How to kill a running Mac app from the command line

Most of the time, apps for MacOS work as expected.  But their maybe times when an app doesn’t close (or gets stuck exiting) when you use the key combination [Command] + [Q].

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When an app gets “stuck”, you can use a terminal command to bypass the normal quit command.  However, this option should only be used as a last resort as it could result in damaged or lost data.

Here’s how:

1. Open Terminal (Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal).
2. At the command prompt, type: killall nameofapp
3. Close the Terminal windows with [Command + Q].
4. That’s it.

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Dan Uff

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