Tell me more ×
Ask Different is a question and answer site for power users of Apple hardware and software. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 1 down vote favorite

I'm a long time windows/Ubutnu user who have recently migrated to Mac OS X and running 10.7.4. One thing which i'm unable to get used to is that while the red button closes a window, the program will remain open until you quit the application using the Menu Bar. One option to bypass it is use the key combination Command+Q but by doing that all the instances of that program opens up the next time I open that application. Is there a way out?

share|improve this question

5 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

You can't close the application by clicking on the red button, as you said it is meant to close the window...

Using cmd-q is not a bypass but the shortcut to close the application. And the windows are not instances of the application, they are in the same instance...

What bothers you is the "resume" functionality that restores the state of an application -- e.g. all open windows -- when you restart it.

Look here or here to see how you can tune or disable this "resume" feature.

share|improve this answer
Your understanding is correct. and I've already tried that uncheck option in General but its not working. What i'm saying is that say, you've opened 4 Safari windows each has a page opened. Now, if i cmd+Q close them and then click on Safari icon, i'll get 4 safari windows which i'd opened earlier. I don't want this to happen. I want that if cmd+q close 4 safari windows together and then i reopen safari then i should get one safari window with my home page. – subeh.sharma May 23 '12 at 11:22
up vote 1 down vote

Indeed, there are some applications which will close completly when hitting the red button, while others will just close a window. I'm afraid you can't do nothing about it, as it's a developers choice.

What you can do is disable the Auto-Open, so the Command+Q shortcut will do exactly what you want.

To do so, just go to System Preferences > General and uncheck "Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps".

share|improve this answer
Thanks but i've already unchecked that option. – subeh.sharma May 23 '12 at 11:17
It seems that you are having some sort of issue with the Preferences, as unchecking that should do exactly what you want. – Thecafremo May 23 '12 at 11:41
up vote 1 down vote

To do so, just go to System Preferences > General and uncheck "Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps".

This solved my problem!

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

Do u want to say 'cmd+Q'instead of ctrl-q.

& are u sure about your stmt "When I press all the instances of that program opens up the next time I open that application".

As far as i know, if you quit application it will not open your last opened docs. It will just remain in "Open recent" option from File menu

share|improve this answer
Yes, cmd+q(old windows habit!) – subeh.sharma May 23 '12 at 11:23
ok. But whats ur reply to my remaining answer – hp iOS Coder May 23 '12 at 11:23
"are u sure about your stmt "When I press all the instances of that program opens up the next time I open that application"." : Yes, i am. "As far as i know, if you quit application it will not open your last opened docs. It will just remain in "Open recent" option from File menu" : This is what i want and is not happening currently. – subeh.sharma May 23 '12 at 11:55
up vote 0 down vote

Strange enough what all of you have suggested has worked. I HAD that option unchecked(which i think happened automatically when the 10.7.3 was auto-upgraded to 10.7.4 few weeks back. But still for some reason, it was not working. I went to General, clicked the "Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps", reboot MBP, went into general and unselect it again. And now it is working what all of you've mentioned..Life is all well again...Thanks everyone!

share|improve this answer
1  
Welcome to the site. If everything is well, please accept someone's answer. Also, better to make this a comment on your original question than as another answer. – Bill Nace May 23 '12 at 12:56

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.