Accidentally opened a bunch of windows on my Mac. It became overwhelming and I need to close them all quickly. Looking for a fast method to regain control and focus. Any suggestions?
Oh great, another person who can’t handle a few open windows. Look, there’s no magic button to shut down all your windows instantly on a Mac. You’re gonna have to do a bit of work yourself.
If you’ve got Safari open, you can quickly close all tabs by holding down the ‘’+ Option + W’'. For other apps, try hitting ‘‘Command + Option + W’’ to close all windows of an application, but you’ll need to do it app by app. Tedious, right? Yeah, it is.
If you’re looking to kill literally everything, you could log out or restart the Mac, but that sounds like overkill and you’d lose all unsaved work. Not the smartest move if you ask me.
You also mentioned wanting to regain focus—how about learning some discipline and keeping fewer windows open in the first place? Just a thought. And no, Task Manager doesn’t exist on a Mac like it does on a Windows machine to save the day.
Apps like “BetterTouchTool” or “Moom” can help manage window chaos, but they’ll cost you a few bucks and some learning time. Another alternative is using the built-in Mission Control to see everything at a glance and manually close unused windows. Yawn, boring, but it works.
Anyway, good luck with that, and maybe consider not opening a million windows next time.
Well, @techchizkid wasn’t entirely off-base, but some of that was pretty harsh, don’t ya think? Anyway, let’s get to some actionable stuff.
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Mission Control (without closing everything): If you wanna regain focus without closing every single window, hit the
Control + Up Arrowto open up Mission Control. This will give you a bird’s eye view of all windows and desktops. From here, you can drag and drop windows into different desktops to get things more organized without shutting them all. -
Hot Corners for Quick Actions: You can set up Hot Corners in macOS to perform specific actions when you move your mouse to a corner of the screen. Go to
System Preferences > Mission Control > Hot Corners. You can set one corner to launch Mission Control, another to show the desktop, etc. It’s a real timesaver once you get the hang of it. -
Focus Mode: If you’re using Safari, there’s a Reader Mode that declutters the page you’re reading.
Shift + Command + Rturns this on or off. It’s not exactly what you’re asking for, but it can help focus on a single webpage without all the other tabs getting in your way. -
Quit All Apps Utility (3rd Party): There’s actually a handy little utility called “Quit All” that does pretty much what it says. It lets you quit all open apps with a click. It’s a third-party solution, but it’s legit and works well. Just keep in mind it will close everything, so make sure to save your work or you’ll lose it.
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Use Siri for a Quick Fix: Believe it or not, Siri can be somewhat useful here. Just press and hold
Command + Spacebarto activate Siri and say, “Close all my applications” or similar. Siri will close some apps but not necessarily all, and it might not close windows within the apps. Still, faster than clicking each one. -
App-Specific Commands: Just to drill down further:
- Safari:
Command + Option + W(closes all tabs within a window) - Finder:
Option + Command + W(closes all Finder windows)
- Safari:
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More Hardcore Approach: If you’re a bit more technically inclined, you could use Terminal commands to close apps. First, open Terminal (
Command + Space, type “Terminal”, then Enter). For example, to close Finder, typekillall Finder. Just be cautious with this method! -
Create a Multi-Monitor Setup: If space is a problem, consider connecting another monitor. Spread your windows out over two screens for better organization.
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Disable Resume Functionality Temporarily: To stop apps from reopening the same windows they had last time, you can temporarily disable this in macOS. Go to
System Preferences > Generaland uncheck the “Close windows when quitting an app” option. It’s not a permanent solution, but it can help. -
Better Shortcut: If you regularly need to do this, consider creating a custom shortcut that combines several actions. Go to
System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts, then add a new shortcut to close all windows for each app you use frequently. It’s a bit of a setup, but it saves time in the long run. -
Background Process Management: Look for background processes that might be opening more windows automatically. For instance, some syncing apps like Google Drive or Dropbox might open Finder windows constantly. You can manage these processes via Activity Monitor (
Command + Space, type “Activity Monitor”). -
Use an AppleScript: This might be more on the techy side, but an AppleScript can be written to close all apps. You can run the script with a simple command or even schedule it to run at certain times.
tell application "System Events"
set allApps to (application processes where background only is false)
repeat with i from 1 to count allApps
set thisApp to item i of allApps
try
do shell script "killall " & (name of thisApp)
end try
end repeat
end tell
Just save this as an AppleScript, and you’ll have a pretty efficient way to close everything on your Mac.
Hope this helps without sounding like a complete tech snob. Managing open windows can be annoying, but the key is using the tools at your disposal smartly. Keep this arsenal of strategies in mind for next time, and you’ll be golden.
You know, dealing with a flood of open windows can be real frustrating, especially when you’re just trying to get back in control. Some good tips have already been shared, but let me throw a different angle in here.
First off, let’s talk Spaces. I’m surprised no one brought this up more prominently. macOS’s Spaces feature within Mission Control allows you to create virtual desktops. Rather than closing everything, how about just moving the clutter to another space? You can even assign certain apps to specific spaces permanently. This way, you don’t need to close the apps but simply slide them out of your way. Just swipe up with four fingers or press Control + Up Arrow, then drag and drop your crowded apps to a new desktop space. It’s super handy and prevents you from losing any unsaved data.
Regarding the manual method suggested by the others, there’s a potential downside: If you’ve got unsaved work, closing all windows or quitting all apps can be risky. It’s worth double-checking what apps you’ve got open and ensuring nothing important will be lost. I mean, I’ve lost some killer draft emails and epic sticky notes more than once.
For those who love keyboard shortcuts, you’re missing out if you don’t set up custom ones. Like @techchizkid mentioned, you can create shortcuts for specific actions. Go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts and customize a key combo for “Close All” in apps you use frequently. It’s a bit tedious at setup but less so in the long run.
If you’re a terminal nerd, you can also make doing this a one-command action. Here’s a different approach:
osascript -e 'quit app "Safari"' -e 'quit app "Finder"' -e 'quit app "Notes"' # Add any other app you want to quit
This allows you to quit multiple apps at once without the hassle of several key combos. Just list any additional apps you have open that you want closed.
I’m not a massive fan of overloading with third-party apps, but Alfred is a decent alternative to the standard utilities on macOS. It’s a productivity app that doesn’t just replace your spotlight search but allows for advanced workflows, including quitting all apps, searching Google, or even executing scripts. It’s a bit of a Swiss army knife and streamlines multiple actions into fewer steps.
One more left-field thought: Invest in a larger monitor or even a dual monitor setup. Sometimes the issue isn’t the number of windows but the space to see them all. If you’ve got the budget, this can drastically improve your workflow by spreading out your windows so they aren’t stack limited.
Stay organized, and remember, opening fewer tabs isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s the dawn of smarter multitasking!