific version of a Unix symbolic link. Although similar to Windows shortcuts, they do not work in all cases in MasterFile, and in fact, will not work in all cases on macOS either. Therefore, when you need an alias, use a symbolic link instead.
SymbolicLinker, a small native macOS app (courtesy of Nick Zitzmann) lets you create a symbolic link, like you create an alias, from Finder itself.
Download SymbolicLinker here.
- Install SymbolicLinker 2.x like any .app by double clicking its .dmg file and then clicking the SymbolicLinker.service.app file to install.
The SymbolicLinker window will open.
- When you now need an alias for a folder, or file, select it in Finder, like the Mixed demo folder below, right click, and choose Make Symbolic Link.
Note that in some cases, Make Symbolic Link is a sub-item to the menu item Services as below.
Use the symlink shown below like any alias. It will work in MasterFile and anywhere in macOS.
In rare cases, 'Make Symbolic Link' may not appear. In that case, enable it from System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services. Scroll down to 'Make Symbolic Link' and click the checkbox below.
On macOS, native apps do not recognise the special Notes URL, such as
notes:///882580A00001FA2E/00000000000000000000000000000000/73D253C2F436D5FA882583E10003BDE8
Notes URLs can open any specific MasterFile database or profile within any MasterFile case.
LinCastor a small app courtesy of Ondrej Florian creates that association for macOS users. You can then click on any Notes / MasterFile URL in Calendar, Mail, etc. to open that case or profile instantly.
Download LinCastor here.
- In Finder, navigate to where you downloaded the LinCastor.zip file.
- Double click LinCastor.zip to unzip it.
- While holding the Ctrl key, click the LinCastor app icon and a menu is displayed.
- Choose 'Open'.
Go to Apple menu > System Preferences > Security & Privacy. You'll be asked for your password.
- Click on the General tab.
- Click OK on the LinCastor alert above to dismiss it.
- Then click 'Open Anyway'. You may have to click the lock first.
Now, while holding the Ctrl key, click the LinCastor app icon and the LinCastor window will open.
Set up the Notes handler
- Click 'URL Scheme / Extension Registry' (usually the default).
- Click 'Add New Scheme'.
- In the Create URL Handler pop-up box, type notes as shown.
- Click 'Create'.
Now,
- Type a description.
- Click 'Application' as the handler.
- Click 'Choose...'.
You will need your home folder name. If you are unsure, open a new Finder window and use ⌘+⇧+H to highlight your home folder.
Navigate to the application 'Crossover Helper (MasterFile)' exactly as described next.
- In the Open/Save window that appeared from the 'Choose' option in the screenshot above, use ⌘+⇧+G to 'Go to Folder'.
- Copy the path
/Users/ze/Library/Application Support/CrossOver/Helpers/
and paste into the 'Go to folder' dialog box as I've shown below. - Replace 'ze' with your home folder. The example below /Users/ze ... because 'ze' is my home folder name.
- Click 'Go'.
- Select 'Crossover Helper (MasterFile)' and click 'Open'.
The final dialog box will look as below with the new entry
Application: Crossover Helper (MasterFile).
- Click Save and Activate.
Clicking on a Notes link in an email (such as in the gMail message shown below), or in a calendar entry, etc., will now open the associated database or profile in MasterFile.
LinCastor remains in the folder where you unzipped it; you can drag and drop it into the Applications folder so it's easy to find it with Launchpad in future.
- Select a profile.
- Click [R+ Doc-link Functions > Doc-links as clipboard URLs].
- Paste into Safari and press Enter.
- Click Allow when you see this message. You can set a default action to prevent that from appearing in future in some applications like Chrome or FireFox.
The fact profile opens in MasterFile.
On macOS, since PDFs are not produced on the fly when importing EML and MSG files, MasterFile provides a simple macOS app, MSG Viewer for Outlook, that automatically converts batches of MSG or EML files dropped onto it for instant import with MasterFile's Express Load or eMail Loader.
How to use it with MasterFile is explained here.
Download MSG Viewer Pro here.
- Double click the MSG Viewer Pro ZIP file to extract and run the installer. You'll need an administrator password.
- From the Applications folder, double click MSG Viewer for Outlook.
- Enter your MSG Viewer Pro license which you should have received with your MasterFile license.
On macOS version 8.1, OCR is not directly supported. This is forthcoming towards the end of 2020.
For bulk OCR, therefore, we suggest the macOS version of Abbyy Finereader to convert image documents into searchable PDF. Using Finereader, you will be easily able to reload the searchable PDF versions of image documents back into MasterFile in a few clicks.
Read more about Finereader for macOS and/or download a free trial here.
You can use an alternate PDF OCR product like Acrobat or Foxit Pro; however, ensure the PDF file created has exactly the same filename (extension will be .PDF) as the original so MasterFile can match the source to it.
Irfanview, which is free, is one of the best image viewers on macOS or Windows.
Although macOS Preview or any other macOS image viewer you use as your default is fine too, we like IrfanView as its window position is persistent over future sessions once it's been used. For example, we keep Irfanview next to MasterFile, so we can profile and view images side-by-side and it stays there - unless dragged elsewhere. You can continue using Preview initially if you prefer and install Irfanview later if you choose. Only Irfanview 32b version is supported.
Download Irfanview here.
- Double click the file view452_setup.exe to launch it.
- In the window that opens, start typing Irfanview and select IrfanView 4 from the list.
On the next screen,
- Click 'Select Bottle'.
- Click 'MasterFile'.
- Click 'Continue' and then, Install.
On Catalina, you may see the macOS message below.
- Click Cancel and the installer will continue.
The Irfanview installer runs next.
- Make sure you only select the options circled below in red.
- Click 'Next'.
On the next screen,
- Click 'Images only'.
- Click 'Next'.
On the next two screens,
- Click 'Next' to accept the preset default 'User's Application Data folder', and
- Click 'Yes' to confirm file associations.
- Deselect the two options circled in red.
- Click 'Done'.
You'll see Crossover's progress bars fill as it completes its final steps, followed by the message:
'The installation of IrfanvView 4 completed.'
- Click 'Done'.
In some cases, Crossover does not generate the proper icons for newly installed apps and instead substitues its own gear icon. In this case, regenerate the icons as explained here.
To use MasterFile's Grab & Go reporting, its Client Intake forms, and for Evidence Cruncher to convert Word files, you need Microsoft Word. The only supported version for macOS users is Word 2010, Windows version. If your Crossover MasterFile bottle did not come preloaded with Word 2010 you must request the correct Microsoft Office standalone installer from us and follow our instructions to install. Activation can then proceed via an Office 2010 serial number.