Add apps to "Files and Folders" permissions? In macOS Catalina, is it possible to add apps directly to Security &amp; Privacy -> Files and Folders? The plus icon is greyed out, even when the preference pane is unlocked. 



I know that the option becomes available when an app tries to access one of the protected folders, but I would like to add an app pre-emptively.
This is possible for MDM managed Macs by  pushing signed profiles to preemptively white-list signed applications. 

The process is quite detailed, but it uses a well documented profile setup (175 pages to cover the basics). We currently push about 20 items this way, so if you need to manage a lot of apps and a lot of Macs, this is possible and once you have your tools in place, easy to add new profiles. This isn’t feasible for a few machines if you’re not running a MDM. 

Look at the section on page 64 


https://developer.apple.com/business/documentation/Configuration-Profile-Reference.pdf#page64


> Privacy Preferences Policy Control Payload


  The Privacy Preferences payload is designated by specifying com.apple.TCC.configuration-profile-policy value as the PayloadType value.
  It controls the settings that are displayed in the ”Privacy” tab of the ”Security &amp; Privacy” pane in System Preferences. This profile must be delivered via a user approved MDM server in a device profile.


Here is a very not short (but as short as can be reasonably made) guide for an engineer or team thinking about adding this to your MDM. 


https://derflounder.wordpress.com/2018/08/31/creating-privacy-preferences-policy-control-profiles-for-macos/


Here is an awesome tool for automating creation of your profiles:


https://github.com/carlashley/tccprofile