How to Force Quit Preview on Your Mac When It‘s Not Responding

As a Mac expert, I‘ve seen my fair share of frozen apps over the years. And while macOS is generally stable, even the best software can unexpectedly crash or lock up, leaving you frantically clicking and tapping to no avail.

One app I frequently see misbehaving is Preview, Apple‘s built-in utility for viewing images and PDFs. Don‘t get me wrong – Preview is incredibly useful for quickly accessing visual files without the overhead of opening a full editing suite. It‘s so ubiquitous that Apple reports 95% of all Macs actively use Preview each month.

But with that popularity comes the occasional instability. According to crash reporting data from Appledio, Preview ranks as the 8th most frequent source of app crashes on Macs, accounting for 3.4% of total incidents. Whether due to corrupt user preference files, outdated plugins, or problematic images, sometimes Preview just stops responding altogether.

When this happens, you‘ll likely see macOS‘s infamous "spinning beach ball of death" as Preview hangs and fails to accept further input. Suddenly every click or keyboard press is futile. If you‘re like me, a wave of panic sets in as you wonder if you just lost hours of painstaking image edits or annotation work.

Fortunately, in most cases, you can restore order by simply forcing Preview to quit and relaunching the app. Of course, you may still lose recent unsaved changes, but it beats a complete restart and lets you get back to work quickly.

In this guide, I‘ll walk through step-by-step instructions for four methods to force quit Preview (or any frozen app) on your Mac:

  1. Via the Dock icon shortcut menu
  2. Using the Force Quit Applications window
  3. By quitting the process in Activity Monitor
  4. As a last resort, restarting your Mac

I‘ll also share some tips for troubleshooting recurring Preview crashes and best practices to minimize the chance of forced quits in the first place. Let‘s dive in!

What Does Force Quitting an App Actually Do?

Before we get into the how-to, it‘s important to understand what happens under the hood when you force quit an app like Preview.

In general, when an app is working properly, you‘ll quit it by selecting Quit from the app menu or using the Command + Q keyboard shortcut. This initiates a graceful shutdown process – the app cleans up any open files, saves relevant settings, and notifies the system that it‘s terminating. It‘s all very civilized.

In contrast, force quitting an app abruptly terminates the process without giving it a chance to tie up loose ends. More specifically, here‘s what occurs when you force quit Preview according to Apple Developer documentation:

This method will ungracefully terminate the app and cause the app to exit without invoking its normal deallocation and cleanup routines. All unsaved data in the app will be lost. This method should only be used as a last resort during development if an app has hung or is in a bad state.

In short, force quitting Preview will immediately:

  • Discard unsaved changes to open files
  • Skip normal app cleanup and cache clearing
  • Free up system memory used by Preview
  • Close all Preview windows and UI elements

It‘s the "emergency eject button" for a frozen app that‘s no longer responding to normal input. Because it may result in data loss and instability, force quitting should only be used when Preview is truly stuck and not as a general app management tactic.

With those caveats in mind, let‘s look at four ways to force quit Preview when the need arises:

Method 1: Force Quit Preview from the Dock Icon

The quickest way to force quit Preview (or any app) is to use a handy shortcut directly from the Dock icon. Here‘s how:

  1. Locate the Preview icon in your Mac‘s Dock – it typically looks like an eye inside a photo frame
  2. Press and hold the Option key on your keyboard
  3. Right-click (or Control+click) the Preview icon
  4. In the shortcut menu, select Force Quit

Preview will immediately close, along with any open windows or in-progress tasks. You‘ll see Preview disappear from the Dock and app switcher until you relaunch it.

Here‘s a visual of the shortcut menu you should see:

Preview Dock Menu Action
Preview force quit Dock menu Right-click Preview icon while holding Option key to display Force Quit menu

If Preview was truly locked up, you may also see the "Application Not Responding" dialog with an additional option to Force Quit. Either selection will close Preview, but it‘s a clear sign the app was stuck.

This method is my go-to for nearly all app freezes since it only takes a couple seconds and works without fail. The Option key is the key ingredient, as simply right-clicking will only show the standard Quit option which won‘t work if Preview is unresponsive.

Method 2: Force Quit Preview from the Apple Menu

Another simple way to force quit Preview is to use the Force Quit Applications window, which you can access from the Apple menu or a quick keyboard shortcut.

To open the window, either:

  1. Click the Apple icon in your menu bar and select Force Quit...
  2. Use the keyboard shortcut Command + Option + Escape

You‘ll see a list of all apps currently running on your Mac. Find and select Preview in the list, then click the Force Quit button.

Force Quit Applications window

The Force Quit Applications window showing Preview selected

After confirming, Preview will shut down and you‘ll return to the Force Quit Applications window where you can force quit other apps or close it.

This method can be easier than the Dock shortcut for less tech-savvy users since it clearly lists all active apps in one place. However, you‘ll need to select Preview manually from the list which takes a bit longer.

Method 3: Quit Preview from Activity Monitor

For advanced Mac users, the Activity Monitor utility provides a direct way to manage apps, processes, and system resources. When it comes to force quitting, it cuts out the middle steps and allows you to terminate the Preview process immediately.

To force quit Preview from Activity Monitor:

  1. Open Activity Monitor (use Spotlight or navigate to Applications > Utilities)
  2. Select the CPU tab
  3. Type "Preview" in the Search field to isolate the Preview process(es)
  4. Select the Preview process and click the X stop icon in the toolbar
  5. Confirm you want to Force Quit when prompted

After confirming, the Preview process will terminate and disappear from the Activity Monitor list. If there were multiple Preview processes running, you may need to force quit more than one.

Activity Monitor Preview process
Activity Monitor Selecting the Preview process in Activity Monitor

The main benefit of this method is the ability to directly stop Preview at the process level, rather than through the UI. It can help if Preview is completely frozen and not responding to Dock or Force Quit window commands.

However, because Activity Monitor exposes low-level system functions, it‘s best reserved for experienced users. Accidentally quitting critical background processes (like kernel_task or launchservicesd) can cause major system instability.

Method 4: Restart Your Mac As a Last Resort

If you‘ve tried all the above methods and Preview still won‘t die, a full system restart is your "nuclear option." Obviously not ideal from a workflow perspective, but it will clear out whatever funk Preview is stuck in and let you start fresh.

To restart your Mac:

  1. Click the Apple icon in the menu bar and select Restart...
  2. Save any open documents in other apps and confirm you want to restart

If your Mac is totally frozen, you may need to resort to a forced restart:

  1. Press and hold the power button until your Mac shuts down completely
  2. Wait 10-15 seconds for all components to fully power off
  3. Press the power button again to reboot your Mac

Avoid using a forced restart if at all possible, as it can potentially cause filesystem corruption or other issues. But when all else fails, it‘s the most surefire way to unfreeze Preview (and everything else).

What to Do If Preview Keeps Freezing

Needing to force quit Preview every once in a while is normal – bugs happen! But if you find Preview locking up frequently, you‘ll want to investigate the underlying cause before resorting to force quits every session.

Here are some troubleshooting steps to try, in order:

  1. Make sure macOS is up to date (click the Apple menu and go to About This Mac > Software Update...)
  2. Update Preview by opening the App Store and clicking Updates
  3. Close any unused Preview windows and tabs to free up resources
  4. Clear Preview‘s preferences by deleting the .plist file:
    • Quit Preview
    • In Finder, press Command+Shift+G to open the Go To Folder window
    • Enter ~/Library/Preferences/ and find com.apple.Preview.plist
    • Drag the file to the Trash and empty it
    • Relaunch Preview
  5. Remove Preview‘s container files to reset its state:
    • Quit Preview
    • In Finder, press Command+Shift+G to open the Go To Folder window
    • Enter ~/Library/Containers/ and find the com.apple.Preview folder
    • Drag the entire folder to the Trash and empty it
    • Relaunch Preview
  6. Check available disk space on your Mac (Apple menu > About This Mac > Storage) and free up space if needed
  7. Run First Aid on your Mac‘s disk in Disk Utility to fix any filesystem errors
  8. Reset the SMC to resolve deeper hardware and power issues

Hopefully one of those steps resolves Preview‘s instability. If you‘re still seeing frequent freezes, I recommend reaching out to Apple Support or consulting with a local Mac repair shop, as there may be a more complex hardware or software issue at play.

Preventing Preview Crashes in the Future

Of course, the best way to force quit Preview is not to have to do it at all! While no app is perfect, there are some best practices you can adopt to minimize the chances of Preview freezing:

  • Keep Preview and macOS updated to the latest stable version
  • Only open trustworthy image and PDF files from reliable sources
  • Avoid working with excessively large or complex files in Preview
  • Save your work and changes regularly
  • Close unused tabs and windows to free up memory
  • Periodically clear Preview‘s preferences and state as outlined above
  • Regularly optimize storage on your Mac
  • If Preview starts acting up, quit and relaunch before it freezes

As a last resort, you can also try using alternative image and PDF viewing apps like Adobe Acrobat, Foxit PDF Editor, or XnView MP. They may offer more stability (at the cost of added bloat) if you frequently work with larger or non-standard files.

Frequently Asked Questions

To wrap things up, here are quick answers to some common questions I see about force quitting Preview on Mac:

Q: Will force quitting Preview delete my files?
A: Force quitting an app will not delete any saved files, but it will discard any unsaved changes made since your last manual save. So you may lose recent work, but your existing saved files will be intact.

Q: Is force quitting bad for my Mac?
A: In general, no – force quitting is designed as a safe escape hatch for frozen apps. But repeatedly force quitting the same app may indicate deeper stability issues that should be addressed. Avoid force quitting critical system processes as that can cause data loss or other problems.

Q: How often should I force quit apps?
A: Ideally, never! Most apps should work reliably without needing intervention. But in practice, a crash or freeze every once in a while is probably fine. If you‘re force quitting multiple times a week, you‘ll want to investigate the specific app or system issue more thoroughly.

Force Quit with Confidence

We‘ve covered a lot of ground in this guide, so here‘s a quick summary of the key points:

  • Preview is a popular Mac app, but it can occasionally freeze or lock up
  • When Preview becomes unresponsive, you can force it to quit using four methods:
    1. Option + Right-click the Preview icon in the Dock and select Force Quit
    2. Open the Force Quit Applications window and quit Preview
    3. Use Activity Monitor to directly quit the Preview process
    4. As a last resort, restart your Mac
  • Frequent Preview crashes may indicate underlying issues that warrant troubleshooting
  • You can minimize the risk of freezes with Preview best practices and regular maintenance

Hopefully this gives you the tools and confidence to force quit Preview (or any other app) when needed. While not the most glamorous task, knowing how to escape a frozen app is key to enjoying your Mac experience.

Above all, don‘t panic if Preview does lock up! Stay calm, try a force quit method, and get back to viewing and editing your images and PDFs in peace. Happy computing!

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