P
Peter Cohen
Apple's powerful Spotlight search feature in OS X indexes your hard drive and even searches the web. But in OS X Yosemite it's more powerful than ever. From searching your iTunes library for a track or movie to finding a yellow page listing in a snap, there's a lot to like about the new Spotlight in OS X Yosemite!
How to access and use Spotlight in OS X Yosemite
For those not already familiar, Spotlight is accessed by clicking the magnifying glass icon on the menu bar at the top of your Mac's screen or by holding down the command button and typing the space bar. A search field pops up in the center of your Mac's display. Type any text you'd like to match, and Spotlight will do its best to find it both in the file names and file contents of anything stored on your Mac.
Spotlight's a lot more versatile than that, however. Spotlight will also cruise the web looking for matches for your search criteria. It'll pull up suggested web sites that match what you're looking for and entries on Wikipedia that may be a good match as well. What's more, Spotlight can also search iTunes for likely matches. It can even do calculations.
Are you interested in going to the movies tonight? Enter the title of a movie and it'll pull up showtimes at theaters nearby. Enter a street address or a location and Spotlight will pull up directions using Apple's built-in Maps application.
How to customize Spotlight search results
You can also extensively customize Spotlight's search results depending on what you're looking for. To customize Spotlight preferences:
- Click on the menu.
- Select System Preferences...
- Click on the Spotlight icon.
Apple weighs Spotlight search results based on the order you see before you. They're arranged by categories: Applications, Spotlight Suggestions, Conversion, Calculator, Definition, and System Preferences make up the top six.
If you'd like to change the weight of specific categories, simply click on the row you wish to change and move it up or down the list.
If you'd like to remove a specific category from Spotlight search results all together (for example, if you don't want Spotlight to search your Mail and Messages), simply uncheck that category.
You also have control over what command key sequence you use to activate Spotlight and what you use to active Spotlight's window keyboard shortcut.
If you'd prefer for Spotlight to not search specific locations on your hard drive, simply click on the Privacy tab in the Spotlight window and click the + button. A new window will appear that will enable you to select any files or folders you wish to exclude from Spotlight's search results all together.
Spotlight's a more versatile and powerful search tool than ever. Are you happy with the new features? Do you wish it could do more? Are you having trouble with any of the new capabilities? Let me know in the comments.
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