diff --git a/src/control/jobs/control_jobs.c b/src/control/jobs/control_jobs.c
index d54f940f0aef..5c13e1004a20 100644
--- a/src/control/jobs/control_jobs.c
+++ b/src/control/jobs/control_jobs.c
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ static int32_t _generic_dt_control_fileop_images_job_run(dt_job_t *job,
 
   gboolean completeSuccess = TRUE;
   double prev_time = 0;
-  while(t && !_job_cancelled(job))
+  while(dt_control_running() && t && !_job_cancelled(job))
   {
     completeSuccess &= (fileop_callback(GPOINTER_TO_INT(t->data), film_id) != -1);
     t = g_list_next(t);
@@ -621,7 +621,7 @@ static int32_t _control_merge_hdr_job_run(dt_job_t *job)
     (dt_control_merge_hdr_format_t){.parent = { 0 }, .d = &d };
 
   int num = 1;
-  while(t)
+  while(t && dt_control_running())
   {
     if(d.abort) goto end;
 
@@ -640,7 +640,7 @@ static int32_t _control_merge_hdr_job_run(dt_job_t *job)
     num++;
   }
 
-  if(d.abort) goto end;
+  if(d.abort || !dt_control_running()) goto end;
 
 // normalize by white level to make clipping at 1.0 work as expected
 
@@ -941,7 +941,7 @@ static int32_t _control_remove_images_job_run(dt_job_t *job)
 
   double fraction = 0.0;
   double prev_time = 0;
-  for(; t && !_job_cancelled(job); t = g_list_next(t))
+  for(; dt_control_running() && t && !_job_cancelled(job); t = g_list_next(t))
   {
     const dt_imgid_t imgid = GPOINTER_TO_INT(t->data);
     const int32_t exist_count = _count_images_using_overlay(imgid);
@@ -1525,7 +1525,7 @@ static int32_t _control_refresh_exif_run(dt_job_t *job)
 
   dt_control_job_set_progress_message(job, message);
   double prev_time = 0;
-  while(t)
+  while(t && dt_control_running())
   {
     const dt_imgid_t imgid = GPOINTER_TO_INT(t->data);
     if(dt_is_valid_imgid(imgid))
@@ -1869,7 +1869,7 @@ static int32_t _control_export_job_run(dt_job_t *job)
 
   double prev_time = 0;
 
-  while(t && !_job_cancelled(job))
+  while(dt_control_running() && t && !_job_cancelled(job))
   {
     const dt_imgid_t imgid = GPOINTER_TO_INT(t->data);
     t = g_list_next(t);
@@ -2885,7 +2885,7 @@ static int32_t _control_import_job_run(dt_job_t *job)
   double update_interval = INIT_UPDATE_INTERVAL;
   char *prev_filename = NULL;
   char *prev_output = NULL;
-  for(GList *img = t; img && !_job_cancelled(job); img = g_list_next(img))
+  for(GList *img = t; dt_control_running() && img && !_job_cancelled(job); img = g_list_next(img))
   {
     if(data->session)
     {