Installation¶
Refractions has three parts that the .pkg installer sets up together:
- A control panel in your menu bar (status, license activation, logs, support).
- A helper daemon that runs locally and does the OLE manipulation + talks to Prism via AppleScript. The control panel starts and stops it for you.
- An Office Add-in (manifest) that adds the Refractions task pane to PowerPoint, Word, and Excel.
1. Download¶
Get the installer from your purchase email or the
download page.
The file you'll download is Refractions-<version>.pkg (around 80 MB).
2. Run the installer¶
Double-click Refractions.pkg in Finder. Follow the macOS Installer prompts; you'll be asked for your password (the installer copies the app into /Applications/ and adds a localhost TLS cert to your keychain).
The installer:
- Copies Refractions.app to
/Applications/ - Mints a per-machine localhost TLS cert so the daemon can speak HTTPS
- Sideloads the Office add-in manifest into PowerPoint, Word, and Excel's per-user
wef/folders - Primes the macOS Automation permission prompt for GraphPad Prism
- Launches Refractions — you should see a small icon appear in the menu bar
If Office was already running during install, restart it so the add-in appears on the ribbon.
3. Activate your license¶
Click the Refractions icon in the menu bar → Open Refractions… → License tab. Paste your key (from your purchase email) and click Activate.
You can also activate from inside the Office task pane the first time you open it.
4. Grant the macOS permissions Refractions needs¶
Refractions drives GraphPad Prism through Apple's automation APIs, so macOS needs you to explicitly approve a couple of system-level permissions before the reinsert flow works end-to-end. The installer primes the prompts for you; this section is the cheat-sheet for what each one does and where to flip it if you missed a dialog.
| Permission | Why we need it | Where to enable |
|---|---|---|
| Automation → Prism | Refractions opens a .pzfx in Prism, asks it to export PNG + updated OLE, then closes the document. Without this, Update silently no-ops. |
macOS prompts the first time we send an event. If you clicked Deny, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation → Refractions and tick GraphPad Prism. |
| Automation → System Events | We send a ⌘W (close) keystroke through System Events to dismiss Prism's "save as" sheet after export. Same prompt mechanism. |
Same panel — tick System Events under Refractions. |
| Accessibility | Backs the ⌘W keystroke. Without it, the close keystroke is ignored, the Prism sheet stays open, and reinsert hangs for ~5 minutes before timing out. |
System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility → tick Refractions. The control panel's Status tab has an Open Settings button that deep-links here and pre-adds Refractions to the list. |
| Login Keychain (one-time, at install) | The installer adds a per-machine localhost CA so the daemon can serve HTTPS on localhost:27832. macOS shows a Touch ID / password prompt. |
Approve at install time. To re-mint later, the Status tab → Setup → Install cert runs the same script. |
Checking from the Status tab¶
Click the Refractions icon in your menu bar → Open Refractions… → Status. The grid lists each permission with a green checkmark when granted and an orange icon when not. Anything that's not green won't be enforced until you grant it — Refractions will still load, but Update from the task pane won't complete.
Healthy state looks like this:
| Daemon | ✓ Listening — version X.Y.Z | | License | ✓ Active | | Prism automation | ✓ Granted | | System Events | ✓ Granted | | Accessibility | ✓ Granted |
If any row is orange, click into the Setup needed banner at the top of the tab — it has targeted "Open Settings" and "Install cert" buttons.
5. Use the add-in¶
Open PowerPoint, Word, or Excel → Home ribbon → Refractions button → the task pane opens. From there you can extract, edit, and reinsert Prism charts.
If the daemon isn't listening, see Troubleshooting → daemon not running.
Updates¶
Refractions auto-updates via Sparkle. You'll see an "Update available" dialog whenever a new version ships. To check manually, click the menu bar icon → Check for updates…, or open the main window → Support → Check for updates now.
If you want to receive beta builds before stable, flip Receive beta updates in Support → Updates.