Disable state saving

The easiest way to "deal" with Resume is simply to switch the keyboard shortcuts for "Quit" (Command Q), and "Quit and Close all Windows" (Command alt Q).

Then, when you press Command Q, OS X will quit and close all windows.

<Thoughts on the subject>

Like many of the substantial changes to long-established GUI metaphors in Lion, it requires a change in thinking of how you interact with your computer. Of course, the methods that we are now familiar with were no less strange and unfamiliar when first presented to us, too.

OS X will continue to introduce new UI metaphors and strategies that will evolve the Desktop experience, much of which has otherwise not changed in 40 years. It will become more and more of a fight to resist the changes and continue to work in the original way as the years go by.

</Thoughts>

There is a folder in your Library called Saved Application State. "Get Info" on that folder and change the Sharing and Permissions to "Read Only".

OSX can't write to it then. I've been doing this since 10.7.

Put a checkmark next to "Close windows when...." in system prefs > general.

There are a LOT of webpages devoted to stopping Resume from ... resuming. I would have thought the locking of Saved Application State would be well known. (Surprised this came as news to a Mod!)

However, as I hinted, the time may come when preventing an app from writing a file flags an error or causes a problem, rather than doing nothing.

People have written and posted AppleScripts that can run at Shutdown which ensure all apps quit and close their windows. That might be a better way than barring apps from writing.

benwiggy said:

However, as I hinted, the time may come when preventing an app from writing a file flags an error or causes a problem, rather than doing nothing.

Click to expand...

Well, I'll take my chances rather than following this gem from you:

'it requires a change in thinking of how you interact with your computer."

But in all fairness, this does sound like something Jobs would've written.

Krazy Bill said:

Well, I'll take my chances rather than following this gem from you:
'it requires a change in thinking of how you interact with your computer."
But in all fairness, this does sound like something Jobs would've written.

Click to expand...

By all means carry on. I'm merely sounding a note of caution that such a crude implementation may only be a temporary solution.

All computer interfaces are learnt. You have to learn how they work in order to use them. An "Intuitive" interface just means it works like other interfaces you've already learnt.
You don't leap out of the womb knowing how to use a GUI. It's an abstract concept. New versions of apps or OSes frequently bring changes in how they work. Which you have to learn in order to use. Sometimes, that requires changing what you have previously learnt in favour of the new method.

This isn't controversial or marketing speak, is it?

After 20 years of thinking about opening, saving and closing documents in the same way, I now have to think about it in a different way, given Apple's new model for Auto-save, Versions and Resume. I'm not saying whether it's better or worse. I'm just saying I have to think about it differently.

benwiggy said:

Sometimes, that requires changing what you have previously learnt in favour of the new method.

Click to expand...

Disagree. There will always be resistance to forced change. And for many the first instinct is to find a way to circumvent and customize those changes rather than mindlessly adapt to them. Indeed, it's our duty to do so.

This isn't controversial or marketing speak, is it?

Click to expand...

Not at all my friend.

Krazy Bill said:

Disagree. There will always be resistance to forced change. And for many the first instinct is to find a way to circumvent and customize those changes rather than mindlessly adapt to them. Indeed, it's our duty to do so.

Click to expand...

Mindlessly adapt? I've always been proud of the fact that the human brain is much more adaptable and configurable than any computer operating system. If anything is mindless, it's resistance to learning and ploughing the same furrow regardless. ;-)

Sometimes, computer interfaces offer a variety of settings, if the programmers have seen fit to include them. Sometimes, an alternative can be created by third-party. Sometimes, it can't, and you just have to get used to it.

There are methods of subverting Resume, some of them less than optimal implementations themselves. But are there are also other options.

Anyway, enough of the philosophy. All the best.

Dagless said:

Ah, it's still doing it. Just rebooted up and loaded up all the apps I had open previously.

Click to expand...

A neater solution would be to use an AppleScript that is scheduled to run at shutdown, which closes all windows and quits all apps. I would be surprised if someone hasn't posted one somewhere.

Dagless said:

Ah, it's still doing it. Just rebooted up and loaded up all the apps I had open previously.

Click to expand...

Delete all the files/folders inside the "Saved Application State" folder before changing the permissions to "Read Only".

defaults write -g ApplePersistence -bool false

jameslmoser said:

defaults write -g ApplePersistence -bool false

Click to expand...

This teminal command caused issues with TextEdit on my MBP late 2011, error messages saying, in effect that "you don't have permissions to write to the specified destination." I could manually save, but the automatic save function was really messed up.
Used "defaults write -g ApplePersistence -bool true" to revert and the issue disappeared. I don't understand that at all, but this solution obviously is problematic, at least on my MBP.

davidlv said:

This teminal command caused issues with TextEdit on my MBP late 2011, error messages saying, in effect that "you don't have permissions to write to the specified destination." I could manually save, but the automatic save function was really messed up.
Used "defaults write -g ApplePersistence -bool true" to revert and the issue disappeared. I don't understand that at all, but this solution obviously is problematic, at least on my MBP.

Click to expand...

Interesting... I have used this to disable the resume, auto-save, etc since Lion came out on 4 macs now and have never had a problem. Friends I know also use this solution without problem. I wonder if this was caused by maybe some other changes you made in an attempt to disable some of these features?

Have you tried creating a new account and then use this command? If it works without problems on a new account, then perhaps you have screwed up directory permissions on your existing user?

jameslmoser said:

Interesting... I have used this to disable the resume, auto-save, etc since Lion came out on 4 macs now and have never had a problem. Friends I know also use this solution without problem. I wonder if this was caused by maybe some other changes you made in an attempt to disable some of these features?

Have you tried creating a new account and then use this command? If it works without problems on a new account, then perhaps you have screwed up directory permissions on your existing user?

Click to expand...

Read my post, the permissions for the folder were actually fine, and a Command-S save worked fine, so not a permissions issue. That command messed up the autosave function, perhaps a write of a temporary file to another location? In any case reverting solved the issue so I have no need to create another user etc. Never have any saved state issues anyway, just tried that command as a safety net.