Shutdown behavior

In Shutdown & Triggers, choose what should happen to open apps before a shutdown. Test with disposable documents before using any unattended shutdown in a show.

Choose how apps close

Save existing files, then quit: Ask each app to save changes to files that already have a name and location. If an app needs Save As for a new document, Show Central stops unless a matching prepared Save As rule has been selected and tested.
Quit without saving: Ask apps to discard unsaved changes. This can permanently lose work.

Show Central asks apps to quit; it does not force-quit them. Individual apps may ignore or handle save requests differently. If an app stays open or reports an error, shutdown stops rather than silently proceeding.

After a shutdown trigger

In Shutdown Triggers, switch Delay before closing apps on or off. When on, choose 5–120 seconds. The delay starts when a shutdown trigger is received; no app is asked to close until it ends. It applies to a scheduled shutdown too. Switch on controller-light feedback only if you have configured an OSC host and port and/or MIDI output destination, channel, message type and light number. OSC sends /showcentral/shutdown/flash with integer 1 or 0; MIDI sends the selected light note or CC at 127 or 0. Use a different MIDI light number from the shutdown trigger, and test with your controller.

During the delay, a second OSC or keyboard trigger, or a released and re-pressed MIDI button, cancels shutdown. Repeats in the first 0.8 seconds are ignored. With the delay off, shutdown starts immediately and remote cancellation is unavailable. A scheduled shutdown is performed by Show Central and requires a logged-in user with the app running.

Arm and disarm shutdown triggers

The Shutdown Triggers switch controls OSC, MIDI, keyboard, and Trigger now. Keep it disarmed while configuring connections; arm it only when ready. It starts disarmed every time Show Central opens and resets to disarmed after a shutdown attempt.

Important: The arm switch does not disable an applied weekly shutdown schedule. To stop a scheduled shutdown, turn off Shut down Mac in Power & Schedule and press Apply Schedule again.

Test safely

With triggers disarmed, send test OSC or MIDI input and check the one-line Activity footer for recognition. For a full shutdown test, save your work first, arm triggers, then use Trigger now. The Test scheduled shutdown… control is also a real shutdown test, with a confirmation prompt.