The application "Safari" is not open anymore

Question

Level 2

191 points

The application "Safari" is not open anymore

I know there are other threads about this but it's a recurrent problem and I haven't see anyone work our why it occurs. I've had the problem previously and restarting has fixed it, but it has recurred. Here's the latest:

I just tried to open Safari and got the message 'The application "Safari" is not open anymore'. Safari didn't open; it didn't appear in the dock.

I opened Force Quit Applications and Safari wasn't in the list.

I opened Activity Monitor and Safari was in the list of active processes (but it showed "0.0" CPU usage) and it wasn't in red, i.e. it appeared as a normal – nor crashed – process. I forced quit Safari in Activity Monitor and it disappeared from the list.

I was then able to open Safari.

As I noted, restarting fixes the issue, but now I know I can fix it as above, I'll use that. However, I've had this problem several times, expect I'll have it again, and wonder if there are enough people seeing it for it to be reported as a bug.

Thanks,

Steve = : ^ )

Mac Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6), null

Posted on Sep 18, 2016 6:18 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

leroydouglas

Level 10

200,316 points

Sep 18, 2016 7:34 PM in response to Erroll

Try launching from the application folder next time and see if this makes a difference

How are you quitting Safari? Using the red button in the upper left, simply closes the window.

If you leave certain applications running without any open windows, OS X will quit the application when it goes to the background (this is energy conservation measure and referred to as automatic termination.)

Quit apps from the drop down menu>Quit

or

use command Q. You can TAB between open apps (command tab) and Q will quit the app you are landed on.

Reply

Answer 2

leroydouglas

Level 10

200,316 points

Sep 18, 2016 8:00 PM in response to Erroll

You can try re-applying the combo update on top of your existing 10.11.6

Download OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 Combo Update to see if this sorts it.

Bug Reporter https://bugreport.apple.com/

With your same Apple ID you can sign up for a free Developers Account and start a conversation with Apple engineers

Reply

Answer 3

Sep 19, 2016 3:47 AM in response to Erroll

You may not be the only person with this problem, but you're the first one I've heard.

If this was a general bug in the OS there would be hundreds of posts about it in this forum.

You may think otherwise, but more often than not those weird issues do come down to a conflict with some other software - and usually it is something the user installed for some misguided sense of protection.

If you want some progress in solving this, you may run Etrecheck and post its report. You may even be running stuff that you are not aware of.

Reply

Answer 4

tygb

Level 9

65,016 points

Oct 18, 2017 3:23 AM in response to Claidheamdanns

Hello !

Claid

If major issues are in safari application enter in user library macOS Sierra: Library folder

Delete the contents of Caches , Cookies , Saved Application state , also entire contents of Safari folder , restarting the machine and emptying the trash recreates new contents ( this is inbuilt property of safari application ) .

The advanced step is delete the safari folder itself but that has to be done in very rarest condition .

Also resetting the safari could be done by entering in user library > find a folder Preferences > delete com.apple.safari.plist into the trash and restarting the machine and empty the trash .

By deleting the plist the settings will come to default , the Mac user has to reset the home page once again Set your homepage - Apple Support

Note : Open disk utility via spotlight , select Macintosh HD and click on first aid , apply same for SSD , a green check mark should appear after sometime .

An article to be read If Safari is slow, stops responding, quits unexpectedly, or has other issues - Apple Support

Avoid saving login items in users and groups also third party add ons , unwanted apps , anti virus will create issues in the system and safari .Check the box of App Store and identify developers in security and privacy .

Reply

Answer 5

Erroll Author

Level 2

191 points

Sep 18, 2016 10:00 PM in response to leroydouglas

leroydouglas wrote:

You can try re-applying the combo update on top of your existing 10.11.6

Download OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 Combo Update to see if this sorts it.

Thanks. I note that I'm not the only person with this issue, and suggest the problem isn't with my installation.

leroydouglas wrote:

Bug Reporter https://bugreport.apple.com/

With your same Apple ID you can sign up for a free Developers Account and start a conversation with Apple engineers

Thanks again. I might get around to that ... or I might do some work. ;-)

Steve = : ^ )

Reply

Answer 6

Erroll Author

Level 2

191 points

Sep 19, 2016 4:23 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

You may not be the only person with this problem, but you're the first one I've heard.

Here's another thread: 'The application Safari isn't open anymore" huh?

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

You may think otherwise, but more often than not those weird issues do come down to a conflict with some other software - and usually it is something the user installed for some misguided sense of protection.

I'm not too sure what you're suggesting here, but I have no anti-virus software, no 'clean up' software or anything of that ilk, just the programmes and plug-ins I need to work on this computer.

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

If you want some progress in solving this, you may run Etrecheck and post its report. You may even be running stuff that you are not aware of.

After your last sentence, you're asking me to install some more software – that I haven't heard – of on my work computer? I might do that next time this issue occurs, or I might just perform the force-quit described above and get on with work.

Thanks,

Steve = : ^ )

Reply

Answer 7

leroydouglas

Level 10

200,316 points

Sep 19, 2016 8:37 AM in response to Erroll

Erroll wrote:

leroydouglas wrote:

You can try re-applying the combo update on top of your existing 10.11.6

Download OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 Combo Update to see if this sorts it.

and suggest the problem isn't with my installation.

I am suggesting the problem is with your installation.

Reply

Answer 8

Erroll Author

Level 2

191 points

Sep 19, 2016 3:17 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

Ok, so now I know two persons :-)

Three: Safari does not open and I am getting the answer" Safari is not open anymore"

Four: I am getting a message that Safari app is not open anymore. Help

And there are more.

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

There were suggestions on that thread, posted by two experienced members of the community, and unfortunately, as often is the case, the OP never came back to say whether the issue was fixed or not. Did you follow the advice given there?

On one of the threads I read the suggestion to try to start Safari with the Shift key down. This worked for someone on the thread, but not for me. The suggestion in the above thread to restart in Safe Mode is irrelevant because restarting in any old mode fixes the problem.

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

Regarding my asking you to install extra software: I can understand you may be wary of some piece of software you don't know. Etrecheck is a utility created by a respected member of this community, to help people know what is running in their macs, and also to get better help - by letting others know what is likely to cause problems.

It does not install anything on your mac. You just run the application, copy and paste its report. You delete it just by dragging to the trash, there are no files left behind.

Fair enough. Next time I see this problem I'll do just that and report back here. I won't, for the moment, reapply the 10.11.6 update in the hope that the problem will recur.

Thanks,

Steve = : ^ )

Reply

Answer 9

Erroll Author

Level 2

191 points

Sep 18, 2016 7:44 PM in response to leroydouglas

leroydouglas wrote:

Try launching from the application folder next time and see if this makes a difference

I tried that; it made no difference.

leroydouglas wrote:

How are you quitting Safari? Using the red button in the upper left, simply closes the window.

If you leave certain applications running without any open windows, OS X will quit the application when it goes to the background (this is energy conservation measure and referred to as automatic termination.)

Quit apps from the drop down menu>Quit

or

use command Q. You can TAB between open apps (command tab) and Q will quit the app you are landed on.

I quit all apps with CMD+Q.

There is a bug here: trying to start Safari gets 'The application "Safari" is not open anymore'; Safari doesn't appear in the Application switcher; Safari doesn't appear in "Force Quit Applications"; yet Safari does appear in Activity Monitor as a running – not crashed – process, but with 0.0% CPU, and quitting this process restores Safari to normal operation. Something is broken, at least for some of us, some of the time.

Thanks,

Steve = : ^ )

Reply

Answer 10

Sep 19, 2016 5:12 AM in response to Erroll

Erroll wrote:

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

You may not be the only person with this problem, but you're the first one I've heard.

Here's another thread: 'The application Safari isn't open anymore" huh?

Ok, so now I know two persons :-)

There were suggestions on that thread, posted by two experienced members of the community, and unfortunately, as often is the case, the OP never came back to say whether the issue was fixed or not. Did you follow the advice given there?

Regarding my asking you to install extra software: I can understand you may be wary of some piece of software you don't know. Etrecheck is a utility created by a respected member of this community, to help people know what is running in their macs, and also to get better help - by letting others know what is likely to cause problems.

It does not install anything on your mac. You just run the application, copy and paste its report. You delete it just by dragging to the trash, there are no files left behind.

Reply

Answer 11

tygb

Level 9

65,016 points

Sep 19, 2016 4:10 AM in response to Erroll

Hello !

Please click on finder , then click on applications you will find safari app , as you might have drag and dropped into the centre of the screen , so safari app from dock isn't visible .

Thanks !

Reply

Answer 12

Erroll Author

Level 2

191 points

Sep 19, 2016 4:13 AM in response to tygb

Yes, I know how to find the Safari app. I've tried launching it from there and from a Spotlight. I don't keep it in the dock normally.

When this issue is happening, it doesn't matter how I try to launch Safari; it doesn't launch and I get the message.

Thanks,

Steve = : ^ )

Reply

Answer 13

Erroll Author

Level 2

191 points

Sep 19, 2016 6:10 PM in response to leroydouglas

Haha. Yes, I do want to fix the problem but it occurs infrequently and, in the interests of helping those others who've had this happen, it would be useful to find out what's actually going wrong, so if the problem occurs again, I'll run EtreCheck at the time and post here. My next step might be to reapply the 10.11.6 update and see if the problem recurs after that.

Steve = : ^ )

Reply

Answer 14

Dec 5, 2016 11:29 AM in response to Erroll

Thanks for the advice - which I shall keep incase it happens again. Restarting it does appear to have fixed it. Can't believe that wasn't the first thing I should have, but didn't, try! I'd been travelling for days - 7 hours across the Atlantic and then another 12 down to South Africa, so perhaps I can be forgiven the forgetfulness.

Reply

Answer 15

Oct 17, 2017 12:23 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Not true. I just started getting the same problem in the most recent version of Safari (v. 11.0), on Sierra. Also, Luis, you have a very vitriolic way of communicating with people. That doesn't help when someone is having a problem. Please try and be patient with the people on this forum. They are all here looking for answers — ones that they have the time to do and feel comfortable doing. Not everyone is an expert, or they wouldn't be on this forum.

Reply