Troubleshooting

Installation & Startup

”Certum Draft is damaged and can’t be opened”

This happens when macOS blocks apps from unidentified developers.

Solution:

1. Right-click the app in Finder
2. Select Open from the context menu
3. Click Open in the dialog that appears

App won’t launch after update

1. Open Finder
2. Go to Applications
3. Right-click Certum Draft and select Move to Bin
4. Download a fresh copy from certum.serkowski.net
5. Install again

Document Engine setup fails

The Python environment setup requires an internet connection.

1. Check your internet connection
2. If using a VPN, try disconnecting temporarily
3. Go to Preferences → General → Factory Reset
4. Relaunch Certum Draft to retry setup

License Issues

”Invalid license key”

Check that:

• You copied the entire key (no spaces at start/end)
• The email matches the one associated with your license
• Your license hasn’t expired

Need a new license key

Contact [email protected] with your registered email address.

Templates

Template doesn’t appear in list

1. Go to Preferences → Templates
2. Check the Templates folder location is correct
3. Click Reload Templates
4. Verify the template folder contains a valid matter.json

”No templates found”

Your Templates folder is empty or misconfigured.

1. Open Preferences → Templates
2. Click Choose next to Templates Folder
3. Select the folder containing your template subfolders

Template validation shows errors

1. Go to Preferences → Templates → Test Templates
2. Note which templates have errors
3. Check the matter.json file for that template
4. Use a JSON validator to find syntax errors

”No Template Available”

The template cannot be read from the templates folder.

Causes:

• Dropbox Smart Sync has evicted the template files (they show as “online only”)
• The network drive containing templates is offline
• The template folder was moved or renamed

Solution:

1. Open Finder and navigate to your Templates folder
2. Check that the template subfolder and its matter.json are fully downloaded (not cloud-only placeholders)
3. If using Dropbox, right-click the template folder and select Make available offline
4. Restart Certum Draft to refresh the template cache

Institution search shows 0 results

The bundled institution catalog failed to load.

Solution:

1. Open Console.app and filter for “Certum Draft”
2. Look for errors related to institution catalog loading
3. Restart Certum Draft — the catalog loads at launch
4. If the problem persists, reinstall Certum Draft to restore the bundled catalog

Template changes not appearing

The template cache may be serving a stale version.

Solution:

1. Ensure the updated matter.json is fully synced to disk (check Dropbox sync status)
2. Restart Certum Draft to force a cache refresh
3. Verify the changes by opening a matter of that type

Compliance tab not showing

The Compliance/AML tab only appears on matter types that include a “Compliance” stage in their workflow_stages array.

Affected templates: Purchase of Land, Sale of Land, and Estates include a Compliance stage by default. Wills, Advice, and Lease templates do not.

If you need a Compliance stage on a template that lacks one, add "Compliance" to the workflow_stages array in the template’s matter.json and assign blocks to it with "workflow_stage": "Compliance".

Document Generation

Placeholder shows [MISSING: field_name]

The template references a field that doesn’t have a value.

Causes:

• Field wasn’t filled in when creating the matter
• Field name in template doesn’t match matter.json
• Field is in a different block than expected

Solution:

1. Open File → Edit Matter Details
2. Fill in the missing field
3. Save and regenerate the document

Missing fields in generated documents

Some placeholders appear as blank or [MISSING: ...] even though data was entered.

Causes:

• The field key in the .docx template does not match the key in matter.json
• The field uses a legacy PascalCase variable name (e.g., Client_Surname) instead of dot-notation (client.surname)
• The field is in a different block than the template expects

Solution:

1. Open the .docx template and check the placeholder name (e.g., {{ client.surname }})
2. Open the corresponding matter.json and verify that the field key matches exactly
3. Ensure the block prefix matches — {{ client.surname }} expects a field with key client.surname, not matter.surname
4. If the template uses legacy PascalCase variables, convert them to dot-notation

Documents don’t generate

Check that:

• The matter folder contains a valid matter file
• You have write permission to the matter folder
• The document templates exist in the Precedents folder

Wrong information in document

1. Open File → Edit Matter Details
2. Correct the incorrect information
3. Save changes
4. Regenerate the document

Note

Editing matter details doesn’t update existing documents. You need to regenerate them.

Finder Integration

Services options don’t appear

1. Open Certum Draft at least once (to register services)
2. Hold ⌥ (Option)
3. Right-click Finder in the Dock
4. Select Relaunch
5. Try right-clicking a folder again

”Generate Documents” is greyed out

The selected folder isn’t a valid matter folder.

• Make sure you’re clicking on the matter folder itself
• The folder must contain a *-matter.json file

File & Folder Issues

Matter folder won’t create

Check that:

• You have write permission to the destination folder
• The destination isn’t full or read-only
• No folder with the same name already exists

Can’t save matter details

1. Check the matter folder isn’t locked or read-only
2. Close any other apps that might have the file open
3. Try copying the matter folder to your Desktop, then editing

Files are locked by another user

When working on shared drives, another user may have the matter locked.

1. Wait for them to finish
2. Or ask them to close the matter
3. The lock expires after 10 minutes of inactivity

Performance

App is slow to start

If you have many templates:

1. Go to Preferences → Templates
2. Turn off Validate templates on startup
3. Relaunch the app

Document generation is slow

Large templates or many documents take longer.

• Try generating fewer documents at once
• Close other applications to free up memory

Getting More Help

If you can’t resolve an issue:

1. Check the logs — Open Console.app and search for “Certum Draft”
2. Email support — [email protected] with:
   • Description of the problem
   • What you’ve tried
   • Any error messages
   • Your macOS version

Tip

Screenshots and log excerpts help diagnose problems faster.