After closing Preview app, it remains "on top" - why?

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Level 1

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After closing Preview app, it remains "on top" - why?

Hi.

This question may sound kinda weird, but there is a thing about MacOS I don't get.

The situation is this: I am browsing a folder with lots of photos. I open one of them and when I close it, to open another one, I MUST click on the Finder, because I use keyboard arrows to move from file to file and look at the small preview on the Finder before deciding if open or not a certain file.

This happens because the app Preview remains "on top" (don't know if it is correct to use this phrase) even though I have closed the picture previously.

Is there a way to bypass this issue?

Thank you!

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Aug 19, 2021 2:13 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

IdrisSeabright

Level 10

185,333 points

Aug 19, 2021 3:22 PM in response to theclubber

You could use command-tab to switch back to the Finder.

What you're seeing is normal behavior. Closing the windows in a Mac application doesn't quit the application. It will still remain the frontmost app until you quit or take some action to switch to another application (in your case Finder).

You could also change your Finder view to "Gallery" so that you can look at a folder of pictures without opening each individual file. Select "Gallery" from the View menu in Finder.

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

250,253 points

Aug 19, 2021 3:11 PM in response to theclubber

Ah, OK, I get it now, only way around that is to quit Preview with CMD+q instead of closing the Window with CMD+w.

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Answer 3

theclubber Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 19, 2021 3:06 PM in response to BDAqua

it means that the app (in this case Preview) is the one which is “acitve”, you know, if you look at the tool bar on the top of the screen, you have the tool bar of that particular app. That means that app is the one which is in the foreground (correct way to say?)

In my particular situation, when I close the picture, the app Preview is still on, instead of returning to the Finder…

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Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

250,253 points

Aug 19, 2021 1:58 PM in response to theclubber

I'm not understanding, especially what on top means in this context.

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After closing Preview app, it remains "on top" - why?

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