How to turn off all animations on OS X

I have only enabled the first four of these, but here are all hidden preferences for disabling animations I have found.

Solution 1

# opening and closing windows and popovers
defaults write -g NSAutomaticWindowAnimationsEnabled -bool false

# smooth scrolling
defaults write -g NSScrollAnimationEnabled -bool false

# showing and hiding sheets, resizing preference windows, zooming windows
# float 0 doesn't work
defaults write -g NSWindowResizeTime -float 0.001

# opening and closing Quick Look windows
defaults write -g QLPanelAnimationDuration -float 0

# rubberband scrolling (doesn't affect web views)
defaults write -g NSScrollViewRubberbanding -bool false

# resizing windows before and after showing the version browser
# also disabled by NSWindowResizeTime -float 0.001
defaults write -g NSDocumentRevisionsWindowTransformAnimation -bool false

# showing a toolbar or menu bar in full screen
defaults write -g NSToolbarFullScreenAnimationDuration -float 0

# scrolling column views
defaults write -g NSBrowserColumnAnimationSpeedMultiplier -float 0

# showing the Dock
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -float 0
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -float 0

# showing and hiding Mission Control, command+numbers
defaults write com.apple.dock expose-animation-duration -float 0

# showing and hiding Launchpad
defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-show-duration -float 0
defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-hide-duration -float 0

# changing pages in Launchpad
defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-page-duration -float 0

# at least AnimateInfoPanes
defaults write com.apple.finder DisableAllAnimations -bool true

# sending messages and opening windows for replies
defaults write com.apple.Mail DisableSendAnimations -bool true
defaults write com.apple.Mail DisableReplyAnimations -bool true

Solution 2

If you don’t want to copy-paste each of the commands shown in the top answer, just select this text, copy-paste it to the terminal and press enter (it will execute all commands at once without having to scroll)

defaults write -g NSAutomaticWindowAnimationsEnabled -bool false
defaults write -g NSScrollAnimationEnabled -bool false
defaults write -g NSWindowResizeTime -float 0.001
defaults write -g QLPanelAnimationDuration -float 0
defaults write -g NSScrollViewRubberbanding -bool false
defaults write -g NSDocumentRevisionsWindowTransformAnimation -bool false
defaults write -g NSToolbarFullScreenAnimationDuration -float 0
defaults write -g NSBrowserColumnAnimationSpeedMultiplier -float 0
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -float 0
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -float 0
defaults write com.apple.dock expose-animation-duration -float 0
defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-show-duration -float 0
defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-hide-duration -float 0
defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-page-duration -float 0
defaults write com.apple.finder DisableAllAnimations -bool true
defaults write com.apple.Mail DisableSendAnimations -bool true
defaults write com.apple.Mail DisableReplyAnimations -bool true

To undo the changes, paste this into the terminal:

defaults delete -g NSAutomaticWindowAnimationsEnabled
defaults delete -g NSScrollAnimationEnabled
defaults delete -g NSWindowResizeTime
defaults delete -g QLPanelAnimationDuration
defaults delete -g NSScrollViewRubberbanding
defaults delete -g NSDocumentRevisionsWindowTransformAnimation
defaults delete -g NSToolbarFullScreenAnimationDuration
defaults delete -g NSBrowserColumnAnimationSpeedMultiplier
defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier
defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-delay
defaults delete com.apple.dock expose-animation-duration
defaults delete com.apple.dock springboard-show-duration
defaults delete com.apple.dock springboard-hide-duration
defaults delete com.apple.dock springboard-page-duration
defaults delete com.apple.finder DisableAllAnimations
defaults delete com.apple.Mail DisableSendAnimations
defaults delete com.apple.Mail DisableReplyAnimations

Mac OS also has dialog boxes, such as the ‘Save As’-box (CMD+SHIFT+S) or the ‘Print’-box (CMD+P). You can tweak the speed at which all of these boxes appear by using these commands:

Instant:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSWindowResizeTime .001

Fast:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSWindowResizeTime .1

Default (0.2 seconds):

defaults delete NSGlobalDomain NSWindowResizeTime

1 = 1 second. To see the difference you have to re-launch an app such as Terminal and summon a dialog box by pressing CMD+S (‘Save’) for example. You can find more command-line tweaks at defaults-write.com

Solution 3

Animation is everywhere in OS X, and it is not possible to disable all animation with one global setting, which makes this a very complicated question to answer completely.

I would advise you to try disabling things one at a time as you find animations that annoy you. Check System Preferences to start. For example, the Dock magnification animation can be turned off in System Preferences -> Dock.

Also, check out TinkerTool, which allows you to do the following:

• Disable the animation effect when opening files in the Finder
• Disable the animation effect in Mail
• Disable the animation effect in Mission Control
• Disable animation when hiding or showing Dock
• Disable fade-in and fade-out effect,and animation when switching between pages, in Launchpad
• Disable animation in opening windows
• Disable the animation effect when opening information panels or Desktop icons
• Disable the animation effect when selecting information categories
• Accelerate the animation of opening and closing sheets

If there’s an animation that really bugs you and you can’t figure out how to disable it, try posting a separate question here at Ask Different for that specific issue — you will get a fast and accurate response. (And as a nice side effect, both you and the people helping you will earn more rep that way.)