Apps on Mac are closing quietly in the background

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Apps on Mac are closing quietly in the background

I've searched through the forums and cannot find anyone with similar experiences and was wondering if anyone can help troubleshoot.

For a few days now, when working, apps that are not active are closing quietly in the background.

For example, I might start the day by checking emails, using Mac and Microsoft Outlook. I might then open a Word document and be working in that, and while that's active and in full screen, Mail and Outlook will close. There won't be a warning or error message, and they re-open without issue, but they will simply... close, if they're not being used, and often within minutes of switching to another application.

Applications that this has happened with so far are:

Apple Mail, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, Apple preview.

It reproduces after a restart.

Any suggestions welcome!

iMac 24″, macOS 15.3

Posted on Apr 23, 2025 1:19 PM

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Answer 1

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D.I. Johnson

Level 7

32,789 points

Apr 23, 2025 1:52 PM in response to UK_Josh

I don't know about Mail and the MS apps, but I do know that if you move focus from the Preview app and it has no images open, then it will quietly quit. It's a feature.

I've never experienced that with Mail.

I haven't used an MS app since... forever, so I don't know what those apps do these days.

You might restart your Mac in safe mode and see if the problem still happens.

How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support

Safe mode will often correct weird software behavior by forcing the OS to clear caches, do disk repair and other housekeeping and temporarily disables third-party mods.

Does the same thing happen while in Safe mode?

You can exit safe mode by restarting your Mac normally, then reevaluate the problem.

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