Apps - Close in Windows 8

How to Close Modern Apps in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1​

   Information

You will notice that modern apps from the Store in Windows 8 do not have the traditional close button as desktop apps.

By default in Windows 8, when you leave a opened app by switching to another screen, Windows 8 will either suspend or send an app to the background depending if the app is designed to run in the background (ex: email app) or not. If not, the app gets suspended. When an app is supended, think of it as being placed in standby mode. The app will not use any system resources if suspended. A suspended app will still sit in memory (RAM) until that memory is needed by something else in Windows 8 and is then closed automatically to free the memory. While the app is sitting in memory, it will allow the app to be loaded faster the next time you open it since it's already in memory.

If you would still like to manually close the app, then tutorial will show you how to completely close modern apps in Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, and Windows 8.1 Update.

   Note

For more information about this, see also:

Improving power efficiency for applications - Building Windows 8 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

and

Reclaiming memory from Metro style apps - Building Windows 8 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

OPTION ONE

To Close Modern Apps from Switch List Bar

   Note

In Windows 8, this will completely close the app.

In Windows 8.1, this will only suspend the app.

In Windows 8.1 Update (April 8th 2014), this will only suspend the app.

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1. Open the Switch List bar, and do step 2 or 3 below.​

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2. Right click or press and hold on an open app in switcher that you would like to completely close, and click/tap on Close.​

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OR​

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3. Left click or press and hold on an open app in switcher that you would like to completely close, drag it to the right about half an inch until it snaps open to the left side of the display a bit, then drag the app to the bottom of the screen, wait 2 seconds until the app flips over to only show it's tile icon, and release.​

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OPTION TWO

To Completely Close a Modern App from within the App itself

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1. Do either step 2 or 3 below.​

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2. On a Non Touchscreen Display​

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A) Press the ALT + F4 keys.​

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OR​

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B) In Windows 8, Windows RT, or Windows 8.1, move the pointer to the top border of the screen in the app until the pointer turns into the hand icon. ​

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C) In Windows 8 or Windows RT, left click and hold, drag the hand pointer to the bottom of the screen until you see the app shrink and moves with animation down to the bottom of the screen, and release.​

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D) In Windows 8.1, left click and hold, drag the hand pointer to the bottom of the screen until you see the app shrink and moves with animation down to the bottom of the screen, wait 2 seconds until the app flips over to only show it's tile icon, and release.​

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OR​

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E) In Windows 8.1 Update (April 8th 2014), move the pointer to the top border of the screen in the app, left click and hold to see the app shrink, drag the shrunken app with animation down to the bottom of the screen, wait 2 seconds until the app flips over to only show it's tile icon, and release.​

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   Note

If you have Clicklock turned on in your mouse settings, then a modern app will not close by dragging it to the bottom with your mouse or touchpad.

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3. On a Touchscreen Display​

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A) Tap and hold on the top border of the screen in the app.​

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B) In Windows 8, drag the app to the bottom of the screen until you see the app shrink and moves with animation down to the bottom of the screen, and release.​

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C) In Windows 8.1, drag the app to the bottom of the screen until you see the app shrink and moves with animation down to the bottom of the screen, wait 2 seconds until the app flips over to only show it's tile icon, and release.​

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D) In Windows 8.1 Update (April 8th 2014), drag the shrunken app with animation down to the bottom of the screen, wait 2 seconds until the app flips over to only show it's tile icon, and release.​

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OPTION THREE

To Close a Modern App from App's Title Bar

   Note

The Windows 8.1 Update to be released on April 8th 2014 via Windows Update, will allow you to be able to also close an app from it's title bar now.

This option will only suspend the app, and not completely close it.

This will not work in previous versions of Windows 8 and 8.1. It will only work in Windows 8.1 Update when released.

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1. While the app is open, do step 2, 3, or 4 below for what you would like to do.​

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2. Press the Alt + Space keys, and either click/tap on Close or press the C key. (see screenshot below step 4)​

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OR​

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3. Move the pointer to the top edge of the app to have the app's title bar slide open, and click/tap on the X at the top right corner. (see screenshot below)​

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OR​

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4. Move the pointer to the top edge of the app to have the app's title bar slide open, click/tap on the app's icon at the top left corner, and click/tap on Close. (see screenshot below)​

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OPTION FOUR

To Close All Modern Apps at Once by Deleting App Switching History

   Note

When you delete the recent apps history, it will completely close all recently opened apps listed in the Switch List bar except PC settings, and remove them from memory.

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1. For how to to delete the recent app switching history for the "Switch List" bar, see:​

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How to Clear your App Switching List History in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1​

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OPTION FIVE

To Close Modern Apps in Task Manager

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1. Open Task Manger in "More details" view.​

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2. Click/tap on the Processes tab, click/tap on the app (ex: Weather) you want to close, and click/tap on End task. (see screenshots below)​

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OPTION SIX

To Close Modern Apps by restarting the PC

NOTE: This should be used as a last option if the others above will not close the app.

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1. Restart the PC to completely close all currently opened apps.​

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

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• How to Speed Up Closing Modern Apps in Windows 8.1
• How to Go to Desktop or Start when You Sign in or Close Apps in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Open Modern Apps from the Desktop in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Pin or Unpin Apps to Start Screen in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Open the "Apps" Screen in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Switch Between Opened Apps with "Switch List" Bar in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Clear your App Switching List History in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Open Title Bar of Modern Apps in Windows 8.1 Update

 

[Brink]

Yeah, I find OPTION ONE works best as well.

 

[Jav]

I think the reason why Mail doesn't disappear from Task Manager is because of its background task.

Try this,
Start, write lock, switch into Settings and open Lock Screen.
On Lock Screen apps click on Mail and chose don't display any badge here.

Now, open Mail and close it with Alt+F4. (This was the one which is buggy, right?)
After about 30 seconds, it seems to disappear from Task Manager.

However if you don't use it, uninstalling it makes sense. And if you use it it is not really practical to disable it from lock screen

 

[Dave76]

Great tutorial Shawn, good tips from all, thanks.

 

[Brink]

Thank you Dave.

 

[EmailGuy]

I appreciate this tutorial. I'm using a touch screen tablet and I cannot seem to figure out how to right click items in the switch list without a mouse. I press and hold and the close option never appears. I can go into each app and drag the top down to close it, but that is time consuming. It still seems there are a lot of things that require a mouse or keyboard. That doesn't make sense to me since Windows 8 was supposed to be designed to be touch friendlly.

 

[Brink]

Hello EmailGuy, and welcome to Eight Forums.

Yeah, unfortunately OPTION ONE doesn't work with a touch screen to press and hold for the same thing.

 

[HammerHead]

Bit of Humor

I was struggling with closing the apps. I had been opening task manager and shutting them down. Good read Here.

 

[Brink]

The Windows 8.1 Update to be released on April 8th 2014 via Windows Update, will allow you to be able to also close an app from it's title bar now.

Tutorial has been updated with OPTION THREE for this.

 

[Vadim Art]

Please help.
Do not close Metro App (Tutorial/option two/part "E"), when turn on sticky mouse.
Windows 8.1 update.

 

[Brink]

Hello Vadim, and welcome to Eight Forums.

What do you mean by "sticky mouse"?

Are you able to close the app using one of the other options?

 

[Vadim Art]

Hello Vadim, and welcome to Eight Forums.

What do you mean by "sticky mouse"?

Are you able to close the app using one of the other options?

I mean ClickLock in Mouse Properties menu.

 

[Brink]

Interesting. It will not close for me either by dragging with ClickLock turned on.

 

[soubeagi]

Also noteworthy about the new April 2014 (8.2? 8.1.1?) update: The new disappearing title bar in "Metro" apps may be more understandable and discoverable than the hand icon (which no longer appears now, BTW) at the top of the screen was, but people should know that using the "X" icon on this bar still "suspends" the app instead of terminating it; the "drag to the floor and wait for it to flip" gesture is still necessary to truly close a Metro app. (I hate that Microsoft has now formalized a program behavior that I've always considered bad practice. To me, clicking an X at the top right always means "terminate with extreme prejudice", and any program that behaves differently is poorly written. If your program wants to hide in the tray or something, you should put a separate icon in the title bar for that; this idea of a separate icon is what Microsoft SHOULD have formalized years ago.)

 

[Brink]

Agreed. The X should be to completely close, and not just suspend the app.