aimode.news
Published on

6 Ways to Use Spotlight for Mac

Authors

Why you can trust ZDNET

:ZDNET tests and researches products independently to give you our best recommendations and advice. If you buy from our links, we may earn a commission. Our process

“ZDNET recommends”: What exactly does that mean? The recommendations of ZDNET are based on hours of tests, searches and comparative purchases. We collect data from the best available sources, including vendor and retail lists, as well as other relevant and independent assessment pages. And we study customer reviews to find out what is important for real people who already own and use the products and services we value. If you click from our website to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may receive affiliate commissions. This contributes to supporting our work, but has no influence on what we cover or how we cover it, and it has no influence on the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author receive compensation for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure that our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers. The ZDNET editor writes for you, our readers. Our aim is to provide the most accurate information and expert advice that is possible to help you make smarter purchase decisions for technical equipment and a wide range of products and services. Our editors thoroughly check each article and check the facts to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If an error has been made or misleading information has been published, we will correct or clarify the article. If you find inaccuracies in our content, please report the error via this form. MacOS Tahoe Spotlight brings the search function to a new level. The new Spotlight tool can be much more than you think. By using Spotlight you work smarter and not harder. Before MacOS Tahoe, Spotlight was a search tool. You can call it with the key combination “command+Leertaste”, enter what you are looking for, and it was already there. Before Tahoe was released, I used a tool called Alfred, because it was more similar to the tools I was used to, and the previous version of Spotlight could not reach these apps the water. That was then, but Spotlight in here and now is a completely different beast. Since the upgrade to Tahoe, Spotlight has been matching the so-called keyboard launchers. I have been using keyboard starters for some time Linux-Desktop and consider it an invaluable means to make my work much more efficient. You see, keyboard launchers are much, much more than desktop search tools, although they do. Imagine keyboard starters as a special menu for actions that usually require several steps. 1. Simpler network connections

Here is an example I use almost daily. In my network there are some Samba servers (SMB) with which I can connect and store files on and from any computer I'm using. Before Tahoe, I had to open the Finder, press the Cmd+K key combination, enter the IP address and press the Enter key. It's not a very long process, but if I'm in a hurry, it can be a bit laborious. At Tahoe I open Spotlight, type smb://192.168.1.176 (or the IP address I need to use) and press the Enter key. This process is considerably faster than the way I did the job earlier. If you do not use Spotlight, you will essentially miss efficiency and simplicity. Isn't it the goal to work smarter and not harder? That's what Spotlight does for you. Here's another thing I always care for for foreheads. Suppose I know I wrote a document (of which I write a lot), but I can't remember the file name. However, I remember a certain sentence I wrote in the document. Let us assume that the sentence is “I obviously do a lot of this” and I have to open the document that contains this sentence. All I need to do is open Spotlight (remember to enter Cmd+Leerkey), type Finder, press the Tabulator button and then enter the set. Press the input key and the file will be opened almost immediately. If you can imagine this, Spotlight can probably even. For example, I often use timers for different reasons. If I want to set a 60-minute timer, I open Spotlight and type “Starttimer”, press the Tabulator button, enter 60 and press the Enter key. This process goes much faster than opening the watch app, going to the timer tab and then setting a timer to 60 minutes. Spotlight does things quickly and with a simplicity you wouldn't believe. From Spotlight, you can send emails or messages, switch system settings, start apps quickly, expect to display items in your clipboard, run third-party workflows, perform comprehensive file and context searches, create new documents and much more. I could even interact with AI. For example, I can enter “Ask Perplexity”, press the tab key, enter my request and press the input key. Or maybe I want to display the course of my clipboard and copy something I've copied before. To do this, I open Spotlight and then press Cmd+4, find the item I want to copy and click on the corresponding copy icon. Everything you do with Spotlight is faster and more effective; The more common you use Spotlight, the more you will feel you need to use it. For me this is the sign of a good function. Apple has taken something rather harmless and felt it necessary. For this purpose, I use Spotlight all day and it has made my time under MacOS much more efficient. If you do not yet use Spotlight, it is time to abandon these old methods and work more efficiently. You save time and can use MacOS optimally.

![6 Ways to Use Spotlight for Mac](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/resize/69e7dff9a00f9a98884762407ae4ddd39fb3df10/2026/06/03/94f5e7f1-a8e7-471e-a91d-725f99250efd/spotlighthero.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&height=675&width=1200)

6 Ways to Use Spotlight for Mac | aimode.news