Preview and TextEdit Don't Quit When I Close Them

Question

Level 1

6 points

Preview and TextEdit Don't Quit When I Close Them

Until recently, apps like Preview, TextEdit, and QuickTime Player would quit when I close all of their windows and direct away from them. For example, if I open an image, close the window, and then clicked on a webpage so that at the top of my screen, it said, "Safari" and no longer said "Preview," Preview would quit itself. Now, none of those app do so anymore, and I have to manually quit them. How do I get that feature back?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Jan 31, 2013 8:41 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Jan 31, 2013 8:51 PM in response to MacOSXNoob

You are closing the window only. To quit the app either the drop down menu>Quit or short cut command -Q

You can see what programs are running by holding the command-and pressing TAB

Different software respond differently to closing the window- some actually do quit the program, but this is limited in general.

Reply

Answer 2

MacOSXNoob Author

Level 1

6 points

Jan 31, 2013 8:51 PM in response to leroydouglas

I know that, but they used to quit automatically, but now they don't. I was wondering how I can restore that feature.

Reply

Answer 3

babowa

Level 9

78,097 points

Jan 31, 2013 8:52 PM in response to MacOSXNoob

As far as I know, Mac OS has never had the feature of having applications quit automatically.

Reply

Answer 4

MacOSXNoob Author

Level 1

6 points

Jan 31, 2013 8:54 PM in response to babowa

Well it did it every time I closed every window of Preview and then activated another application.

Reply

Answer 5

Jan 31, 2013 8:59 PM in response to MacOSXNoob

This is not a feature to restore.

Preview and TextEdit do not quit when you close all the windows.

Different software respond differently to closing the window- some actually do quit the program, but this is limited in general.

For example System Preferences windows.

Preview in closing all the windows would remain open, but as soon as you click the desktop (Finder,) or say Safari Preview would lose the focus in the upper left corner- that is not the same as quitting.

Reply

Answer 6

MacOSXNoob Author

Level 1

6 points

Jan 31, 2013 8:56 PM in response to leroydouglas

Well it was a feature on my mac that occurred every time since I got my mac last year, and just stopped this week.

Reply

Answer 7

babowa

Level 9

78,097 points

Jan 31, 2013 8:59 PM in response to MacOSXNoob

Well then, you had a very special iteration of the OS. Neither of us has heard of it and I've used every Mac OS since OS 7.5. In any case, there is no such option now.

Reply

Answer 8

MacOSXNoob Author

Level 1

6 points

Jan 31, 2013 9:01 PM in response to babowa

Awwww. I really liked that feature. I guess I'll just have to use Command+Q when I close it.

Reply

Answer 9

Jan 31, 2013 9:05 PM in response to MacOSXNoob

Command + W will close a active window

Command + Q will quit the active program

Might not be the answer you where hoping for, but I hope it helps.

Good computing !

Reply

Answer 10

Ri-dog

Level 1

45 points

Jan 31, 2013 9:10 PM in response to babowa

Wow, OS 7.5 was a looong time ago...

Reply

Answer 11

babowa

Level 9

78,097 points

Jan 31, 2013 9:15 PM in response to Ri-dog

Yes it was! 😀

Reply

Answer 12

t4ggs

Level 1

28 points

Feb 10, 2013 2:40 PM in response to MacOSXNoob

for me too.. abd it also stopped

Reply

Answer 13

MacOSXNoob Author

Level 1

6 points

Feb 10, 2013 2:48 PM in response to t4ggs

So I'm not the only one who had this! I wonder why the others never had it

Reply

Answer 14

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,518 points

Feb 10, 2013 2:56 PM in response to MacOSXNoob

Nobody had it. But, it may have auto-terminated which is a feature introduced in Lion and made more robust in Mountain Lion.

An app may Auto-terminate if no windows are open and it hasn't been used in a while and the OS needs the memory.

Part of the process may just move it into a state of limbo between open and quit in case you open it again. That way it opens quickly, but is ready to be terminated if needed.

http://www.zdnet.com/automatic-termination-makes-its-way-to-os-x-lion-and-mounta in-lion-7000002850/

Reply

Answer 15

t4ggs

Level 1

28 points

Feb 11, 2013 12:26 AM in response to Barney-15E

Nop, it wasn't autoterminated. I have 8 Gb of RAM and an SSD (wichn means I almost don'w use SWAP)... and it was always quiting...now it's not.

Btw, it's not every app, only quicktime, preview, textedit, dictionary (still working)... maybe some others (all from apple)

Reply