What the red, yellow and green window buttons do on a Mac
Red closes, yellow minimizes, green goes full screen or tiles. What each Mac window button does, the hidden extras, and the dot that means unsaved work.
What does each button do?
| Button | Click | Keyboard |
|---|---|---|
| Red | Closes the window; the app keeps running | ⌘ W |
| Yellow | Minimizes the window into the Dock | ⌘ M |
| Green | Puts the window in full screen | ⌃ ⌘ F, or fn F |
Hover over the three and symbols appear inside them: an x, a minus, and two arrows.
What are the hidden options on the green button?
Hold the pointer over green for a moment. A menu offers full screen, and on macOS 15 and later, Move & Resize to tile the window to a half or a quarter, or to arrange it with the other windows on screen. Hold ⌥ and click green to fill the screen without going full screen. Details in the green button guide.
What does the dot in the red button mean?
The document has unsaved changes. Save with ⌘ S and the dot disappears. Close it with the dot showing and the app asks whether to save.
Why are the buttons grey?
The window is not the active one. Click it and the colours come back. A button that stays grey when the window is active, usually green, means that action is not available, often because the window has a fixed size.
Why red leaves the app open: close a window versus quit an app. More on yellow: minimizing windows.
Questions
What does the red button do on a Mac?
It closes the window. The app keeps running until you quit it with Command Q.
What does the green button do on a Mac?
It makes the window full screen. Hover over it for tiling options, or Option click it to fill the screen.
What is the dot in the red close button?
The document has unsaved changes.
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