Those of you with Macs know that you can’t just click on the Close button to exit out of most apps. Instead, you have to physically quit those apps after you’re done using them.
On the other hand, if you just can’t be asked to take the time to do that, we’re going to show you a really easy way to make an applet that can be used to quit all of your Mac’s running apps at once.
Quitting all Mac apps at once with Automator
If you have a lot of apps running at the same time, then you probably could benefit from a quick quit applet for all of them, especially if you’re stepping away from the computer for a long period of time or if you want to quickly free up a ton of your computer’s resources after you’re done using all those apps you had open.
To do that, you’ll follow these steps:
1) Launch Automator from your Mac’s Applications folder.
2) With the Automator app opened, click on the Application option from the list and then click on the blue Choose button.
3) Now, you’ll want to select Quit All Applications from the sidebar. Click and drag it into the empty workflow window immediately to the right of the sidebar.
4) Automator should now load the action into the workflow window:
Note: Optionally you can add apps to the list labeled “Do not quit” with the Add button in case you have apps you like to have running all the time.
5) Now go to your Mac’s Menu Bar and click on File > Save.
6) Give your “applet” a name. We’ve called it Quit All, but you can name it whatever you want to, then click on the blue Save button. Automator should automatically be trying to save it to the Applications folder, but you can save it wherever you want to.
7) Test it out. Launch the new applet you made, and all of your open apps should quit immediately. In our case, we saved it to our Applications folder, so when we open our Applications folder, we found our Quit All applet.
Hint: You can add your Quit All app to your Dock for easy access to quitting everything at once. You can also change the app icon at a later date.
Also read: How to change an app’s icon on your Mac
Wrapping up
I typically use this command after I am done with my daily work routines and will be letting my computer sit idle for long periods of time. There will be other reasons to quit all your running apps at once depending on how you use your computer.
Fortunately, this process isn’t difficult, and while it’s definitely no simple keystroke, it doesn’t get much easier than making your own applet you can just add to your Dock and click on demand.
What are your thoughts on this method for quitting all your Mac apps at one time? Share in the comments below!