How to close down applications without using 'force quit'

Red Cross confused me, because the X is normally not there. I'm thinking you mean this:

That is "Close Window." On a Mac, apps can have several windows open, and you use this to close one of the many windows without closing the app. I don't remember too much about Windows, but I think I remember that Windows acts like each window is a separate version of the app. Maybe not...

Mostly, I don't quit applications-- I have nine going right now, and that's at least one less than usual. I never quit Safari, because I always need to check something out. (And I'm here, now.) Since I'm on the Photos discussion, I have Photos open, as well as PowerPhotos. I keep getting Messages, so-- well, you get the idea. I use command-tab (⌘-tab) to quickly switch between apps.

It's the same on an iPad or iPhone-- some people are obsessed with shutting down apps, but there's no need, unless something goes wrong.

It is true that sometimes having lots of apps open, especially some that are not well behaved, will slow things down. I stick with trusted apps.

On any app you can go to "[app name]>Quit" to quit--for instance choosing "Safari>Quit Safari" under the Safari name in the menu. Or you can use "⌘-Q," as MrBin10 says. The ⌘-Q "keyboard shortcut" is shown next to "Safar>Quit Safari" in the menu. In general, keyboard shortcuts are shown next to the menu choices, like "Undo ⌘-Z" in the Edit menu. In System Settings you can actually make your own keyboard shortcuts for menu items that you use often.

You may be able to find videos or web-sites that discuss the differences in switching to a Mac-- unfortunately, most of the ones I found were pretty useless versions of "why I hate..." and such.

Closing app windows on a Mac doesn't close the application. That is normal, expected behavior. I keep accidentally closing apps on my work Windows machine when I'm just trying to close windows.

Command-Q will quit just about every Mac application.

its bit weird even you press cross and app does not fully close but it is how it worked you can simply press command + Q in the keyboard to fully close application without event using pointer.Thats the easiest way to Fully close application.

Feel free to ask anything futhermore.

cheers.

It's a small difference to note but on Macs there are two kinds of application windows. If the app you're using can do nothing without a window, then the app quits when you close the window. So, Photos.app has no purpose without a window, and it quits when you close the window. Same with iMovie. Other apps that can still have usefulness without a window don't quit when you close the active window. So, for instance, Word: if you close the window the app doesn't quit as you can make a new window immediately. Ditto for Pages or Excel.

RLCS2024 wrote: ... I didn't know about the tab button to switch between different apps, I've been wondering how to easily and quickly do that on here, so thank you for mentioning that despite it not being part of my question.

There are so many things that are just part of some sort of muscle memory that we don't even think about, and they can make using a new system seem uncomfortable without realizing why.

If you use ⌘-tab and release quickly, you go back to the last app you were using. If you hold down the command button and release tab, you get a list of open apps. If you push tab again and again, you move through your open apps from the most recent to the next, and so on. I do it without thinking about it at all.

By the way, ⌘-W is the same as the "Red-cross" button, closing the active window.

Since an app can have several windows open, ⌘-` (I mean the ` that is upper left of keyboard) will cycle through windows-- maybe several Word documents you're working through. This doesn't seem to work with every app or every window, though.

For Windows users, it's good to know that delete goes backward on a Mac, but Fn-delete is forward delete.

Just some of the less obvious things I thought of...

Yer_Man wrote: It's a small difference to note but on Macs there are two kinds of application windows.

It's weird-- that's something that I know but hadn't thought about. In fact, closing the main window in Photos always sort of surprises me when I accidentally do that. But there are other windows in Photos, the Info window and the Keyword manager, for instance, that behave more or less normally-- the notorious "red cross" closes the window, but ⌘-W does not. Hmph....

Richard.Taylor wrote:

Yer_Man wrote: It's a small difference to note but on Macs there are two kinds of application windows.

It's weird-- that's something that I know but hadn't thought about. In fact, closing the main window in Photos always sort of surprises me when I accidentally do that. But there are other windows in Photos, the Info window and the Keyword manager, for instance, that behave more or less normally-- the notorious "red cross" closes the window, but ⌘-W does not. Hmph....

Apple has been known to break it's on UX guidelines now and again.

But there are other windows in Photos, the Info window and the Keyword manager, for instance, that behave more or less normally-- the notorious "red cross" closes the window, but ⌘-W does not.

Both the Info and Keyword manager popovers close with command-w here...

Yer_Man wrote: ... Both the Info and Keyword manager popovers close with command-w here...

You're right-- those windows must not have been active. Hold it, I tried it with both K & I open, but main window active, and ⌘-W closes them K then I, but I'm not sure why that order. I also tried ⌘-W when the main window was the only one open, and it quit Photos.

Sorry, RLCS2024, this is pretty off-topic...

What Red Cross are you referring to? The wee red button top left of the widow?

Thanks for the clarification!