Redeem now - You can restart your Steam gaming app to switch it to offline mode, or to update or troubleshoot it.
- Restarting Steam only takes two clicks, or a quick keyboard shortcut.
- When you restart Steam, you might need to log in again.
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You'll need to restart Steam if it's in offline mode to switch it to online mode. Or, if your Steam app is in online mode, you'll need to restart it to put it in offline mode.
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in.Or maybe the app is just having a weird problem, where no matter how many times you click on an icon, the application doesn't respond.
Whichever the case, it's time to resort to the best tool in the troubleshooting toolbox: it's time to turn Steam off and then on again.
Here's how to restart Steam in three ways.
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How to restart Steam from within the application
1. Open any Steam window.
2. In the top-left corner, click the word "Steam" to open a drop-down menu.
3. From the dropdown menu, select "Exit" (PC) or "Quit Steam" (Mac). Steam will close.
4. Open Steam again, and log back in if you've been logged out.
5. That's it for a basic restart.
How to restart Steam when it's frozen
If Steam is frozen, you can use your computer's force quit menus to close it.
Press Command + Option + Escape on an Apple computer to open the Force Quit menu. In Windows 10, press Ctrl + Alt + Delete on Windows to open the Windows Security menu, and then select "Task Manager."
On a Mac, select "Steam" in the list of applications, and then click the blue "Force Quit" button.
In Windows, find "Steam Client Bootstrapper" in the default "Processes" tab and select "End task" at the bottom-right of the window.
Once Steam has been forcibly closed, it can be reopened as normal.
How to restart Steam into and from offline mode
1. To restart Steam into offline mode, open a Steam window and in the top-left, select "Steam" if you're on a PC, or "Account" if you're on a Mac. From the drop-down menu, select "Go offline."
Steam will prompt you to restart in Offline mode. Select "Restart in Offline Mode" to continue.
2. To restart into online mode, click the "Steam" option again, and select the new option that says "Go online."
A very similar prompt window will appear. Steam will close and then reopen in online mode once it's selected.
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