How to Change Sleep Settings on a Mac
In order to save energy and prevent wear in Macs, Apple implemented a sleep mode, which usually activates after a certain time of inactivity.
However, you can easily change sleep time on your Mac to your liking. You can put it to sleep instantly for battery saving or privacy reasons. Alternatively, you can postpone your Mac’s sleep so that you can download files or listen to music for a long time without any disturbance.
In this article, we will go through the following questions:
- How to put your Mac to sleep manually
- How to change Mac sleep settings
- How to schedule sleep on a Mac using a sleep timer
How to put your Mac to sleep manually
Putting your Mac to sleep instead of shutting it down can save you a lot of time and prevent wear and tear.
You can put your Mac in sleep mode using one of the following methods:
- Open the Apple menu and choose the Sleep option
- Click Sleep after pressing the power key
- If you have a portable Mac, just close the lid and it will automatically go to sleep
If your Mac contains an infrared receiver, then you can put your computer to sleep or wake it up using Apple Remote
- To put your Mac to sleep: press and hold the Play/Pause button for 5 seconds
- To wake up your Mac: press any button on the remote
How to change Mac sleep settings
Apple allows you to put your Mac in sleep mode automatically after a fixed inactivity time of your choice (between one minute and three hours). You can even select to completely prevent your Mac from sleeping.
To adjust your Mac sleep timer settings:
1. Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your screen
2. Choose System Preferences
3. Select Energy Saver (the light bulb)
4. Here you can control your Energy Saver settings for when your Mac is on battery or charging
5. In Battery tab:
a. On a Turn display off after slider, choose how long your MacBook should wait before putting your display into sleep (from 1 minute and up to 3 hours). You can also prevent the display from sleeping by dragging the slider all the way to the right
b. Below the slider, set additional sleep-related settings:
- Put hard disks to sleep when possible. This option powers down your hard drive when you aren’t working with files stored there
- Slightly dim the display when on battery power. This setting is good for energy saving
- Enable Power Nap. This allows your Macintosh to occasionally wake from sleep to perform some tasks such as checking for new emails. If your priority is battery saving, better uncheck this one
6. In Power Adapter tab:
a. On a Turn display off after slider, choose your preferred timespan
b. Below the slider, set additional sleep-related settings:
- Prevent computer from sleeping automatically when the display is off. This way you can close and open the lid without putting the Mac to sleep.
- Put hard disks to sleep when possible: Power down your hard drive when you don’t work with it
- Wake for Wi-Fi network access. Allow your Mac to wake up when your Wi-Fi turns on or an app requests access to the internet.
- Enable Power Nap. Let your Mac wake from sleep to perform certain tasks
How to schedule sleep on your Mac
You might know exactly how long your Mac needs to stay awake. For example, you always fall asleep before 1 am but you often forget about shutting down your Mac. You may schedule its sleep in order not to keep the computer awake till the very morning.
1. Click on the Apple logo in the upper left corner of your screen
2. Select System Preferences
3. Open Energy Saver by clicking on the light bulb icon
4. Click Schedule
5. A window will pop up including two checkboxes:
- Start up or wake
- Sleep
6. Select the day of the week and the exact time you would like to wake or put your Mac to sleep
7. Click OK
FAQ
1. Does a Mac go to sleep automatically?
Yes, by default your Mac will go to sleep automatically. However, you can change the settings anytime as described above.
2. How long does it take for a Mac to go to sleep?
By default, a Mac goes to sleep after two minutes of inactivity. Still, you can set a different timespan ranging from one minute to three hours of inactivity.
3. How do I get my Mac screen to stay on longer?
To do so, you need to change your Mac’s sleep settings as described above.
4. Will my alarm go off if my Mac is asleep?
No, an alarm set in a Mac’s Calendar app won’t go off if your Mac is asleep. However, you can prevent your Mac from going to sleep or use a third-party alarm app that will also keep your computer from sleeping.
