Skip to Content

TUAW Tip: Quit applications using Application Switcher

by Scott McNulty Jan 30th 2006 at 11:00AM



One of the key combinations that I use most on my Mac is Command Tab, which brings up the Application Switcher, as seen above (in most versions of OS X that is). This allows me to switch from one application to another just by hitting the Tab key to cycle through the running applications.

You're saying, 'We know this already, Scott, what a lame tip!' Well, did you know that you can quit an application without leaving the Application Switcher? It is true. Simply hit Command Tab to bring up the Application Switcher and Tab to the application you want to quit. Once it is highlighted, without lifting your finger off of the Command button, hit the Q. Poof! The application quits (assuming that there are no unsaved documents currently in the application).

View Tags

Related Stories

Categories

OS Software How-tos Tips and tricks TUAW Tips

One of the key combinations that I use most on my Mac is Command Tab, which brings up the Application Switcher, as seen above (in most...
 

Add a Comment

Sign in »
*0 / 3000 Character Maximum

48 Comments

Filter by:
Aaron

Does anyone know how to customize Application Switcher to make it ignore certaian apps?

February 01 2006 at 12:56 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
TriangleJuice

I already knew this hint, BUT: thanks for the article anyway, because Arnaud, in his comment, gave me the (simple) solution for a problem I couldn't figure out myself. My father's got an AZERTY keyboard and whenever I was on his computer, Apple-Tab and Q didn't work. Will try out the "A" tip later!

I - BTW - should have know, because it was the same thing with Tony Hawk Pro Skater: Apple-A on an AZERTY made the program quit!

January 31 2006 at 7:16 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Gabriel Radic

If an app is not responding, hit Q twiceto force quit it.

January 31 2006 at 5:31 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
yablyk

what is new here?
i've been using this combination for years on PC
bring smth new if you can
why repeat again and again the same crap?

January 31 2006 at 1:40 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Christian Calderon

Thanks! why does it not seem to work for Mail, am I doing something wrong? it did for all the other apps.

January 30 2006 at 11:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
aidee

The G5 icon is a G5-specific build of DeerPark aka FireFox 1.5.

January 30 2006 at 11:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tucker

Eric3: Command-W closes the current window of whatever application you're using.

January 30 2006 at 4:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Nico

Finally! I've read about this before, but never got it to work. Pressing 'A' does the job..thanks to the people who mentioned this

January 30 2006 at 4:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Reuben

@Chris Bailey:

That looks like a G5-optimized build of Deerpark/Firefox.

January 30 2006 at 4:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Eric3

If there's any hackers out reading this, what I really want is the ability to hide a program by hitting W or something - H is just too far over. With LiteSwitch, an old control panel, I had that option.

January 30 2006 at 4:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Buy an ad here

Hot Apps on TUAW

Tweets

© 2012 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.