How To Add a Menu Shortcut To Shutdown MacOS Finder.
The Finder section on a macOS computer is directly comparable to File Explorer on Windows. This is where your files are stored, including your operating system files. So, being an integral part of the computer, it can be quite annoying when the Finder shuts down at one of its troubling moments.
If the command doesn’t work or the Finder just crashes, the quickest way to fix the problem is to exit Finder and restart it. The most common way to do this is to open a Terminal window and type:
killall Finder
Then hit return. The problem, however, is that when the Finder exits, it automatically restarts , as if you alternatively force-close the Finder with the Command + Option + Esc keyboard shortcut.
For whatever reason, you might want the Finder to shut down without restarting. For example, if you try to shut down your computer, it must first close all open programs. I’ve had cases in the past where the Finder would refuse to shut down and therefore the computer could not shut down normally.
You can quickly and easily close Finder and prevent it from restarting by adding an Exit Finder option to the Finder menu. This menu item is already there, but is hidden by default.
So, by doing the following, all you are really doing is expose the option and activate it. Then, if the Finder subsequently crashes and causes you grief, just hit the exit button and shut down Finder until you finally need to use it again.
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To unmask and activate the Quit Finder option, open Terminal and enter the following:
by default we write com.apple.finder QuitMenuItem -bool YES
Then press the enter / return key. Then, to reset Finder, type:
killall Finder
And press enter / return. Note that you must type in Finder with a capital F, not an f. Otherwise, nothing will work.
Now if you check the Finder menu, you’ll see an Exit option at the bottom along with its keyboard shortcut (Command + Q).
Usually, when the Finder (or any other program for that matter) is running, there is a small dot next to it.
After you click the “Exit Finder” menu option, that little dot will disappear and all Finder windows will close.
To reopen Finder, you just need to click the Finder icon in the Dock. Sometimes a second click is required.
And if, for any reason, you later want to remove the Exit Finder option from the Finder menu, simply repeat the Terminal command, but replace YES at the end with NO instead.
by default we write com.apple.finder QuitMenuItem -bool NO
It’s one of those little things that look like minor and unimportant, but you quickly realize it’s valuable when your Mac starts to crash.
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