Madghoot

Support

Madghoot support

Email dribrahim83@icloud.com and the developer reads your message and replies. The sections below cover the free trial, restoring your purchase, folder access, the Finder menu and making Madghoot your default app.

Updated

Email support dribrahim83@icloud.com
Include, if you can Your Madghoot version (Settings › About), your macOS version (Apple menu › About This Mac), what you did and the archive type. Please don't attach private files.

How the free trial works

Madghoot is free to download. The first time you extract, compress or convert, the unlock screen offers Start 14-Day Free Trial, and everything opens up for 14 days. Nothing is charged automatically, and there's no subscription to cancel.

After the trial, you can still open archives, see what's inside, search and preview files. Extracting, compressing and converting need the one-time $1.99 lifetime unlock. A job that's running when the trial ends still finishes. A badge in the main window shows how many days are left.

Restore your purchase on another Mac

The unlock belongs to your Apple ID, so you can restore it on every Mac you use:

  1. Open Madghoot's settings

    Choose Madghoot › Settings, or press ⌘,.

  2. Go to Purchase

    Click Restore Purchases.

  3. Sign in if macOS asks

    Use the Apple ID that bought the unlock. The lock icons disappear when it's restored.

The unlock screen has a Restore Purchases button too. If Madghoot still shows a lock, check that the App Store is signed in with the same Apple ID, then quit and reopen Madghoot. Family Sharing is supported.

Why Madghoot asks to use a folder

Apps from the Mac App Store run in a sandbox: they can only read and write the files and folders you give them. When Madghoot needs to write somewhere new, for example next to an archive in Documents, it shows a standard Open panel that is already pointed at that folder. Click Allow and Madghoot remembers it. Archives in your Downloads folder never need a prompt.

To avoid prompts altogether, allow your Home folder and External & network drives once. The first-run setup offers both, and you can add, remove or reset folders any time in Settings › Folder Access.

Turn on the Finder menu

Madghoot's right-click menu (Extract Here, Extract To…, Show Contents, Convert to ZIP and Compress) is a Finder extension, and macOS asks you to switch extensions on yourself:

  1. Open Madghoot › Settings › Finder

    The page shows whether the Finder extension is on.

  2. Click Open Extension Settings

    macOS opens the right page of System Settings for your version of macOS.

  3. Turn on Madghoot

    Then Control-click a file in Finder: the Madghoot items appear in the menu.

The Services menu works on every macOS version, even with the extension off: Control-click a file, then choose Quick Actions or Services, then Extract with Madghoot or Compress with Madghoot.

Preview an archive with Quick Look

Select an archive in Finder and press Space to see the files inside without opening Madghoot. It works for ZIP, RAR, 7Z, TAR, TGZ, TBZ2, TXZ, tar.zst, ISO and CAB files, and it stays free after the trial. Encrypted archives show a note asking you to open them in Madghoot to enter the password. If the preview doesn't appear, open Madghoot once, then try again.

Make Madghoot your default app for RAR, 7Z or ZIP

Madghoot never changes your default apps on its own (Mac App Store apps aren't allowed to) and it won't nag you about it. To open a file type with Madghoot when you double-click it:

  1. Select a file of the type you want

    For example, any .rar file in Finder.

  2. Choose File › Get Info

    Or press ⌘I.

  3. Under “Open with”, choose Madghoot

    Open the section first if it's collapsed.

  4. Click Change All…, then Continue

    Every file of that type now opens in Madghoot. Repeat for .7z, .zip or any other type.

Inside Madghoot, Help › Default App Guide walks through the same steps for each file type.

An app or script from an archive won't open

Like a browser download, files extracted by a Mac App Store app are marked as coming from the internet, and macOS checks apps and scripts the first time you open them. If macOS says an app can't be opened, go to System Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway. Only do this for files from people you trust.

A file won't open in Madghoot

Some files aren't archives: a .dmg is a disk image you open in Finder, and a .exe is a Windows program. Madghoot tells you what the file is when that happens. The formats page lists everything Madghoot opens and doesn't. For damaged downloads, Madghoot extracts every file it can read and lists the rest; “Unable to expand” errors explains what the error numbers mean.

Refunds

Apple processes every Mac App Store purchase, so refunds go through Apple: visit reportaproblem.apple.com, sign in and find Madghoot. We never see your name or payment details. The privacy policy and terms have the rest.

Still stuck?

Email dribrahim83@icloud.com. A short description of what happened and a screenshot of any message are usually enough for us to help.

Common questions

How does the free trial work?
The first time you extract, compress or convert, choose Start 14-Day Free Trial. Free for 14 days with everything included. After that, extracting, compressing and converting need the lifetime unlock ($1.99, one time). Viewing what's inside an archive stays free. Nothing is charged automatically and there's no subscription. The trial is tied to your Apple ID, so reinstalling the app doesn't restart it.
I bought the unlock but Madghoot still shows a lock
Open Madghoot › Settings › Purchase and click Restore Purchases. Make sure the App Store is signed in with the Apple ID that made the purchase. The unlock works on every Mac signed in to that Apple ID, and with Family Sharing.
Why does Madghoot ask for permission to use a folder?
Mac App Store apps can only read and write files you give them. When Madghoot needs to save next to an archive, it shows a standard Open panel pointed at that folder; click Allow once and it remembers. Archives in your Downloads folder never need a prompt.
Why does a multi-part archive ask for folder access?
Opening .part1.rar gives Madghoot access to that one file only. To find .part2.rar and the rest, it needs to read the folder, so it asks once. If a part is missing, it tells you before extracting anything.
Can I get a refund?
Yes. Apple handles all Mac App Store purchases, so request a refund at reportaproblem.apple.com. We never see your payment details.
Does Madghoot leave big cache files behind?
No. Files it extracts for previews are temporary: they're deleted when you close the archive window, quit or relaunch. Settings shows how much space they use, with a Clean now button.