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I am downloading macOS Sierra from Mac App Store. But I have electricity problem here. Due to which my iMac will lose power after 2 hours. Now I want to pause the downloading so that I can resume the download later on. How can I do that?

Here is a screenshot.

enter image description here

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  • There's no need. If you shut down your Mac because of power issues, it will automatically pause. When you restart, it will automatically resume. The key here is that downloads in the App Store will not prevent you from shutting down your computer.
    – Allan
    Commented Sep 23, 2016 at 12:27
  • Actually I asked this because Safari also do not have any options for resuming download and it starts from the beggining if shut downed.
    – Umair Afzal
    Commented Sep 23, 2016 at 12:29
  • That's a different question. In Safari, you can pause downloading by "Show Downloads" under View menu (or Option-Command-L) and stopping the download (click the X in the circle). You don't need to pause for the App Store.
    – Allan
    Commented Sep 23, 2016 at 12:33

7 Answers 7

Reset to default
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Open Launchpad and you will see your downloading app. Simply click on the app icon to pause the download, and click it again to resume.

launchpad showing paused download

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  • 6
    Good grief! This is extraordinarily hard to find. Has the Apple UI really got that bad?
    – emrys57
    Commented Oct 6, 2016 at 19:14
  • 8
    This doesn't work on Sierra, clicking on it does nothing. Also the pause button on the app store does nothing! I could only stop the download by disconnecting the internet and waiting for the download to fail.
    – Matthew Lock
    Commented Dec 1, 2017 at 4:53
  • 4
    +1 for doesn't work, for High Sierra. There is seemingly no way to pause the High Sierra download.
    – Jayden Lawson
    Commented Feb 2, 2018 at 2:33
  • I can confirm it does not work with High Sierra, even though it works with other types of apps
    – Stéphane Bruckert
    Commented Mar 26, 2018 at 19:50
  • @JaydenLawson see my answer for a workaround on High Sierra
    – everag
    Commented Sep 25, 2018 at 20:03
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For High Sierra 10.13 and Mojave 10.14

Open Finder, then look up for your downloading app icon under Applications, and click on the X icon to "remove" it:

enter image description here

Next time you start this app's download, it will resume from where it stopped.

A bit awkward but it works.

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  • 2
    Spot on, I was trying to pause my Mojave download
    – James Wahome
    Commented Sep 28, 2018 at 17:38
  • Let me know if anyone can confirm this also works for Mojave 10.14
    – everag
    Commented Oct 5, 2018 at 19:16
  • 1
    Confirmed to be working with Mojave
    – James Wahome
    Commented Oct 5, 2018 at 19:25
  • Strange. I have the Mojave download icon in Finder but it only has the paper sheet icon, and no close X.
    – Damon Maria
    Commented Oct 11, 2018 at 6:31
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For macOS 11 Big Sur

  1. Open Launchpad, find the downloading app.
  2. First tap pauses the download.
  3. Next tap resumes the download.

Notes:

  • The download progress is stated in the form:

    LoadedData StorageUnit of TotalData StorageUnit

    i.e. 120 MB of 1,4 GB

  • When you resume a download then LoadedData starts from 0 again.

    • But fear not, your paused download is not lost!
    • Instead the TotalData number got just reduced by the already LoadedData.
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From my experience downloading a big app from the apple App Store there is a problem with the icons in Launchpad, but there is a way around it. When you buy an app at the App Store you will simply see "installing" under the app's icon. If you go to Launchpad you will see the app with a thermometer chart showing the progress of download. If you click on it you can pause it, and the word "Paused" will appear. But clicking it again does not seem to resume the download. Instead go back to the App Store, click on the purchased menu item. There you will see the app and a thermometer chart showing the paused download. If you click that you will resume the download. Simple but a poor workflow.

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incase you do not find "x" mark just change your view in Finder-->Applications to Icons. You will see the "X' hopefully, it worked on my running Highsierra.

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For macOS Catalina 10.15

Clicking on the app icon in Launchpad didn't pause the download until I turned off the Internet connection.

  1. Turn wi-fi OFF/unplug the network cable
  2. Click on the app icon in Launchpad (the download should get paused)
  3. Turn wi-fi ON/plug in the network cable
  4. Click on the app icon again (the download should continue)
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Same on Monterey:

  1. Open the Launchpad.

  2. Click on the icon which shows "Downloading": enter image description here

  3. Re-click on the icon in order to resume the download. enter image description here

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