Macos Can Not Launch Any Apps

There’s a frustrating issue with macOS, where the app you’re using stops working and spits out an error message saying it isn’t open anymore. This mostly happens with Preview, but it can affect any app on your Mac, including Finder, Safari, the App Store, and others.

  1. Macos Cannot Launch Any Apps On Iphone
  2. Macos Can Not Launch Any Apps 2017

Aug 01, 2011  If relaunching alone hasn’t fixed LaunchPad and apps are still not showing up, try deleting Launchpads database files located inside your home /Library directory, which forces them to rebuild. The directory path you are looking for is: /Library/Application Support/Dock/.

When this error occurs, the app you’re using becomes unresponsive and the following alert pops up:

Despite the error message, your app still appears as though it’s open. There may be a dot beneath it in the Dock or it may still have open windows. But you’re unable to use it. With Preview, that means you can’t open PDFs, screenshots, or other images anymore!

This article explains how to fix this error and get your apps working again. We’ve even gone so far as explaining how to fully reinstall macOS, in case this issue keeps cropping up again and again.

Contents

  • 1 Quick Tips
  • 2 Step 1. Force Quit Preview
  • 3 Step 2. Reboot your Mac
  • 4 Step 3. Remove your Preview preferences
  • 5 Step 4. Update or reinstall macOS

Quick Tips

Here are the basic steps to fix Preview when macOS tells you it’s not open anymore, we’ve explained each step more fully in the article below:

  1. Force Quit Preview using command+option+escape.
  2. Reboot your Mac, using a hard reboot if necessary.
  3. Remove your Preview preferences from the Library.
  4. Update and then reinstall macOS using Recovery Mode.

Related:

Step 1. Force Quit Preview

The first thing to try and do — although it doesn’t always work for this error — is to close the unresponsive app. Despite the error message telling you Preview “is not open anymore,” it usually is. But it has frozen and needs to be reopened.

There are two ways to Force Quit an app in macOS: using the Force Quit window or using Activity Monitor. If either of these methods works, make sure you reboot your Mac before opening Preview again.

How do I close Preview using the Force Quit window?

  1. Press the command+option+escape keys to open the Force Quit window.
  2. If the escape key on your Touch Bar is unresponsive, go to  > Force Quit from the menu bar.
  3. Select Preview from the list of applications.
  4. Click Force Quit, then reboot your Mac.

How do I close Preview using Activity Monitor?

  1. Open the Activity Monitor application in one of these ways:
    1. Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities.
    2. Or go to Launchpad > Other.
  2. Select the CPU tab, then click ‘Process Name’ to sort the processes.
  3. Find and select Preview in the list of processes.
  4. Click the stop sign button in the top-left of Activity Monitor.
  5. Choose Force Quit, then reboot your Mac.

Step 2. Reboot your Mac

Not

If it’s not possible to close Preview using Force Quit or Activity Monitor, you can close it by rebooting your Mac instead. This forces any apps that macOS says are not open to restart, bypassing the error message.

The safest way to reboot your Mac is using a soft reboot, but that may not be possible if the unresponsive app cannot close. If that’s the case, you have no choice but to use a hard reboot. We’ve explained both reboots below.

How do I soft reboot my Mac?

  1. From the menu bar, go to  > Shut Down.
  2. Uncheck the box to reopen windows when logging back in.
  3. Confirm you want to Shut Down.
  4. Wait at least 30 seconds for your Mac to power off.
  5. Briefly press the power button to turn your Mac on again.

How do I hard reboot my Mac?

  1. Performing a hard reboot may result in lost data or corrupt files. If possible, save your documents and back up your Mac first.
  2. Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds or so until the screen goes black.
  3. Wait 30 seconds, then briefly press the power button again to restart your Mac
  4. In the alert window that appears, click Cancel to avoid reopening any apps.

Step 3. Remove your Preview preferences

If you still get the same error message — ‘The application “Preview.app” is not open anymore’ — you may need to remove some of your preference files.

These are small files that macOS automatically creates to store your settings for each application. You can usually remove them without losing any data or causing problems, but we recommend you back up your Mac first just in case.

Follow each of the suggestions below, testing Preview again after each one.

We advise you to move the preference files to a new folder on your Desktop for safekeeping, that way you can always put them back if something goes wrong. If this works and your issue is fixed, go ahead and delete those preference files.

How do I remove my Preview preferences?

  1. Open Finder, then from the menu bar select Go > Go to Folder.
  2. Type the following location and click Go:
    ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Preview.plist
  3. Move the highlighted preferences file to your Desktop for safekeeping.
  4. Reboot your Mac and test Preview again.
  5. If the error persists, repeat the steps above for each of the following files:
    1. ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview
    2. ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.quicklook.ui.helper
    3. ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Preview.LSSharedFileList.plist
    4. ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Preview.SandboxedPersistentURLs.LSSharedFileList.plist
    5. ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.apple.Preview.savedState

Step 4. Update or reinstall macOS

Hopefully, that’s all you need to resolve the ‘“Preview.app” is not open anymore’ errors. But if you’re still experiencing problems, there might be a bug in your operating software. You can fix this by updating or reinstalling macOS.

We suggest you update your Mac to the latest version of macOS first. Apple frequently releases patch updates to fix bugs like this, but you can’t benefit from them if you don’t keep your machine up-to-date.

If you’re already running the latest version of macOS or if an update doesn’t solve anything, you need to reinstall macOS using Recovery Mode. This shouldn’t affect your data — although we recommend you back up your Mac first anyway.

Reinstalling macOS rewrites every line of code in the operating software on your Mac.

How do I update to the latest release of macOS?

  1. Connect your Mac to a working Internet connection.
  2. Go to System Preferences > Software Update to check for new updates.
  3. Download and install any updates your Mac finds.

How do I reinstall macOS?

  1. If you haven’t already, make a new backup using Time Machine.
  2. Use the following instructions to boot your Mac into Recovery Mode:
    1. Go to  > Shut Down and confirm you want to Shut Down you Mac.
    2. Wait 30 seconds for your Mac to fully power off.
    3. Briefly press the power button, then immediately hold command+R.
  3. When the Recovery Mode screen appears, click Reinstall macOS.
  4. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the macOS reinstallation.

Fingers cross, that’s the last of the ‘“Preview.app” is not open anymore’ messages. Check out this post if you need more help with crashing apps on your Mac.

And let us know in the comments if you found these suggestions helpful!

Dan is a freelance writer based in South West England.

He spent two years supervising repairs as a Genius Admin for Apple Retail and uses that knowledge to keep our troubleshooting guides up to date.

Long before that, Dan turned to Apple products from a musical background. Having owned iPods for years, he bought a MacBook to learn sound recording and production. It was using those skills that he gained a first-class Bachelor of Science in Sound Technology.

Mac os macro

Related Posts:

Over the years, Apple has put its vast resources into making it's operating systems more secure for end-users. In macOS Catalina, the company has taken this to all-new levels by introducing beneficial security changes that make it even harder for miscreants to play havoc with our computers. However, because security is a tricky business, so-called improvements for some might not work for others. Specifically, Apple's decision to make Gatekeeper even more difficult crack is a significant step forward for everyday Mac users. For developers, perhaps not so much. Luckily, there's a workaround.

Warning: This terminal trick disables important security aspects of Gatekeeper, which leaves your Mac vulnerable to malware. We highly recommend you reinable the default security settings if you chose to follow this guide at your own risk.

What is Gatekeeper?

Gatekeeper has been an essential part of macOS for years. As its name suggests, the tool has been designed to check recently downloaded apps for known malware and sends it to quarantine. In his June article, The Great Mac Balancing Act, Rene Ritchie explains:

Currently, when you download an app, whether it's off the Store or the Web or even from AirDrop, that app is quarantined. If and when you try to open a quarantined app, Gatekeeper checks it for known malware, validates the developer signature to make sure it hasn't been tampered with, makes sure it's allowed to run, for example matches your settings for App Store apps and/or known developer apps, and then double checks with you that you really want to run the app for the first time, that it's not trying to pull a fast one and autorun itself.

Until now, Gatekeeper didn't take the same approach with apps launched via Terminal. It also didn't check non-quarantined apps and files for malware. In other words, it checked an app only once for malware.

Can recursively resize/compress files in given folder and sub-folders. New in V.3 Support RAW formats of most cameras. Super fast and high quality compression. Bulk compress images mac. New in V.3 Filter based on Image Size. Preserves image Metadata (EXIF Tags).

Significant changes have arrived with macOS Catalina.

Now, apps started through Terminal are also checked. These files get the same malware scan, signature check, and local security policy check. The difference: even on the first run, you only need to explicitly approve software launched in bundles, like a standard Mac app bundle, not for standalone executables or libraries.

With macOS Catalina, perhaps more significantly, Gatekeeper will also check non-quarantined apps and files for problems. Not just once or twice, but every time you run it. When your Mac detects a problem, it blocks the file, then sends you an alert.

If all this sounds fantastic to you, terrific. That's undoubtedly Apple's intent. However, some developers might view this differently and find the changes cumbersome, at best.

A Workaround

Even though Gatekeeper in macOS is now stricter than ever, there is a way around it -- including macOS Catalina's newest tools. The workaround makes it possible to download and use apps downloaded from anywhere on macOS Catalina and earlier versions without a check.

First published in 2016 by OSX Daily, but still valid, the 'fix' works like this:

  1. Be sure to exit System Preferences on your Mac.
  2. On Finder, click Go.
  3. Select Utilities.

  4. Double-click Terminal.

  5. Type of the following command syntax: sudo spctl --master-disable .
  6. Hit Return
  7. Authenticate with an admin password.
  8. Hit Return.
  9. Exit Terminal.

Changing your settings

Now, it's time to allow your Mac to open any app.

  1. Click on System Preferences on your Mac Dock.
  2. Choose Security & Privacy.

  3. Tap the lock at the bottom left of the screen.

  4. Enter your password to unlock Security and Privacy.
  5. Choose the Anywhere under Allow apps downloaded from. Prior to making the change, this option wasn't available.

  6. Click the unlocked lock to keep the change.

With this change, Gatekeeper no longer monitors your computer for malware coming from apps and files.

Restoring to the original setting

Macos Cannot Launch Any Apps On Iphone

If you'd like to return to the default Gatekeeper settings, perform these steps:

  1. Be sure to exit System Preferences on your Mac.
  2. On Finder, click Go.
  3. Select Utilities.

  4. Double-click Terminal.

  5. Type of the following command syntax: sudo spctl --master-enable .
  6. Hit Return
  7. Authenticate with an admin password.
  8. Hit Return.
  9. Exit Terminal.

View the change

To confirm your Mac has returned to the default settings:

  1. Click on System Preferences on your Mac Dock.
  2. Choose Security & Privacy.

Under Allow apps downloaded from, notice the select is now App Store and identified developers.

Should you make this switch?

For nearly every Mac user, there's no reason to make the listed change under Security & Privacy on macOS Catalina. It should only be performed if you can quickly determine whether apps are legitimate or not. Keep this in mind.

Questions?

If you have any questions or concerns about Gatekeeper or the rest of the macOS Catalina update, let us know in the comments below.

macOS Catalina

Main

We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.

power balance

New EU regulations target App Store, empowering developers

Macos Can Not Launch Any Apps 2017

The EU has introduced new regulations and measures to help protect developers and publishers who deal with storefronts like the App Store.