How to Relaunch Finder on a Mac

If Finder has frozen on your Mac, resulting in issues like the dock not magnifying or the Apple menu not dropping down, relaunching it will usually solve the issue. You can relaunch Finder by using keyboard shortcuts, the Apple menu, or your mouse and keyboard, depending on which one works.

Method 1
Method 1 of 3:
Keyboard Shortcuts

  1. Image titled Relaunch Finder on a Mac Step 1
    1
    Press ⌘ Command+⌥ Option+Esc. This will open "Force Quit".
  2. Image titled Relaunch Finder on a Mac Step 2
    2
    Navigate to and choose "Finder".
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  3. Image titled Relaunch Finder on a Mac Step 3
    3
    Click Relaunch. In a few seconds, the dock, icons, and Apple menu will disappear. It will then quickly reappear and reload everything.
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Method 2
Method 2 of 3:
Mouse

  1. Image titled Relaunch Finder on a Mac Step 4
    1
    Go to the Apple Menu. That is the Apple image on the top left.
  2. Image titled Relaunch Finder on a Mac Step 5
    2
    Go to "Force Quit".
  3. Image titled Relaunch Finder on a Mac Step 6
    3
    Choose "Finder" and click Relaunch.
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Method 3
Method 3 of 3:
Right-Click

  1. Image titled Relaunch Finder on a Mac Step 7
    1
    Locate the Finder icon on your dock.
  2. Image titled Relaunch Finder on a Mac Step 8
    2
    Hold the ⌥ Option key while right-clicking on the icon.
  3. Image titled Relaunch Finder on a Mac Step 9
    3
    Select Relaunch.
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Warnings

  • Only do this when Finder is still frozen. If it is not frozen, you risk losing data that might not be recovered.
    Thanks!
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About This Article

Tested by:
wikiHow Technology Team
wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 13 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 62,591 times.
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Co-authors: 13
Updated: January 22, 2019
Views: 62,591
Categories: Mac
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