Mission Control Plus works with keyboard shortcuts as well; you can close a window, close all windows, hide an app, hide all apps, or kill an app with them. To view all the keyboard shortcuts, click the app’s icon in the menu bar and look under Preferences. This may seem trivial but Mission Control is a great way to clean up app and window. Select Quit All Applications, double-click to create window beside Automator Click Add and select all apps then click Add; Check Ask to save changes and File Save as QUIT; File New and repeat above steps to Quit All Applications and Add Uncheck Ask to save changes and File Save as KILL.
When an app is unresponsive or working incorrectly on your PC or mobile device, forcefully closing and reopening the app is an effective troubleshooting solution. Albeit there are several ways to force quit an app on Mac computers, there are also instances where the Force Quit functionality doesn't work. In this post, we explore five (5) probable fixes to this anomaly.
The nature of the problem varies and is often temporary. Usually nothing serious or extreme. The solution could be as simple as clicking a button. Conversely, you might have to execute some seemingly complex commands or perform a complete overhaul of your Mac's operating system. Generally, it's simple stuff, and we'll guide you through the entire process.
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When was the last time you switched off your Mac? Some features of your computer could begin to malfunction if it stays powered on for too long. If apps keep running after you force quit them, you should restart your Mac. Remember to save ongoing processes and manually close all active apps so that you don't lose unsaved documents.
Tap the Apple icon on the menu bar and select Restart.
2. Boot Into Safe Mode
If the issue persists even after performing a restart, you should boot your Mac into Safe Mode. Also known as Safe Boot, this will put your computer in a diagnostic mode where it automatically troubleshoots software-related issues that are preventing your apps from launching or closing correctly.
Safe Mode can also be used to fix disk errors on Mac and other startup related problems. Follow the steps below to boot your Mac into Safe Mode. But before that, you should take a minute to read exhaustively on how and when to use safe mode in Mac.
Step 1: Shut Down your Mac; tap the Apple icon on the menu bar and select Shut Down.
Step 2: Power on your computer and immediately hold down the Shift key on your keyboard.Keep holding the Shift key till your Mac boots up.
Step 3: Release the Shift key when the login screen appears on the display.
You might be prompted to re-enter your password a second time if your computer's startup disk is encrypted with FileVault. The first login decrypts your Mac's hard drive while the second logs you into your account.
Note: In Safe Mode, some features like Wi-Fi, USB connections, video capture, and file sharing might not work. There are also possibilities of experiencing on-screen distortion/blinking on your Mac in Safe Mode. Rebooting your device normally will resolve these issues. So you have nothing to worry about.Step 4: Check if you can Force Quit apps in Safe Mode. Now, restart your computer normally and check if the Force Quit option works.
Proceed to the next troubleshooting solution if Force Quit still isn't working while in Safe Mode or after rebooting your Mac normally.
3. Use Terminal
The macOS Terminal app is akin to the Command Prompt tool on Windows 10 computers. With Terminal, you can conveniently tweak your Mac's performance and initiate processes that won't work normally. If force quitting an app from the Dock, Activity Monitor, or from the Apple Menu aren't working, try killing the app from the Terminal.
Step 1: Tap Go on the menu bar and select Utilities.
Step 2: Double-click Terminal.
Step 3: Paste the command below into the Terminal console and hit Return on your keyboard.
That will reveal a list of active apps and processes in the console alongside their individual Process ID (PID).
Step 4: Locate the app you want to force quit and note its Process ID (PID) number—a three or four-digit number on the left-hand side.
In this tutorial, we'll force quit the Skitch app with PID number 1133 as seen in the screenshot above.
Quick Tip: Use the Command + F keyboard shortcut to quickly search and find an app.Step 5: Type kill, leave a space, type the app's PID number, and hit Return on your keyboard. See the command below for reference.
The app will be force closed immediately.
4. Update App
In a scenario where you are unable to force quit just one app, we recommend updating the app to the latest version available. That might help to fix any app-specific issue preventing it from functioning correctly. Navigate to the Updates section of the App Store and update the affected app.
Alternatively, you can also update the app from the developer's website, the in-app update section, or the app's settings menu.
5. Update macOS
Keeping your Mac up-to-date also helps to eliminate software related issues causing apps or your device to malfunction.
Step 1: Tap the Apple icon on the menu bar and select 'About this Mac.'
Step 2: In the Overview tab, click Software Update.
Step 3: Tap the Update Now button.
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We're positive that at least one of these solutions should work the magic for you. If the issue remains unresolved and you're still unable to force quit apps on your Mac, drop a comment below. Let's see how we can help.
Next up:Are FaceTime calls from your iPhone or iPad not coming through on your Mac? Refer to the solutions in the detailed guide linked below to get the issue fixed.
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Read NextTop 7 Fixes for FaceTime Calls Not Coming Through on MacAlso SeeHow to Fix Faulty or Inaccurate Battery Percentage on Mac #mac apps
Did You Know
Thunderbolt 3 is a data and video transfer protocol and is developed by Intel.
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When Mac apps misbehave, sometimes you need to force quit apps to shut down. This can happen when the app enters an infinite loop, crashes, hangs or otherwise ceases responding to user input. While it’s never an ideal way to close an application, it doesn’t generally hurt the app.
You won’t have a chance to save your work, of course, but with many Mac apps (especially Apple’s own macOS apps) auto-saving progress at regular intervals, that’s become less of an issue. So when you force quit apps on Mac, you will lose any data since your last save but won’t otherwise injure the program.
There are a couple of methods we can use to force quit apps on Mac which we will look at below.
1. The Simple Method to Force Quit Apps
Apple Mac Close All Apps
The first, and simplest, way to try and force quit an app when it’s misbehaving is to use the Finder in macOS.
To do this, just click the Apple icon at top-left corner of the desktop, then select “Force Quit” from the list.
This will bring up the “Force Quit Applications” box. Find the app you want to force quit here, then click Force Quit at the bottom right corner.
2. Use the Dock
Force-quitting applications through the dock is the most familiar method for most users. It’s intuitively obvious and generally effective.
1. Right-click on the icon of the misbehaving application.
2. Hold down the Option key to reveal the “Force Quit” option.
3. Click “Force Quit” to force the application to close.
3. Use the Force Quit Menu
Your Mac also has a menu made specifically for forcing applications to shut down.
1. Click the Apple icon at the left of the menu bar at the top of your screen.
2. Select “Force Quit …” from the drop-down menu. You can also press Option + Command + Escape to open this menu.
3. Click on the name of the application in red with “(Not Responding)” next to it.
4. Click the “Force Quit” button in the bottom right of the window.
4. Use Activity Monitor to Force Quit Apps
Activity monitor also has the power to close apps. It lets you get a better handle on apps that have silently failed in the background. If you’re not actively using an application and it hits a weird hang, you might not know anything has happened. Because Activity Monitor shows the status of all open applications, you can see at a glance if any apps need to be force quit. You can also use it to quit processes, which are like sub-applications that don’t have Dock icons.
1. Open Activity Monitor by typing “Activity Monitor” into Spotlight.
2. Click on the application or process that shows in red text with “(Not Responding)” next to the application name.
3. Click the button with an X on a stop sign in the upper-left of the Activity Monitor window.
5. Use Terminal to Force Quit Apps
If you’re dealing with an application that won’t respond to force quit commands, Terminal’s kill command can shut the app down hard. It’s the most dramatic way to force an application or process to stop, but in our experience, it’s always effective.
1. Open Terminal by typing “Terminal” into Spotlight.
2. Type the following command to find the process number of the hanging application:
Replace [Application Name] with the name of the application you want to force quit. For example, to find Chrome, we would type the following:
This will simply show all the running applications that have that application’s name in their disk location. It won’t quit anything yet.
3. Scan the resulting list for the correct application or process. Take note of the four- or five-digit number shown before the process’s name. This is the process ID, or PID, which will be used to kill the application.
Here we can see that Chrome has the PID 2745. If you get multiple results for the application, look for the one that ends in /Contents/MacOS/[Application Name].
4. Type kill followed by the PID from the last step. For example, kill 2745 will shut down the process with the PID 2745.
Conclusion
Force-quitting Mac applications shouldn’t be your primary method of closing applications, of course. But it’s a necessary tool for stopping applications that can no longer respond to user input.
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