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Quit after last window closed??

E

eleven7

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 14, 2009
195
0
Japan
I know it's not a big deal but something that has bugged me since buying my first mac, is the fact that some programs stay open even after the last window has been closed. The main culprits are TextEdit and Preview.

An example if it's not clear what I mean...
If I open a pdf file, read it and then close it buy clicking "x", the document closes and disappears, but the Preview program is still running in the dock.

After searching the web to find a solution and coming up with nothing (no, I don't want to run an apple script) I am now looking for replacements for these two apps, that will close automatically quit when the last window has been closed.

Anyone running or know of any alternatives to these programs that behave in the way that I'm after??
 
That's my whole point. I want it to do it automatically.

And not because I'm lazy, it's because like many people, I NEVER open a document using Preview's "File menu". I open files in Preview by clicking on them within Finder. So after I close that file, there is no need for preview to be left open, there is nothing else I will do with the Application.

Even if I do want to open another file right afterwards, I will do so via finder.
 
eleven7 said:
That's my whole point. I want it to do it automatically.

And not because I'm lazy, it's because like many people, I NEVER open a document using Preview's "File menu". I open files in Preview by clicking on them within Finder. So after I close that file, there is no need for preview to be left open, there is nothing else I will do with the Application.

Even if I do want to open another file right afterwards, I will do so via finder.
Click to expand...

I spent the last eighteen years on MS/Windows PCs. in the last two months I've learned to press CMD+Q. It's not that difficult, is it?
 
I never knew about command+Q, I always right click on it. I leave everything open anyway, Safari, iTunes etc. But some apps close when you press the X, like iPhoto and iMovie.
 
It's not just those apps, it's most OS X apps.

OS X is document based, not application based like Windows. In Windows, an instance of the app will open and run for each window you have open, on OS X the app opens once, and you can keep the app running even if all windows are closed, so you don't have to wait for the app to load again.

It prevents OS X from having "application windows" for apps like PS. In Windows' PS, you have that gray blank window there to keep the app running, even when no documents are open.

So, when you click the red dot in OS X, you are not closing the app, you are closing that specific document.
 
samh said:
I spent the last eighteen years on MS/Windows PCs. in the last two months I've learned to press CMD+Q. It's not that difficult, is it?
Click to expand...

No, I suppose it's not.

I'm not saying that OS X should be changed to suit my personal preference, or that it's difficult to Press CMD + Q. I'm simply asking, does anyone know of an application that behaves in the way I described?

But you're probably right...I should start using CMD + Q instead of X to close the file :)
 
TextEdit and Preview are not really memory hungry, so leaving them open, won't slow down your machine.
The only "down side" to leaving applications open, is that they fill up the Dock and Application Switcher, which might bother some users.
appswitcher.jpg


Only applications quit when closing the window, when it only consist of one window and function, see System Preferences and Disk Utility.

Looking for an application to edit and view text documents and images like Text Edit and Preview, will bring you (almost?) always to an application that also is able to have more than one open document, therefore won't quit, when the last document is closed.
 
I wonder if we might move in a direction of a totally "document centric" notion of the OS, where you wouldn't even see that applications are open, running in the background, ready to pounce on the document you open. The way we're going with processor speed and memory, it can't be far off.

We're halfway there, with some programs launching "helper" apps at startup that partially load (Office and Internet Explorer come to mind).

Perhaps a future version of OS X wouldn't even need to tell you that TextEdit, Preview, Quicktime Player, etc. are running... they'd just be there in the background, as part of the core OS.
 
r.j.s said:
It's not just those apps, it's most OS X apps.

OS X is document based, not application based like Windows. In Windows, an instance of the app will open and run for each window you have open, on OS X the app opens once, and you can keep the app running even if all windows are closed, so you don't have to wait for the app to load again.

It prevents OS X from having "application windows" for apps like PS. In Windows' PS, you have that gray blank window there to keep the app running, even when no documents are open.

So, when you click the red dot in OS X, you are not closing the app, you are closing that specific document.
Click to expand...

I get what you're saying and how OS X is implemented, I was just referring to applications such as Preview where once a document is closed, there is no point whatsoever for the application to remain open. To me anyway, Preview should be implemented as a single instance application.

Anyway, looks like I'm alone on this one so I'll just have to get used to it :)
 
I know it's not a big deal but something that has bugged me since buying my first mac, is the fact that some programs stay open even after the last window has been closed.
Click to expand...

There was a $10 application called "Quit It" for Mac OS 8 and 9 that did exactly this, but I don't think it was ever updated for Mac OS X. The newest version I can find was released in about 2002 and was still for older the now-"Classic" versions of the Mac OS.

The "document centric" approach of the Mac is usually the hardest thing for ex-Windows users to get used to because they been ingrained with the "application-centric" approach. It's also why they insist on wanting to expand windows to fill the screen and insisting on closing document when copy-pasting information from one to another.
 
That is standard behavior for mac OS

Certain apps that "switchers" use more often might have the windows behavior but that is the exception.

Always use Command+Q
 
eleven7 said:
I'm simply asking, does anyone know of an application that behaves in the way I described?
Click to expand...
Yes. Dictionary. Comes with the OS, you know the one...

spinnerlys said:
Only applications quit when closing the window, when it only consist of one window and function, see System Preferences and Disk Utility.
Click to expand...
What? I don't understand.

Consultant said:
That is standard behavior for mac OS
Click to expand...
Pretty much.

So, if your last act in an application is to save it, just Quit instead, then hit the Save button in the pop-up window. Click-click-click (App Menu > Quit... Save) Otherwise, it's click-click (File > Save) click (close window) click-click (App menu > Quit) And, you'll notice, your preferred behavior would require the same number of clicks as my method.
 
Gregg2 said:
What? I don't understand.
Click to expand...

If the application has only one window (ala iPhoto or System Preferences) it will quit when that window is closed, because the app can no longer function without that window open.
 
spinnerlys said:
TextEdit and Preview are not really memory hungry, so leaving them open, won't slow down your machine.
The only "down side" to leaving applications open, is that they fill up the Dock and Application Switcher, which might bother some users.
appswitcher.jpg
Click to expand...

Since you mention the Switcher, I should mention a fun shortcut. Press command-tab to activate the Switcher. While holding the command key, use tab/shift-tab to select an application. You can release the command key to activate that application, or press Q to quit it right from the Switcher. Since the Switcher stays open, you can quit a lot of applications at once in the process.

It wouldn't affect most people, but it bears mentioning that in all versions of Mac OS X prior to Leopard, the shortcut uses the Q key even for people using non-QWERTY layouts. For me on Dvorak, that's the apostrophe key instead. They finally fixed that bug, happily.
 
eleven7 said:
Anyway, looks like I'm alone on this one so I'll just have to get used to it :)
Click to expand...

You're not alone. I was a Windows user until 2003 when I switched to OS X (Jaguar!) and this is one of the things that still annoys me a bit to this day. I've gotten used to either cleaning up after the icons, or ignoring the ones that I know aren't taking up too many resources (like Xee, my favourite picture viewer).

One habit that changed when I switched to my Mac laptop is that I never power down anymore. I just close the lid and let it sleep, and it resumes where I left off. I rarely even reboot anymore. This at least lends some continuity to what's running on my dock, as the apps stay there for days or weeks at a time.
 
r.j.s said:
If the application has only one window (ala iPhoto or System Preferences) it will quit when that window is closed, because the app can no longer function without that window open.
Click to expand...

The application can function perfectly happily with no windows open, in fact leaving the application running makes it easier to create a new blank document as well as quicker when opening another document in the same application (some complex applications can be annoyingly slow to open).
 
Buzz Bumble said:
The application can function perfectly happily with no windows open, in fact leaving the application running makes it easier to create a new blank document as well as quicker when opening another document in the same application (some complex applications can be annoyingly slow to open).
Click to expand...

I think you misunderstood me.

I agree with you, but was trying to clarify someone else's point.
 
Buzz Bumble said:
The application can function perfectly happily with no windows open, in fact leaving the application running makes it easier to create a new blank document as well as quicker when opening another document in the same application (some complex applications can be annoyingly slow to open).
Click to expand...

iPhoto and System Preferences are not document-based applications.
 
Gregg2 said:
Does that go by some other name as well? I'm looking for it in a Leopard manual, and can't seem to find it.
Click to expand...

"Application Switcher" I think is the proper name, so it would come under "A" rather than "S" in the index of the manual ... not that there actually is a Leopard Manual (Apple seems to have stopped including manuals with any hardware or software :(), but maybe you mean the Help function or a third-party book.
 
Yes, third-party. I was just curious (and should have seen the full name in the post quoted). It's not under 'A' either. Strange that such a useful function is not mentioned in a manual intended for beginners.
 
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