Task Manager on a Mac: how to open it

How do I open Activity Monitor?

Spotlight is the quickest way.

1. Press Command–Space bar to open Spotlight.
2. Type Activity Monitor.
3. Press Return.

Other ways to open it:

• From the Dock: click the Apps icon, type Activity Monitor, then click it.
• From the Finder: open Applications, then Utilities, and double-click Activity Monitor.

To keep it one click away, Control-click its icon in the Dock while it’s open, then choose Options > Keep in Dock. Activity Monitor can also show a live CPU graph in its Dock icon: choose View > Dock Icon, then choose the Show CPU option you want.

What does each tab in Activity Monitor show?

Activity Monitor lists every process running on your Mac. A process is a program at work: an app, a helper an app runs in the background, or a part of macOS. The tabs at the top of the window sort that list by what each process uses.

A Cache tab also appears when Content Caching is turned on in System Settings > General > Sharing. For the graphics processor, choose Window > GPU History.

Click a column heading to sort by it, and click it again to reverse the order. Activity Monitor counts each processor core as 100%, so an app working on several cores can pass 100%: on this 15-core MacBook Pro, Blender uses 978.6%. Which app is slowing down my Mac? explains how to read both lists.

How do I end a task on a Mac?

On a Mac, ending a task is called quitting. First try to quit the app the usual way: press Command-Q, or choose Quit from the app’s menu in the menu bar. That lets the app save changes before it closes.

If that doesn’t work, quit it from Activity Monitor:

1. Select the app or process in the list. One that isn’t responding shows “(Not Responding)” in red.
2. Click the Stop button at the top of the window.
3. Choose Quit. It’s the same as choosing File > Quit in the app, and it waits until quitting is safe.
4. Choose Force Quit only if Quit doesn’t work. It ends the process at once, so files it has open may lose data.

Apple warns that force quitting a process other apps rely on can cause problems for them. To see which processes belong to others, choose View > All Processes, Hierarchically.

What is the Ctrl-Alt-Delete of a Mac?

Option-Command-Esc. It opens the Force Quit Applications window, a short list of your open apps.

1. Press Option, Command and Esc together, or choose Apple menu > Force Quit.
2. Select the app that isn’t responding.
3. Click Force Quit.

You can also Control-click an app’s icon in the Dock and choose Force Quit. Any changes you haven’t saved in that app may be lost. The Finder is always open, so it has Relaunch instead: select Finder in the Force Quit window, then click Relaunch.

If an app won’t force quit, choose Apple menu > Restart. If your Mac won’t restart, press and hold the power button for up to 10 seconds until it turns off, then press it again to turn your Mac back on.

Windows shortcuts and their Mac equivalents

Questions people also ask

Is there a Ctrl-Shift-Esc on a Mac?

No single shortcut opens Activity Monitor. Press Command–Space bar, type its name and press Return, or keep it in the Dock. Option-Command-Esc opens the Force Quit window.

How do I see which apps open when my Mac starts up?

Choose Apple menu > System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions. The items in its list open each time you log in; select one and click the remove button below the list to stop it.

Why can’t I quit a process in Activity Monitor?

Quit waits until quitting is safe, and a process doesn’t quit if that could lose data or disturb another app. Some processes belong to macOS or another user, and Activity Monitor may ask for an administrator’s name and password before it quits them.

What does the spinning beachball mean on a Mac?

It’s macOS’s wait cursor, which Apple says appears when a delay of more than a few seconds occurs. If it stays over one app, quit or force quit that app with Option-Command-Esc. If it shows up across your apps, open Activity Monitor and look for a busy app, as in Why is my Mac suddenly slow?.

Is it safe to force quit an app?

Yes, for an app that isn’t responding, but anything you haven’t saved in it may be lost. Leave macOS’s own processes, such as kernel_task and WindowServer, alone: kernel_task and WindowServer explain what they do.