Force Quit Mac Applications Using the Keyboard
Few things are more frustrating than freezing your browser while streaming or surfing, or blocking your messaging app halfway through. So what if you encounter a spinning beach ball of death on your Mac and the app you are using is not responding?
There is a quick keyboard shortcut to do this: just press Cmd + Opt + Shift + Escape for a few seconds to close the previous application. You can also press Cmd + Opt + Esc to bring up the force quit menu and select the app you want to kill.
These steps are covered in the video above – just keep in mind that the current Mac OS interface looks slightly different from what is shown.
And while your mouse or trackpad is fully functional, you can also force close apps by clicking and holding their dock icon (or right-clicking) until a menu appears with an Exit option at the bottom. Think of Force Quit as “completing a task” for Mac users.
The Shortcut of the Day is a great shortcut on a variety of platforms, from desktop computers to mobile devices to the web. You can find more shortcuts here .
This article was originally published in 2011 and was updated in December 2019 with more detailed and up-to-date information.