Install CavaPdf — documentation

What you need

Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), macOS 12 or later on a Mac with Apple silicon, or a 64-bit Linux desktop.
About 150 MB of disk space for the app.
Room for the index: roughly 1–3% of the PDF bytes you index.

Install on Windows

Download the Windows build from the download page and extract it wherever you like (for example C:\Apps\CavaPdf).
Run CavaPdf.exe. Everything it needs is in that folder — nothing is installed and no admin rights are needed.
If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info → Run anyway. Builds are not code-signed yet.
Pick your PDF folders when the app opens.

Install on macOS

Download the macOS build, open it, and drag CavaPdf.app into Applications.
First launch: right-click CavaPdf.app → Open → Open. Or clear the quarantine flag:
```
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/CavaPdf.app
```
Full Disk Access is required for PDFs under Documents, Desktop, Downloads, and on external volumes:System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access → + → choose CavaPdf.app → enable it, then quit and reopen the app. Without it those folders come back empty.
Keep the whole CavaPdf.app in Applications — everything it needs travels inside it.

Install on Linux

Download the Linux build and extract it:
```
tar -xzf CavaPdf-0.2.0-linux-x64.tar.gz
```
Keep the extracted folder together — the app loads everything it needs from beside it.
If the window does not open, install the system window and dialog libraries:
```
sudo apt install libxkbcommon0 libgtk-3-0
```
On Fedora: sudo dnf install libxkbcommon gtk3.
Run ./cavapdf. X11 and Wayland are both supported.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
App starts, results stay empty	Folders never added, or macOS blocked access	Add folders in the app; grant Full Disk Access (macOS).
App says files are missing on launch	Archive partly extracted or folder split up	Extract the whole archive again and keep its folder together.
Window does not open on Linux	Missing GTK or xkbcommon	Install `libgtk-3-0` and `libxkbcommon0`.
"CavaPdf is damaged" / "cannot be opened"	Gatekeeper quarantine	`xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/CavaPdf.app`, then Open from the context menu.
OCR never finishes on a big library	Hundreds of scanned pages queued	Expected on first run: one worker, OCR runs in the background. Progress is in the dock.
Search feels stale after moving files	Watcher cannot see the folder	Re-add the folder; network mounts are not watched reliably.

Updating

On first launch CavaPdf asks whether it may check this website for the latest version number at startup. If you allow it, it tells you when a newer version is out. It never installs anything by itself. To update, download the new version from thedownload page and replace the old app folder. Your index and settings are kept. You can check manually, or change that choice, in Settings → Updates.

Uninstall

Delete the app folder, then delete its local data folder:

Windows %APPDATA%\CavaPdf\CavaPdf\data
macOS ~/Library/Application Support/app.CavaPdf.CavaPdf
Linux ~/.local/share/CavaPdf

Questions or ideas?

Use Send feedback in the app, or send it from the website. It goes straight to the developer, and every message is read.