The fastest way to close a window on a Mac
Close any window by clicking the red circle in the top-left corner of that window. The red circle appears next to a yellow circle and a green circle in the title bar — the colored bar at the very top of the window. Click the red one and the window closes.
You can also close the active window (the one you are currently using) by pressing Command + W on your keyboard. This is faster if your hands are already on the keys. If you want to close all windows in an application at once, press Command + Q instead — this closes the entire application, not just one window.
A third option is to right-click or two-finger tap on the application's icon in the Dock (the row of icons at the bottom of your screen) and select "Quit" from the menu that appears. This closes the application and all its open windows.
Key Takeaways
- Click the red circle button in the top-left corner of any window to close it without closing the entire application.
- Press Command + W to close the current window using your keyboard instead of clicking.
- Press Command + Q to close the entire application and all its windows at once.
- If a window has unsaved changes, macOS will ask you to save before closing — click "Don't Save" or "Save" depending on what you want to do.
- The yellow circle minimizes a window (hides it but keeps the application running), and the green circle maximizes it to fill your screen.
What the three buttons in the title bar do
Every window on a Mac has three colored circles in its title bar. The red circle closes the window. The yellow circle minimizes the window — it disappears from your screen but the application stays open, and you can click the application's Dock icon to bring it back. The green circle maximizes the window to fill your screen, or if it is already maximized, returns it to its previous size.
These buttons are always in the same order from left to right: red, yellow, green. If you hover your cursor over them without clicking, each button shows a symbol that hints at what it does — a close symbol on the red one, a minus sign on the yellow one, and a plus or expand symbol on the green one.
When macOS asks you to save before closing
If you close a window that has unsaved changes — text you typed but did not save, edits you made to a document — macOS shows a dialog box asking whether you want to save those changes. You have three choices: "Save" (saves the file and closes the window), "Don't Save" (closes the window without saving), or "Cancel" (keeps the window open so you can keep working).
If you are not sure whether you want to keep your changes, click "Cancel" to go back to the window. You can then decide whether to save manually using Command + S, or close without saving if you change your mind.
Closing a frozen or unresponsive window
If a window is frozen and the red close button does not work, try pressing Command + Option + Esc. This opens the "Force Quit Applications" window, which shows all open applications. Select the frozen application from the list and click "Force Quit" to close it and all its windows immediately.
Force quitting closes the application without saving, so you will lose any unsaved work in that application. Use it only when a window or application stops responding to clicks and keyboard commands. After force quitting, you can reopen the application normally.
Closing windows in full-screen mode
When an application is in full-screen mode (taking up your entire screen), the title bar is hidden. Move your cursor to the very top of the screen and the title bar appears temporarily, showing the three colored buttons. Click the red button to exit full-screen mode and close the window, or press Control + Command + F to exit full-screen without closing the window.
If you want to close the window but stay in full-screen mode with another application, move to the top of the screen to reveal the title bar, then click the red button. The screen will show whatever application or desktop was behind the full-screen window.
Using keyboard shortcuts to manage multiple windows
If you have many windows open in one application, you can cycle through them using Command + Backtick (the backtick is the key to the left of the number 1 on most keyboards). Each time you press it, the next window in that application comes to the front. When you find the window you want to close, press Command + W to close it.
You can also see all open windows in the current application by pressing Mission Control (usually F3 on your keyboard, though this varies by Mac model) or by swiping up with four fingers on your trackpad. Click the window you want to close, then press Command + W to close it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between closing a window and quitting an application?
Closing a window hides that one window but leaves the application running. You can still open new windows in that application or access it from the Dock. Quitting an application closes all its windows and stops the application from running. To quit, press Command + Q or right-click the Dock icon and select "Quit".
Why does my Mac ask me to save when I close a window?
macOS detects when you have made changes to a document that you have not saved to disk. Before closing, it asks whether you want to keep those changes. Click "Save" to save the file, "Don't Save" to discard the changes, or "Cancel" to go back to the window and keep working.
Can I close a window without saving and get the changes back later?
No. If you click "Don't Save" when closing a window, the changes are deleted permanently. If you think you might want them later, click "Save" instead and save the file with a new name, or click "Cancel" to go back and save manually before closing.
What should I do if the close button is not visible?
If the window is in full-screen mode, move your cursor to the very top of the screen to reveal the title bar and the close button. If the window is behind other windows, click on it first to bring it to the front, then click the red button. If the window is truly frozen, use Command + Option + Esc to force quit the application.