BASALT · SUPPORT
Support
Everything below covers what comes up most often. If your question is not here, write to us and a person will answer.
Email us
We answer every email personally, usually within one business day. To get a useful reply first time, tell us your macOS version (Apple menu › About This Mac), your Basalt version (Basalt › About Basalt), what you were doing, and the exact wording of any message you saw.
Please do not send us the confidential document. The error text is almost always enough. If we genuinely need a file to reproduce something, we will ask you for one that contains nothing sensitive.
System requirements
- OPERATING SYSTEMmacOS 13 Ventura or later
- PROCESSORApple silicon and Intel, in the same universal build
- DOWNLOAD17 MB, direct from basaltformac.com, signed and notarized by Apple
- TRIALThe complete app, every tool, for 24 hours from first launch. No account, no card.
- LICENCE$29 once, for up to three Macs. No subscription, nothing to renew.
- NETWORKUsed only to check the licence. The engine that opens your documents holds no network entitlement.
- ACCESSIBILITYFull keyboard control throughout, VoiceOver-labelled
Licence keys and activation
Buying sends your key by email straight away. Open Basalt, choose Help › Unlock Basalt, and paste it in. The same key works on up to three Macs, and it does not expire.
Activation is the one moment Basalt speaks to a server, and it sends only the key and a device name so you can tell your machines apart later. Basalt re-checks the licence about once a fortnight. Nothing about your documents is included in either request, and the process that opens your files is not the process making them.
If an export is blocked
Basalt refuses to write a file it cannot prove. When the verifier cannot confirm that every marked item is gone, the export stops and your original is left exactly as it was. This is the intended behaviour, not a crash. Two causes account for nearly all of it:
- An image Basalt cannot rewrite. Some encodings cannot be re-encoded safely, so the pixels under your mark cannot be proven destroyed.
- Text beside a mark that could not be re-emitted exactly. Altering the surrounding words would be altering evidence, so Basalt stops instead.
Both are fixed the same way: rasterize the affected page at 300 DPI and apply the marks again. The message on screen always names the page. If a file fails for any other reason, send us the message and we will look at it.
Frequently asked questions
Where is my licence key?
It is emailed the moment the payment clears, to the address you used at checkout. If it has not arrived after a few minutes, check spam for a message from Dodo Payments, who handle our billing. Still nothing? Email us from the address you paid with and we will resend it.
How do I activate Basalt?
Open Basalt, choose Help › Unlock Basalt, and paste the key. One licence covers up to three Macs.
I am moving to a new Mac.
Activate on the new Mac exactly as you did on the old one. If all three activations are already used, email us and we will release the one you no longer need.
Does Basalt need an internet connection?
Only to check the licence: once when you activate, and about once a fortnight after that. Those requests carry the key and a device name, nothing else. The part of Basalt that opens your documents is a separate process that ships with no network entitlement at all, so it could not upload a file even if it were told to. Your documents are never sent anywhere.
The trial ended sooner than I expected.
The trial is 24 hours from first launch, measured on the clock rather than by hours of use, so a trial started on Friday evening is over by Saturday evening whether or not the app was open. Setting the Mac's clock backwards ends the trial rather than extending it.
Verification failed and nothing was exported.
That is the safety gate working. Basalt writes no file unless the verifier can re-open the result and prove the redaction is complete, so a blocked export means your original is untouched. The message names the specific reason. See the section above for the two common causes and the fix for both.
Basalt says my PDF is password-protected.
Enter the document's open password and Basalt will continue. It never guesses or cracks passwords. If the file uses enterprise rights-management encryption, Basalt cannot open it at all: ask the sender for an unprotected copy.
Do I pay again for updates?
No. The $29 is once. Updates are included and there is nothing to renew.
Can I get a refund?
Yes. If Basalt is not right for you, email us within 14 days of buying and we will refund it in full. You do not need to give a reason.
Do you sell licences for a whole firm?
Yes. Email us with a rough seat count and we will sort out volume pricing and a single invoice.
How do I uninstall Basalt?
Drag Basalt from Applications to the Trash. If you want nothing left behind, also delete ~/Library/Application Support/Basalt/ and run defaults delete com.basalt.app in Terminal, which is where settings and the licence record live.
Still stuck?
- hello@basaltformac.com reaches a person, not a queue.
- The journal covers how redaction works and where it quietly fails.