mac shortcut to force quit an application

#Mac shortcut to force quit an application how to
#Mac shortcut to force quit an application mac

If you decide to try this approach, I suggest checking back on the application every 5-10 minutes. There are no guarantees on how long the application will take to resolve the issue, nor if it will ever resolve. This is a classic example where you may prefer to wait and hope. Sadly Excel froze before you saved your changes. For example, let's say you are working on a spreadsheet and made lots of changes. Why would you do this? Generally because you have some work you did not manage to save before the application froze. If you have the time, you may prefer to wait and hope the application unfreezes itself. Steps to force quit an application Option #2: Wait and hope that the application fixes itself Now, click the 'Force Quit' button in the bottom right of the popup.

Mocked up example of the 'Notes' application not respondingĬlick on the application you want to force quit. If it doesn't have this note, it may be worth doing option #2 (wait and hope) if you have work that you did not save.

If your app is frozen, it should have a little note saying 'not responding' next to it. Each of them appears to be operating as expected in the image above.

#Mac shortcut to force quit an application mac

This will bring up the following screen, called the Mac Task Manager: In this image, all applications are running normally, and none are frozen. The Mac equivalent keyboard shortcut is: command + option + escape. And you may be wondering: does Mac have an equivalent shortcut? You hold down all three buttons at the same time. On a PC, use the keyboard shortcut to force an application to close down is control + alt + delete. If your cursor is still a spinning beach ball, and clicking the 'x' doesn't close the application, then it's time to force the application to close. Be aware that you will lose any work that you haven’t saved.įirst, open the application and try one last time to close it the standard way, by clicking the red 'x' in the top left of the application: Click the red 'x' to close the application in the standard way Use this option if you need to use the application straight away.

#Mac shortcut to force quit an application how to

How to Force Quit a Mac App Control+Alt+Delete Style

Or wait and hope that the application unfreezes itself.

Force the application to close and lose any unsaved changes (also known as force quit).

In this situation, there are only two things you can do: You can move the beach ball around the screen, but no matter what you do, you can't seem to click anything. Sometimes an autosave function will come to the rescue, and you can opt to have websites reopen if you have to quit your browser, but force quitting often means losing some work, so use it only as a last resort.Have you ever tried to use an application on your laptop, only to find that your cursor is a spinning beach ball? Just remember that when you force quit a program on Mac, you may lose unsaved work. Then you can restart it and, ideally, get some actual work done. Rather than sitting there glaring at that rainbow-colored 'spinning wheel of death,' instead just use a force quit override to shut down the program. This is certainly the case when your Mac is giving you trouble with a program that's either frozen, or running so slowly that you just can't take it anymore. Sometimes in life, you just have to cut your losses and call it quits. Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories. In addition to the keyboard shortcut, there are two other ways to force quit a troublesome program. If you want force an app or program to quit on your Mac, you can use a similar keyboard shortcut to PC's Control+Alt+Delete.įorce quitting a program will sacrifice any unsaved changes, so do it with care. If your Mac isn't working right, try force quitting programs.