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Quickly Close all Open Applications at Once on Your Mac

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Last night as I concluded my work day, I found myself closing at least eighteen windows. I typically have multiple applications and windows open at once and switch back and forth among windows fairly often throughout the day. As I was closing my umpteenth, I asked myself “Why am I doing all this? There has to be an easier way.”

Given that I am proponent of automating my tasks as much as possible, I launched Keyboard Maestro (my go-to automation app) and created a macro to exit all open applications and windows with a simple keyboard shortcut. If you don’t have Keyboard Maestro, you can accomplish the same thing using Apple’s Automator application.

Quick Guide: Close all Applications At Once Using Keyboard Maestro

  1. Launch Keyboard Maestro.
  2. Select File ➪ New Macro from the menu
    Or
    Press ⌘ + N
  3. Type a name for your new macro.
    Keyboard maestro enter macro name
  4. Click the plus symbol next to New Trigger and choose Hot Key Trigger from the list.
    Keyboard maestro click hot key trigger
  5. Type the keyboard shortcut you want to use. I used ⌥ + ⌘ + Q

That’s it! Now every time you type in the keyboard shortcut, all windows and applications will close. Now on to Automator….

Quick Guide: Close all Applications at Once Using Automator

  1. Launch Automator.
  2. Select File ➪ New from the menu
    Or
    Press ⌘ + N
  3. Click the Application icon and then click Choose.
    Automator click application icon 
  4. Type: Quit in the Search box and then double-click Quit All Applications.
    Automator type Quite and then double quit all applications 
  5. Ensure that the checkbox next to Ask to save changes is checked.
  6. Select File ➪ Save from the menu and save the application in the desired location (this is typically your Applications folder). You might want to add the icon to your Dock for quick access.

Assign the Spotify or Rdio Play/Pause Action to a Keyboard Shortcut using Automator

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Awhile ago, I posted about how you can assign the Spotify Play/Pause Action to a Keyboard Shortcut using Keyboard Maestro if you are using a keyboard with no pause/play buttons. I received an email asking me of there’s any way to accomplish this without spending the money for Keyboard Maestro. The answer: Yes, there is. You can accomplish the same thing using Apple’s built in Automator app, although it requires a few more steps, as outlined below. I’m guessing that the same process would work with the Rdio app as well.

Quick Guide: Assign Spotify Play/Pause Action to a Keyboard Shortcut using Automator

  1. Launch the Automator Application.
  2. Select File ➪ New from the menu.
  3. Click Service from the menu and then click Choose. Automator service menu option
  4. Click in the Search box in the center column and type: Run Applescript. Automator search run applescript
  5. Drag the Run Applescript item in the main window area. Automator drag run applescript item to main window
  6. Click the Service receives drop-down list and choose no input. Automator select no input option
  7. In the Run Applescript window, replace the line which reads (* Your script goes here *) with: tell application “Spotify” to playpause Automator run applescript screenshot 
  8. Select File ➪ Save from the menu and type in a name for your new service.
  9. Now select  > System Preferences from the Finder menu.
  10. Click the Keyboard icon.
  11. Click the Shortcuts tab on top of the screen.
  12. Click Services in the left pane. Services option in the Keyboard Preference pane
  13. In the scroll all the way down to the General area and find the Spotify service that you created. Find your Spotify service screenshot
  14. Click the Add Shortcut button to the right of the Service name and press the shortcut you want to use (Try something like: ⌃⌥P).
  15. You can test your shortcut by choosing System Preferences ➪ Services ➪ and then click the name of your Service.
  16. That’s it! Now whenever you tap the shortcut key you specified, Spotify will pause or play.

To create an action to skip to the next song (rather than pause), the process is the same as above except in the Run AppleScript window, type the following:

tell application “Spotify” to next track

Getting Started with Automator

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Automator is an application that comes bundled with your computer and helps you automate many common tasks on your Mac. With Automator, you create workflows, which are a series of actions that enable you to perform a task. For instance, you can create a workflow to create a new e-mail message and automatically include a selected file as an attachment or you can easily create an e-mail message to a specific group of recipients that includes all important tasks from Calendar (the free calendar program included with OS X). You can use Automator to create workflows for any task that you perform often so you don’t have to go through all of the menus, buttons and windows. This can be a real time saver! You can even record your keystrokes and create workflows from them.

Automator

The Library list displays all of the applications that contain actions from which you can create workflows. The Action list displays all of the available Automator actions for the selected Library item and displays a description of the action in the Description pane below. The Workflow pane to the right is where you drag your actions from the Action list to form Workflows. A Workflow is an action or a series of actions that will perform a specific task. Automator is an extremely useful addition to Mac’s program offerings and can save you a lot of time. You may wish to spend some time working with Automator. At the time of this writing, the Web site http://www.automatorworld.com has many sample workflows that you can download and play with.

To Create a Workflow with Automator

  1. Double-click the Automator icon in Applications Folder
  2. In the Library list, select the application for which you want to create a workflow.
  3. Select the action in the Action list that you want to add to the workflow.
  4. Drag the action to the Workflow pane
    Or
    Double-click the Action to add it to the Workflow pane.
  5. Click the Options arrow for additional action options.
  6. Repeat steps 2 – 5 for each additional action you wish Automator to carry out.
  7. To run the active Workflow, select Workflow > Run from the menu
    Or
    Press the ⌘ + R keystroke combination.

Tip: You can execute workflows from within the Automator application or save your workflows as an application by using the File > Save command and choosing Application from the File Format list. Workflows saved as application can be executed independently of Automator.

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