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Your MacOS Spotlight tool is seriously underrated - 6 ways I use it beyond basic searches

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Why This Matters

The upgraded MacOS Tahoe Spotlight significantly enhances productivity by transforming from a basic search tool into a versatile keyboard launcher, enabling faster access to network connections, apps, and actions. This evolution makes Mac users more efficient, aligning Spotlight with dedicated launcher apps and reducing workflow friction. For consumers and the tech industry, this highlights the importance of built-in tools that can streamline tasks without additional software.

Key Takeaways

Jack Wallen/ZDNET

ZDNET's key takeaways

MacOS Tahoe Spotlight takes the search tool to new heights.

The new Spotlight tool can do much more than you think.

By using Spotlight, you'll work smarter and not harder.

Prior to MacOS Tahoe, Spotlight was a search tool. You could call it up with the Cmd+Space keyboard shortcut, type whatever it was you were looking for, and there it was. Before Tahoe was released, I was using a tool called Alfred because it was more like the tools I'd been accustomed to, and the previous version of Spotlight couldn't hold a candle to those apps.

That was then, but Spotlight in the here and now is a very different beast. Since the upgrade to Tahoe, Spotlight has fallen in line with what are usually called keyboard launchers.

Also: How to make any MacOS app start at login - to save you time and clicks

I've been using keyboard launchers on the Linux desktop for some time, and I find them an invaluable means of making my work far more efficient. You see, keyboard launchers are much, much more than desktop search tools, although they do that as well.

Think of keyboard launchers as a special menu for actions that might normally take multiple steps to achieve.

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