Force quit an application in Mac OS X
When a program is not responding, you can force quit it. Under normal circumstances, you want to try to quit an application through a standard method, such as choose "Quit" from its File menu, or using the "Quit" command in the pop-up menu when you right-click on the application's Dock icon (see "Mac OS X Dock" and Right-clicking).
When those don't work, you can try any of these steps:
- Right click on the application's icon in the Dock, hold down the Option key, and choose the "Force Quit" command. (When the Option key is held down, the "Quit" command becomes "Force Quit.")
- Select "Force Quit" from the Apple menu. The "Force Quit Applications" window appears. There, you may highlight the name of an application to quit. Then, click on the "Force Quit" button.
- Press Command-Option-Escape. The "Force Quit Applications" window appears, as above. There, you may highlight the name of an application to quit. Then, click on the "Force Quit" button.
You may also quit applications from the "Mac OS X Activity Monitor application", but these other methods are generally more available and friendly.
Section: Use a Macintosh
Keywords: applications, error, mac os x, software development, system administration, troubleshooting, utility
Question: How do I force quit an application in Mac OS X, when it is not been responding for some time?
FAQ item: true
Score: 700
