Is there a way to close all apps in one go?

[Marty_Macfly]

Hi all,


You may be getting a few newbie questions this weekend! 😀



Is there a way to close all apps in one go?

I'm doing the newbie "bull in a china shop" thing and ending up with loads of stuff open. Its a pain to close down each in turn. At least the IPAD you can do a happy swipe for each. Seems a real choir doing it the big sur way.

Hope you can advise


Regards
Martin

 

[jim1900dz]

⌘+Q close the active app.
The most quick way to close apps i know is pushing ⌘+tab to show all running apps, while keep pushing the command let the tab key and push Q as many times needed to close all apps.

 

[chabig]

Hold down the command and tab keys, then tap 'Q' to quit each app one at a time. It's very fast.

There are many other thing the app switcher can do:

Quick Tip: Take Advantage of the macOS App Switcher

In this article, we show you how to take advantage of both the common use of the App Switcher as well as teach you a few new tricks.

eshop.macsales.com

Command+shift+Q can close all apps in one go.

Actually, that's the keyboard shortcut to log out. They will all relaunch unless you uncheck the box.

 

[NewUsername]

You can open Activity Monitor, View -> Windowed Processes, and then select all the apps and press “Stop”.

You could also use Apple logo -> Force quit, and then select everything. But you shouldn't force quit apps if you don't have to, so I don't advice using this method.

Another option is simply to log out (uncheck the box) and to log in again.

 

[chabig]

Command-tab, then Q Q Q Q Q...

 

[nothingtoseehere]

One of the great features of macOS is the scripting language called "AppleScript". It took years before I discovered that such a thing exists... The main purpose of AppleScript is to address, and to control, applications. Therefore you also can close them via AppleScript.

Go to Spotlight, search for Scripteditor, start it and copy these lines into it:

tell application "System Events" to set quitapps to name of every application process whose visible is true and name is not "Finder"
repeat with closeall in quitapps
quit application closeall
end repeat

Then you start this script with the "Play"-Button.

Credits to this solution go to:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/495323/quit-all-applications-using-applescript

 

[Marty_Macfly]

One of the great features of macOS is the scripting language called "AppleScript". It took years before I discovered that such a thing exists... The main purpose of AppleScript is to address, and to control, applications. Therefore you also can close them via AppleScript.

Go to Spotlight, search for Scripteditor, start it and copy these lines into it:

tell application "System Events" to set quitapps to name of every application process whose visible is true and name is not "Finder"
repeat with closeall in quitapps
quit application closeall
end repeat

Then you start this script with the "Play"-Button.

Credits to this solution go to:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/495323/quit-all-applications-using-applescript

Nice one! 😃

Something to play around with in the future!

Best wishes
Martin

 

[MacBH928]

One of the great features of macOS is the scripting language called "AppleScript". It took years before I discovered that such a thing exists... The main purpose of AppleScript is to address, and to control, applications. Therefore you also can close them via AppleScript.

Go to Spotlight, search for Scripteditor, start it and copy these lines into it:

tell application "System Events" to set quitapps to name of every application process whose visible is true and name is not "Finder"
repeat with closeall in quitapps
quit application closeall
end repeat

Then you start this script with the "Play"-Button.

Credits to this solution go to:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/495323/quit-all-applications-using-applescript

is AppleScript and automator different? does Apple still support both?

 

[nothingtoseehere]

is AppleScript and automator different? does Apple still support both?

On my Mac mini M1, Apple still supports both. I have not tested all my scripts yet but so far, they seem to work.

AppleScript is a scripting/programming language. Automator does not require scripting; it has a GUI that helps to automate actions on a Mac. But yes, they are combined somehow, you can add AppleScripts to an automator workflow or export an automator workflow to AppleScript code.

 

[jim1900dz]

Command-tab, then Q Q Q Q Q...

Like Chabig says, plus that you must keep push command button while quit apps.

 

[Cayenne1]

Quit All Script

You can create an app using the AppleScript Editor to place in the Dock
that will quit all open applications except the Finder.

Here are the steps:

1. Start "Script Editor.app" from Applications/Utilities
2. Select "File/New"
3. Enter the following text into the main code box:

tell application "System Events" to set quitapps to name of every application process whose visible is true and name is not "Finder"
repeat with closeall in quitapps
quit application closeall
end repeat

4. Click the Compile button on the toolbar (looks like a hammer)
- If it’s OK, the code will be colored and indented properly.
- If it’s incorrect, you’ll see an error message. Try typing the code again.
5. Select "File/Save"
6. In the "File Format" dropdown list, choose "Application" (important)
7. Name it "Quit All"
8. Save in Applications folder
9. Close Script Editor
10. From Applications folder, drag and drop "Quit All.app" onto the Dock

Clicking the "Quit All" dock icon should close all open applications except the Finder.