How to use Spotlight in macOS Tahoe

Date:
Sun, 15 Mar 2026 13:00:00 +0000

Description:
macOS Tahoe is here, and the new Spotlight is a huge upgrade. Here's how to get the most out of it.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Tech Radar Get the TechRadar Newsletter Sign up for
breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are
now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter In case youve not updated yet, macOS Tahoe is here, and its packing more than just a new Liquid Glass style for your Mac computer.

Aside from the arrival of the Journal app and a customizable Control Center, theres a big new update for Spotlight. Apples launcher has been relatively unchanged for years now, and many users will no doubt have gravitated toward third-party alternatives like Alfred and Raycast. Still, this latest update adds a lot of power-user functionality to the long-running tool, and Ive put together this handy guide to help you make the most of it. Article continues below You may like Got a new Apple Watch? Here are 3 hidden features you're probably not using (but should be) These 7 hidden iOS features have transformed how I use my iPhone I was wrong about macOS 26 its far worse
than I first thought Set up your keyboard shortcut (Image credit: Apple/Lloyd Coombes) Before we do any tweaking of Spotlight, youll need to know how to enable it. By default, its CMD and Space on your Macs keyboard, but if it doesnt open then youll need to adjust that setting.

To do so, open System Settings and search Spotlight, then look in the sidebar for Keyboard settings. Make sure the Show Spotlight search checkbox is
ticked. Launch some apps (Image credit: Apple/Lloyd Coombes) Its not new functionality, but if youve not used Spotlight before, then you might be surprised how much quicker it is to open apps using your keyboard as opposed to grabbing your mouse and navigating to the relevant folder.

Simply start typing, and youll be presented with a list of options. Move down with the arrow keys and hit return to jump into any of them. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Select what Spotlight surfaces In System Settings, Spotlights sidebar entry will allow you to
toggle on and off what you want to be able to find.

This includes results from apps, apps themselves, or files from certain folders and drives. If you dont want to be able to look through certain folders or want to disregard, say, a Google Drive folder, this is the way to do it. Enable Clipboard History (Image credit: Apple/Lloyd Coombes) Weve all been in that awkward spot where youve copied something from a page or app and cant find it because youve hit CMD + C in the seconds since then, but Clipboard Search makes things much simpler. What to read next Your iPhone's Camera Control button has a slew of hidden features here's how to use them all 7 settings I change on every Apple Watch for a 'calmer, clearer, and more useful' experience 10 Windows 11 keyboard shortcuts I can't live without

By default, this is switched off, but at the bottom of the Spotlight section of System Settings, you can find a toggle for Clipboard Search. Enabling it will keep clipboard items available for eight hours, and you can find them by pressing CMD + 4 .

Whys it off by default? Because, as Apple mentions, it can involve storing personal information and having it available to paste. Thats worth
considering if you share your Mac. Use the Spotlight toolbar (Image credit: Apple/Lloyd Coombes) New with macOS Tahoe is a subtle toolbar that appears if you start typing something in Spotlight.

Think of this as a filter of sorts, helping you drill down to the action you want to achieve. For example, being able to search for just folders or files can help save time rather than combing through apps, photos, and anything else.

You can trigger these filters with a / command on your keyboard, which brings us nicely to Experiment with keyboard shortcuts (Image credit: Apple/Lloyd Coombes) Apple has done a great job of putting keyboard shortcuts front and center when you jump into Spotlight, and its worth remembering them.

CMD with numbers 1 - 4 will bring up different options. CMD + 1 will give you your applications for quick launching, while CMD + 2 will do the same for Files. CMD + 3 triggers Actions and Shortcuts (more on that in a moment), while CMD + 4 is for clipboard history.

You can also use the up arrow to see your search history. Have fun with Shortcuts (Image credit: Apple/Lloyd Coombes) Shortcuts are a pretty
intuitive way to set up Mac automations, and the whole system has progressively gotten more useful in recent years.

With that said, Spotlights new version gives a great way to trigger these automations since theyre always visible right when you need them. Cant remember the keyboard shortcut you set to enter a meeting mode? Now you can hit Spotlight and trigger it from there with ease.

Its not that you couldnt do it before, but its just much easier to do so now without being flooded with a barrage of results when you hit CMD + Space. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the
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