Did you know that you can set your Mac to start up or shut down on its own? This is an energy-saving feature that macOS has to offer, and it has been available since the earliest days of Mac OS X. Regardless of how long scheduled booting and shutdowns have been available, many Mac users may not be aware of this handy feature.
When your Mac is idle, whether it’s a MacBook or an iMac, it still consumes power, just a lot lower than it typically would under load or regular usage. If you’re the kind of person who leaves your computer running all night, this could potentially impact your electricity bill. This is mostly an issue with desktop Macs since MacBook users mostly always close the lid which puts the device to sleep automatically.
By using Energy Saver on macOS, you can make sure your Mac is ready for use whenever you want it to, especially if you’re a person who follows a schedule. In this article, we’ll be discussing how you can set your Mac to power off and turn on all by itself, automatically.
How to Make Mac Shut Down or Power On Automatically
The following steps are applicable for all versions of macOS and you can take advantage of Energy Saving across all models. Now, without further ado, let’s see what you need to do:
- Head over to “System Preferences” on your Mac from the Dock.
- Here, click on the “Energy Saver” or “Battery” option located in the last of System Preferences as shown in the screenshot below. *
- In the Energy Saver menu, click on “Schedule” located at the bottom-right corner of the window.
- Next, check the box next to “Start up or wake” to access all the scheduling options. Set a preferred time when you want to start up or wake your Mac.
- Next, you need to click on “Sleep” and change it to “Shut Down” as shown below. Check the box next to it and select your preferred shutdown time. Click on “OK” when you’re done configuring.
(* For those wondering, whether or not the control panel is labeled as Battery or Energy Saver depends on if the Mac is a laptop or desktop)
The Energy Saver feature on macOS can be scheduled for either every day or any particular day of the week, depending on your requirements.
Note that your Mac will not be able to shut down automatically if you have any unsaved documents open on your desktop. Likewise, your Mac must be awake and logged in to your user account for it to be able to shut down at the scheduled time.
Most people would want to schedule their Macs to automatically shut down shortly before bedtime and start up when they’re ready to work. If you don’t want your Mac to completely shut down, you can set your Mac to automatically enter sleep mode instead. You can use these exact steps, except you’ll be selecting “Sleep” instead of “Shut Down” in the scheduling menu.
Apart from this, you may also be interested in setting certain apps to launch on boot in macOS so that when your Mac automatically starts up on a schedule, your apps are also ready for immediate use.
Did you configure your Mac automatically start up and shut down? How often have you scheduled this feature on your Mac? What’s your overall take on this energy-saving feature if this is the first time you’re using it? Share your thoughts and relevant experiences or helpful tips in the comments!
