10 Mac Spotlight Keyboard Shortcuts

The Spotlight menu can be used to search for files, apps and other things with just Command+Space, typing, and then Return. But you can also use other keyboard shortcuts to go to the file location, preview items, get definitions, perform web searches and more.

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Video Transcript: Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Let me show you some keyboard shortcuts to help you get the most from Spotlight on your Mac. 
So many Mac users use what is called Spotlight Menu for finding items on their Mac. That's when you use Command plus the Spacebar to bring up this prompt here in the middle of your screen. Then you type what you're looking for. It could be the name of a file or even some content in a file. The basics are that you just start typing and then results will appear below. You can then use the down arrow key to go down to the item that you want and then press Return and it will open that up. One of the best things about this is its keyboard only. You use Command Space to trigger it. You type and then you can use the arrow keys and Return to get what you want. But you can manipulate the Spotlight Menu even more using just the keyboard. 
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The first keyboard shortcut I'm going to show you is the Escape Key. You can use the escape key either once or twice. Using it once will actually clear the menu. This is the quickest way to clear the Spotlight Menu and go back to it being blank. Using it a second time, when it is already blank, dismisses it. So if you bring it up and start typing and then realize that this isn't what you want to do. You need to do something else first, a quick double tap on the escape key will dismiss it. Another way to quickly dismiss the Spotlight Menu is after you start typing use the same Command Space again and it just makes it go away. The advantage to using that is if you change your mind it brings it back with Command Space. You can see it remembers what you typed before. Whereas using escape twice completely clears it so it is ready to be used the next time. 
Now let's say you activate the Spotlight Menu and you type something. You see there are a variety of results. You see the result you want but it is further down. You can use the down arrow key to go one by one through all of the items here. But you can also jump by section by holding the Command Key down and using down arrow. So Command and Down goes to the first item of every section. Like that. Command and Up arrow will jump up by section. Once you're in the section you want you can release the Command Key and use the down and up arrows to go one-by-one.  
Now if you think you might have the right item but you're not sure and you don't want to open it until you're sure you can use Quick Look to see the contents of the file. Use Quick Look the same way in Spotlight as you do with a file in the Finder. Just press the Spacebar. So with this PDF selected I press the Spacebar it brings up Quick Look. If I go down to another type of file, like for instance this one right here, I can press the Spacebar and see that text file. I can see this image file right here. I can see this Pages file. Quick Look works just like it does in the Finder to show you quick previews of files. Just use Spacebar to bring up Quick Look. You can use all the features of Quick Look, including the Open button and Share button here and a quick press on the Spacebar dismisses Quick Look as well.
Now when you search for what you want and you get to the item by using the down arrow you can, of course, hit Return and it will open the file. But what if instead you don't want to open it but go to where that file is located. You can hold the Command Key down and then press Return and it will open up a Finder window and jump right to that file. Another way to do it is to use Command and then R and it will bring up the Finder and select that file as well. 
When you look at the result in Spotlight you'll see things like the File Size, the File Kind, Modify Date and things like that. You can see them here for these suggestions at the top. But if you hold the Command Key down notice that the one I have selected, the information will change to show the path to that file. So if you have two files like this and you're wondering where they both are, you can use the Command Key to see where this one is and then the Command Key again to see where this one is. 
Let's say you don't necessarily want to open the file and you don't necessarily want to go to the file in the Finder you just want to get more info about the file. With the file selected you can use Command and i and it will open the Info Window, just like it does in the Finder. In fact it will dismiss the Spotlight Menu completely and just leave you with the Info Window. So here you can see all the information about the file including a preview at the bottom. If you do want to open the file there are a few ways to do that. In the Info Window here. We're not used to looking at this Info Window without a Finder window open. But the preview here at the bottom can simply be double-clicked and it will open up the file. Also the Title Bar here can be clicked with the Command Key down and then you get the path to the file. So if I want to go to the folder here I can just select it and release and it will open it up. If I were to do the same thing with the file itself it will open it up as well and also select the file. 
Now you can also use the Spotlight Menu to search for webpages. The way to do that is to bring it up just like you were going to search for a file. Then type your Search Term and then you'll see, of course, under Suggestion the search term in other search terms that are related to it that you can select. But if you just want to use this search term in your Default Search Engine in your default browser you can do it by simply using Command and then B and that jumps right to the browser and you can see it uses the search term there. 
Another thing you can use the Spotlight Menu for is to look up definitions of words. There are actually two ways to do this. So first you would bring up the menu and type the word. You're going to get all sorts of results. You may see a dictionary result there and you can certainly go to it and select it or just read what's there in Spotlight. But a lot of times this will be much further down the list. For instance here the definition is definitely there. I can use Command and down arrow to keep going down and eventually I will find, near the bottom, the dictionary definition. But there is a quick way to get there. If you hold the Command Key down and type L it will jump right to the dictionary definition. Then you can press Return and it will open up in the Dictionary App to that entry. Or if you want to skip actually seeing it in Spotlight you can just use Command D to jump right to the dictionary definition using whatever it is you've typed there. 
So the two other keyboard shortcuts I'm going to show you that don't have to do with searching for files or websites or words. One is if you're doing something where you get a result, like math, something like this. When you get that result you can now use Command C and it will quietly copy it. Notice that it did put a checkmark there when I used Command C. So now I can paste that result anywhere I want. So you can do quick calculations and a quick Command C, then escape twice to exit Spotlight and then paste it in to whatever it is you're doing. Works with currency conversions and unit conversions as well. Notice if I use Command C here it gives me this nice checkmark to show that it has been copied. 
Finally, when you're in the Spotlight Menu using a quick Command H will bring up the Tips App and take you right to the Spotlight entry. So you can read more about what's possible using the Spotlight Menu. 
Also since we're talking about Keyboard Shortcuts keep in mind if you go to System Settings and then go to Keyboard and then Keyboard Shortcuts there is a section here for Spotlight. The only two things are Show Spotlight Search which is that Command Space that we've been using all along and you can make sure that is enabled and change it to something else if you like. Also, there's a second entry here for starting a Finder Search. So skipping the Spotlight Menu completely and just opening up a new Finder window and then searching in there. In fact this is what I recommend doing if you know what you want is a file. Then you don't have to deal with all of the other Spotlight suggestions. You'll only see file results. You can select a starting point for the search. So, not looking everywhere on your drive but say in a specific folder.
So while Spotlight is already a great way to do a lot of things on your Mac with just the keyboard if you know these keyboard commands you can do even more. Hope you found this useful. Thanks for watching.

Comments: 7 Responses to “10 Mac Spotlight Keyboard Shortcuts”

Jackie Bruno

2 months ago

Amazing! I learned an incredible amount in just 9 minutes. This tutorial is going to save me significant time going forward. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise!

I want to add that I have been struggling to understand keyboard shortcuts, but after seeing their incredible potential, I'm now motivated to learn more. Your videos are such a gift; I learn something new every day! I may not always chime in but behind the scenes I am your dedicated student regularly picking up new skills from your videos.
.

Patrick Polen

Fantastic video as always!

Sheldon

Thanks bunches

Jane

Lots of useful tips, thank you! One question: is there any way to make the Spotlight window wider? If I use the Command key to view the path of a file and that path is long, the names of the folders become shortened so as to fit them into the width of the window; many are shortened so much it is impossible to read what that path is.

Gary Rosenzweig

Jane: No, it can't be made wider. But if you are searching for a file, don't use the Spotlight window. Not only does it have this restriction, but it will also show you all sorts of other results. Instead, use a Finder window search. It solves your problem.

Good advice. Thanks Gary