Special Considerations for Setting Up Polarity on macOS

Due to security features on macOS, a few settings will need to be configured in System Preferences in order for the Polarity Enterprise Client (PolarityX) to function as intended.

macOS Permissions Reference Table

The table below is a quick reference on permissions requirements for Polarity to run with full functionality.

For steps to enable these permissions, please see the appropriate section below.

Enabling Shortcut Keys on macOS

Polarity uses system wide shortcut keys that allow users to Annotate or run an On-Demand search. In order to use Polarity shortcut keys you will need to grant Polarity permission from within the macOS Accessibility settings.

To enable the Accessibility setting for Polarity:

1. Navigate to System Preferences on your macOS

2. Click on Security & Privacy

3. Navigate to the Privacy tab

4. Go to Accessibility and find PolarityX (Figure 1)

5. Click on the checkbox next to the Polarity Icon

macOS Sonoma (v. 14.x) Shortcut Keys

The macOS Sonoma release (v. 14.x) requires the Input Monitoring permission to enable Polarity to use shortcut keys. The Input Monitoring permission is found in the Privacy & Security menu.

To enable Input Monitoring on macOS Sonoma:

1. Navigate to the Privacy & Security tab in the macOS System Preferences (Figure 2)

2. Navigate to Input Monitoring (Figure 2)

3. In Input Monitoring, click the + button and select the PolarityX application (Figure 3)

Enabling Real Time Recognition (RTR) on macOS

The Screen Recording permission is required for all versions of macOS to provide access to all Real Time Recognition features in Polarity.

To enable Screen Recording:

1. Navigate to the Privacy tab within System Preferences

2. Navigate to Screen Recording (Figure 4)

3. Select the PolarityX application

Troubleshooting

If Real Time Recognition Still Isn't Working...

Security updates made to macOS in the Ventura release (v. 13.x) initially required users to grant an application "developer-level" access to recognize contents on the screen. This update affected multiple software applications besides Polarity, to include antivirus and security packages.

To enable Developer Tools:

1. Navigate to Privacy and Security under System Preferences

2. Navigate to Developer Tools (Figure 5)

3. In Developer Tools, click the + button and select the PolarityX application (Figure 6)