Getting started

Everpaper is in private beta. This page covers joining, installing, and the short setup that runs the first time you open it.

Requirements#

• macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later.
• Apple silicon (M-series). Everpaper's speech and AI models run on Apple silicon's Neural Engine and GPU. It does not run on Intel Macs.
• For Everpaper Native, the built-in private AI: macOS 27. With 16 GB of memory or more it runs Gemma 4 E4B; with less, Qwen3 4B. On macOS 15 and 26, setup installs a managed oMLX model instead (Gemma 4 E4B from 24 GB of memory, a smaller model below that), or uses an LM Studio or Ollama you already run. See AI on your Mac.
• Free disk space for the on-device models: about 1 GB for meeting transcription, plus about 2 to 9 GB for the private AI model, depending on your Mac. Gemma 4 E4B in Everpaper Native needs about 16 GB free while it installs and about 8.5 GB afterwards. Nothing downloads until you press Prepare on this Mac.

Join the beta and install#

1. Apply at everpaper.app/beta. If you're selected, you'll hear back within 48 hours.
2. Each build reaches you as a private download link to a disk image named after its version. Please don't share the link.
3. Open the disk image and drag Everpaper onto the Applications folder shortcut.
4. Open Everpaper from Applications.

Always run Everpaper from the Applications folder, not from the disk image or Downloads. Otherwise macOS can't keep the Screen Recording permission.

During the private beta Everpaper does not update itself. Each new build arrives as a new link, and you install it over the old copy; your history, settings and models stay in place. See Updates & Support.

First-time setup#

The first time you open Everpaper, a short introduction runs, then setup. Setup has up to five steps. A counter (for example 2 of 5) sits at the top right, and Back (⌘[) is at the bottom left. Only the first step needs an answer: you can move past every other step and finish it later in Settings. If you quit halfway, setup reopens where you left off.

Before setup: a short introduction#

A few pages show what Everpaper keeps and let you try finding one detail in a fictional Monday. The example isn't your history, and nothing in it is saved. Press Set up Everpaper to begin. You can replay it later with See the introduction at the top of setup.

1. Your memory#

What would you like to remember? Choose My meetings, My days or Both (or press 1, 2 or 3). You can add the rest later in Settings.

Nothing records automatically: you decide when to start and stop.

2. Daily history#

Skipped if you chose My meetings.

How should your day be remembered? This is what Everpaper may observe while a workday journal is running:

• Screen history (the default): full-display screenshots at your chosen interval, read on this Mac so you can search what you saw. They use more storage and can include windows behind the one you're using.
• Detailed screen history: Screen history plus extra images of the window you're focused on.
• Activity only: a timeline of apps and windows, with no screenshots.
• Focused fallback sits under Advanced: an activity timeline with an occasional image of one focused window, only with its own consent.

Capture starts only when you start a workday journal. The Day Journal page compares the modes.

Clicks, selections, and typed text (beta; any mode except Screen history). Off until you turn on Computer History events & text. When it's on, Everpaper remembers clicks, shortcuts, selected text and typed text in apps you haven't excluded, which can include email and messages. Typed text is kept as an encrypted, redacted record, and the original text expires after 48 hours. Password fields and private browsing are always excluded. Everything is stored on this Mac. Your AI reads it to write your day, and a cloud AI needs a separate consent. This opt-in also asks for Accessibility and Input Monitoring in the next step. See Computer History.

3. Permissions#

A little access, for a clear reason. You only see the rows your choices need:

• Screen and system audio: for meetings (to hear the other side of a call) and for Screen history or Detailed screen history. Press Allow access or Open System Settings.
• Microphone: for meetings. Press Allow microphone.
• Accessibility and Input Monitoring: only if you turned on Computer History.

With Activity only and no meetings, there's nothing to grant. Granting a permission does not start recording. If you skip a row, the features that need it stay off until you grant it in Settings. If the status doesn't update, see Granting Screen Recording.

4. Private summaries#

Private summaries, on your Mac. Everpaper recommends one setup for this Mac. If you already have an AI setup, it's kept. If LM Studio or Ollama is already running with a chat model, it's used as it is. Otherwise:

• Everpaper Native on macOS 27: Gemma 4 E4B with 16 GB of memory or more, Qwen3 4B below that.
• Managed oMLX on earlier macOS: Everpaper installs oMLX and a model sized for your Mac.

If you chose meetings, the same step also prepares meeting transcription and live speaker labels. Nothing downloads until you press Prepare on this Mac, and you can keep going while it runs. Set up later skips it: recording and your journal still work, and your first meeting downloads the transcription model. Choose advanced options lists every route, including Use my own provider (a cloud service or your own endpoint) and No AI for now. Press Review my setup to continue. AI on your Mac explains each option.

5. Your setup#

Your Everpaper, ready when you are. A summary of your choices, what's ready and what can wait, plus a suggested first step. Press Open Everpaper.

When you open Everpaper#

You land on Today, or on Meetings if you chose My meetings. Nothing is recording yet:

• On Today, press Start workday journal when you begin work.
• In Meetings, press Record when a conversation starts, and tell the other people you're recording.

Finding your way#

The sidebar has six places, and ⌘K opens the Index. See Finding your way.

Granting Screen Recording on recent macOS#

Meeting recording and the screen history modes rely on the Screen & System Audio Recording permission. On recent macOS, granting it has one quirk worth knowing.

1. In the Permissions step, on the Screen and system audio row, press Allow access (or Open System Settings). This adds Everpaper to the list and opens System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording.
2. Toggle Everpaper on. On recent macOS there's no confirmation dialog — flipping the toggle is the grant.
3. Relaunch Everpaper. macOS only applies this permission when the app starts, so the status may not change until you quit and reopen. Setup shows a Relaunch Everpaper button when it notices the grant hasn't taken effect yet.

If the entry doesn't respond, remove it from the list with −, add Everpaper from your Applications folder again with +, then relaunch. If setup says Everpaper is running outside Applications, move it there first: macOS can't keep the grant otherwise.

Changing things later#

Open Settings (⌘,). General → Mac permissions shows the microphone, Screen & System Audio and Accessibility. Meetings → Calendar has calendar access. Daily history has the permissions for clicks and typed text. To walk through setup again, use General → Setup & data → Run setup again.