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You might want to Quit the Finder if, for example, you want to clean up your desktop so you can take a screen shot or get rid of a bunch of Finder windows at once. On the other hand, the Finder doesn’t have a Quit button by default. So, how to Force Quit Finder on Mac?
The Finder app on your Mac lets users get to most of the software, files, folders, and drives that your business uses. It opens when you start it up and stays open while you use other apps. Sometimes, Finder might stop working. This could happen if you’re giving a presentation to a client and it’s taking up too much space. If closing the program doesn’t work for some reason, you may need to close the app by hand. You can’t get rid of Finder like you can with other apps on a Mac. Read the steps below to learn more about how to close Finder on a Mac.
How to Force Quit Finder on Mac
Apple menu
- Open Finder.
- Click on the Apple menu icon → press and hold the Shift key.
- Select the Force Quit Finder command. The Finder will restart.
- Also, you can use the Option+Shift+Command+Esc key combination to force close Finder.
Quit Finder on Mac With Terminal
- Open the Terminal app. You can find it in the Applications folder → Utilities.
- Copy and paste the following command:
killall Finder - Press Enter.
- Finder will be restarted.
Quit Finder on Mac With Memory Cleaner
- Launch Memory Cleaner.
- Click on the Memory Cleaner icon in the toolbar. In the drop window you will see the list of running apps and processes on your system.
- Select Finder and right-click on it.
- Click Quit or Force Quit in the context menu.
With Activity Monitor
- Go > Utilities > Activity Monitor
- Choose Finder (you can use the search bar in the upper right corner to find it quicker)
- Click the Close button (X) to stop Finder.
FAQs
If your cursor is stuck, use the keyboard shortcut Command + Option + Escape to open the Force Quit menu. This will bring up a new menu where you need to choose Finder and click Relaunch.
command + q has no effect on Finder, which means there is no way of closing a whole Finder window using a keyboard shortcut. Instead, you have to use command + w to close all of its tabs one by one.
The Finder is the first thing that you see when your Mac finishes starting up. It opens automatically and stays open as you use other apps. It includes the Finder menu bar at the top of the screen and the desktop below that.
If Finder quits unexpectedly whenever you try to use it, the first thing to do is to restart your computer. If that doesn’t solve the problem, boot the Mac in Safe Mode: Restart the Mac.