My experience with macOS Tahoe has been bittersweet. For starters, “Liquid Glass” is a dud — the name and the visual design. The first thing I did after upgrading was to make my Mac as less liquid-glassy as possible. But, I appreciate the love Apple has so kindly bestowed upon Spotlight — macOS’ default search utility.
Indeed, it was high time Spotlight got a revamp: the tool had more or less remained the same since its introduction in macOS X 10.4 Tiger in 2005. In macOS Tahoe, Spotlight search is faster and more flexible than ever. If you’re still rocking a third-party search app on your Mac, it’s probably because you aren’t using Spotlight’s full potential.
Navigate between apps and files seamlessly
Seek and ye shall actually find
One of my major qualms with Spotlight was how the search results mixed in apps, filenames, and associated files. Many a time, this inadvertently made me open an associated file instead of the app I wanted. Thankfully, Spotlight in macOS Tahoe makes it easier to switch between searching for apps or files only.
Open Spotlight using Command + Spacebar, and cycle between the apps and files sub-menus using Command + 1 and Command + 2, respectively. If you use iPhone mirroring, you can search for and launch iPhone apps using the apps sub-menu. Pro tip: use a four-finger squeeze trackpad to directly open the apps sub-menu. You can even sort apps by category.
There are some nifty features in Spotlight to make file searching faster as well. For one, you can use the backslash (/) symbol followed by an app name or file type to easily find the relevant file. Say you want to search for a document: type in /Document, press Enter when the Document file type is highlighted, and type in the filename. You can use the backslash symbol to search within apps too. Just type in / followed by the app name, press Enter when it’s highlighted, and then type in the filename.
I’m also not the most organized person when it comes to naming files. Luckily, Quick Look is neatly integrated into Spotlight, allowing me to quickly preview the gazillion “untitled” text files on my Mac. It’s simple: search for the file, navigate through the results using the Up and Down arrow keys, preview the file by tapping the Spacebar.
Run shortcuts and perform actions
Do more than just search for stuff
Shortcuts and actions within Spotlight have quickly become my favorite feature of the app. You can send messages, add alarms, create notes, and even AirDrop items using Spotlight itself. All you need to do is open Spotlight and press Command + 3 to switch to the Actions sub-menu. Then, simply type what you wish to do. I was pleasantly surprised by how intuitive Spotlight was when recommending actions. To see what actions you can perform, you can either scroll through the list after pressing Command + 3 while Spotlight is running, or type in the name of the app when the actions sub-menu is open.
For frequent tasks, you can use the Quick Keys feature to assign a shortcut that saves time. Say you message people frequently: type in Send a message in the actions sub-menu and assign a quick key to it by clicking the Add quick keys box next to the action. Once you’ve done this, you won’t have to type in the whole thing when you perform the action; just use the Quick Keys. In my case, I use “smess” and “smail” to send messages and emails, respectively. Some actions are context-aware too. For example, if I have a file selected in Finder and I open Spotlight to perform the AirDrop action, it will suggest the currently selected file automatically.
AirDrop is finally coming to Android, but only if you have this phone
File transfers just became less of a headache.
One of my favorite bits about the new Spotlight app is the ability to execute shortcuts within it. Imagine the versatility of the Shortcuts app combined with Spotlight’s ease of access; the use cases are endless. I’m a bit of an etymology nerd, so I created a custom shortcut that takes input in Spotlight itself, and uses Apple Intelligence to find the etymology of the word. And since I’ve assigned a quick key to it, I can effectively find the etymology of any word by simply typing in “etm” followed by the word in Spotlight.
Access clipboard history in Spotlight
But don’t ditch that third-party clipboard manager yet
There was no easy way to access the clipboard history on macOS until Tahoe came out. Apple answered my prayers and included the feature as part of Spotlight. To access it, open Spotlight, then press Command + 4. You’ll see a list of all the things you’ve copied. If you’re looking for a specific block of text, begin typing in the words you remember, and it should show up at the top. Keep in mind, text will be pasted without formatting.
The clipboard history isn’t limited to text: it will remember any files you’ve copied too. I use it all the time to copy multiple images and paste them when needed in documents and emails.
I tested 5 Windows clipboard managers and this is the best one
Out of all the options I tried, PasteBoard is the one that fits my needs
You can also access a limited context menu for each copied item by right-clicking it in Spotlight’s clipboard history sub-menu. Among other things, you can use this menu to paste the item, delete it, or make it the current selection. You can even share images and files using their context menu within clipboard history.
By default, Spotlight remembers the clipboard history for 8 hours. Items copied before that will disappear from the list. However, you can change this setting to a maximum of 7 days by going to System Settings -> Spotlight. Missing support for rich text and a limited clipboard history mean that Spotlight won’t replace third-party clipboard managers like Maccy just yet, but it is a step in the right direction.
Spotlight is more useful than you think
Earlier, I was indifferent to Spotlight, but now it has become an indispensable part of my workflow. Sure, it will take some time to familiarize yourself with all its features. But give it a chance, experiment with it (especially with shortcuts!), and it will surprise with its usefulness and flexibility.
