Where is the power button on iMacs?

Looking for the power button on your iMac? Read on for where to find the power button on a range of iMac models, and also why it’s best to not use it to shut down your Mac.

While Apple’s modern notebooks automatically power on when you open them, you’ll need to use power button on iMacs to turn them on. However, as we’ll detail below, it’s best to use software shut down your Mac.

Where is the power button on iMacs?

1. When looking at the front of your iMac, put your finger on the left hand backside of your computer
2. The power button is located roughly 2-inches in from the far left hand side and 2-inches up from the bottom edge
3. When looking at an iMac from the rear, you’ll see the power button in the lower right hand corner

Apple notes in a support document, that the best way to shut down your Mac is via  → Shutdown… in the top left corner of the menu bar,  and to use the power button as a last resort. Here’s why:

Just as your Mac follows a startup process after it turns on, it follows a shutdown process before it turns off. That process includes automatically quitting all open apps and logging out of your macOS user account.

If your Mac doesn’t shut down, try Force Quit to close any apps that aren’t responding. If that doesn’t work, press and hold the power button until the Mac turns off.

Keep in mind that when shutting down your Mac with the power button, any unsaved changes in documents will be lost.

For more help getting the most out of your Apple devices, check out our how to guide as well as the following articles:

• Where is the power button on new MacBooks?
• Where is the power button on iPad Pro?
• Where is the power button on Apple Watch?
• Where is the power button on iPhone X, XS, and XR?
• Here’s how to cancel your Apple News+ trial and avoid a $10 charge
• How to check what apps have read and write access to iPhone photos
• How to change your Instagram password on iPhone
• How to change your Facebook password on iPhone
• How to apply OCR to PDFs on Mac

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