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Getting Started

PanoPaper needs a UniFi Protect NVR on your network - a UniFi console running UniFi Protect, such as a UNVR, a Cloud Key or a Dream Machine - and a user name and password for it. Four steps take you from first launch to a live camera on your desktop.

PanoPaper has no Dock icon and opens no window at launch. It lives in the menu bar: click its icon for the menu. Choose 'Settings…' to set it up.

2. Allow access to your local network

PanoPaper looks for NVRs on your network as soon as it starts. The first time, macOS asks whether PanoPaper may find and connect to devices on your local network. Click 'Allow' - without it, PanoPaper can neither find nor reach your NVR.

If you clicked 'Don't Allow', turn PanoPaper on in System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Local Network.

3. Sign in to your NVR

In Settings, click the NVRs tab. NVRs PanoPaper found on your network are listed as Found on network. Double-click yours (or select it and click 'Sign In…'), enter a user name and password, and click 'Sign In'.

Not listed? PanoPaper only finds NVRs on the same network segment as your Mac. Click + under the list and enter the NVR's host name or IP address.

Once signed in, the NVR's cameras appear in the Cameras list below it. Signing In to an NVR explains which account to use.

4. Choose a camera

Click the menu bar icon, open Camera (with several displays: the display's name) and choose a camera. Its live video becomes the wallpaper of that display. In the Web Edition, the camera is for the Space you are looking at: switch to another Space and it can show another camera - see Choosing Cameras.

Your desktop icons and widgets stay on top of the video, and clicking the wallpaper works as always. Choose None to bring back your normal wallpaper - PanoPaper never changes it.

Open at login

To have your cameras back after every restart, turn on 'Open PanoPaper at login' in Settings ▸ General. PanoPaper remembers each display's camera and signs in to your NVRs by itself.

Next steps