**Unlocking Spotlight's Hidden Potential: A Comprehensive Guide**

When it comes to searching on your Mac, you might think that Spotlight is just a simple search function. However, as we're about to discover, there's so much more to it than meets the eye.

One of the most powerful features of Spotlight is its ability to find results based on specific keywords and phrases. For example, if you want to get results that have just the word "Apple" somewhere, you can use the search term "apple computer". This will give you a list of results that contain both words. But what's even more handy is the ability to separate your searches using different words like "and", "or", and others. By typing these terms in all caps, you can achieve specific results that might not have been possible otherwise.

For instance, if you want to find results that have the word "Apple" but not necessarily "Script", you can type "apple script not". This will give you a list of results that contain Apple but exclude Script. Similarly, if you want to find applications that are related to Safari, you can use the search term "safari application". This feature is incredibly useful and allows you to get precise results without having to go through multiple searches.

Another powerful feature of Spotlight is its ability to provide lists of items based on certain criteria. For example, if you want to see a list of recently used applications, you can simply type "kind:application" followed by the colon symbol. This will give you a list of applications in order of their last use. Similarly, if you want to see a list of fonts available on your Mac, you can type "kind:font". The possibilities are endless, and this feature allows you to get exactly what you're looking for with just a few keystrokes.

In addition to searching for specific items, Spotlight also allows you to search for documents based on their creation date. For example, if you want to see all documents that were created on a specific date, such as today, you can simply type "created:6 18 11". This will give you a list of documents in order of when they were last opened or created.

Spotlight also allows you to use mathematical functions and calculations. For example, if you want to calculate the square root of 16, you can type in "√16" and press enter. Similarly, if you want to add two numbers together, such as 2 + 3, you can simply type them in and press enter. This feature is incredibly useful and allows you to perform complex calculations without having to leave Spotlight.

For those who love music, Spotlight also provides a way to search for audio files based on their bit rate. For example, if you want to see all songs with an audio bit rate of 256 kbps, you can simply type "audio:bitrate=256" followed by the colon symbol. This will give you a list of songs that meet this criteria.

Finally, Spotlight also provides access to dictionaries and other reference materials. For example, if you want to see the definition of Apple, you can type it in and press enter. The spotlight window will then provide you with the definition, along with additional information such as the location where the word is used. You can also use Spotlight to find definitions for other words or phrases.

In addition to searching for specific items, Spotlight also provides a way to view files located on your Mac. For example, if you want to see the location of an application, you can simply hover over it in the finder window and click on it. Alternatively, you can command-click on the file to open its location in a new window.

One final feature that's worth noting is Spotlight's ability to allow you to switch between different categories. For example, if you want to see all applications, but also want to narrow down your search to only those that are currently open, you can hold down command and use the up and down arrows to switch between categories. This feature allows you to fine-tune your search results and get exactly what you're looking for.

In conclusion, Spotlight is a powerful tool that offers a wealth of features and functionality. By utilizing these features, you can unlock the full potential of Spotlight and make searching on your Mac faster, easier, and more efficient. Whether you're looking for specific items, documents based on creation date, or simply want to perform calculations, Spotlight has got you covered.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everyone today I'm going to show you some of the secrets of spotlight now for most of you i'm guessing that when you go up to spotlight and just by clicking the magnifying glass in the corner of your screen to search for something you probably type something like Apple and you look for your results from there but that's not all spotlight can do there's a lot of the functions with it that apple doesn't really talk about but they make spotlight a really powerful search tool and much more powerful than it appears on the surface so let's start off right away with a keyboard shortcut now to access spotlight instead of going up and clicking the magnifying glass what you can do is you can hit command spacebar and it'll bring up spotlight and you can start typing so you don't have to move your mouse all the way up there and click that's pretty nice now from here of course you can search normal things like once again Apple but you can also put things in quotes and when things are in quotes I it restricts the search so first of all if I search something like Apple Computer anything that has the word Apple and computer in it can show up here in the list but if I put quotes around the words Apple computer now the documents or whatever that shows up has to have that phrase in the search so you're not going to get results that have just the word Apple somewhere and then just over a computer you're gonna have you're going to get that exact phrase that's handy you can do some different words to separate your searches as well and those are and not and or and you have to type these all in caps so the first of all the one that's and and is what you're normally going to see so if i would type in apple computer same thing as typing in apple and computer you're going to get the resume results if you do that but if you type in apple or and i once again in caps computer we're going to get results that have the word apple or computer you can see when I search for apple top hit is Apple script editor now let's say i don't want apple script and i want something else so i can type in apple not script and it will give me not that results so now i won't see anything with script in it so you can see how that kind of works another powerful thing is i can use kind and then a colon and then right after that type whatever kind of document or whatever I want so if i type kind colon app now it's going to show me a list of application and there in order of recently used or i could do kind fine now it's going to give me a list of different fonts this works for pretty much anything so i can even do kind folder and it'll give me a list of folders the possibilities of using kind are pretty endless you can do that for aliases apps audio safari bookmarks contacts emails folders fonts events images movies pdfs etc etc keeps going on i can also do the same thing with name colon firefox i'm i'm only going to get results with the name of firefox so you can see it just shows me firefox and in the firefox application that i have on my ipod i can do the same for created if i want to find documents that were created on a certain date so i can't i've been created and i'm going to colon and then just for example 6 18 11 so now it's going to search everything that was created on today and it's going to list those all off here and in order of when you last opened them or were they when they were last created rather i can do the same with a date so if I second date and I put a specific date it will give me things created on that date I can also use less than or greater than to specify before or after a certain time another cool thing if you're looking for music you can type in audio bit rate and then colon and I'll say go on 256 it shows me all the songs with that audio bit right Sam for composer to protect composer no there's songs with composer of Metallica I can do some things with photos too so i can type is o and made it on iso 100 their show me all the pictures taken with iso of 100 that's cool I can do calculations on your too so out of having to go to dashboard to open up calculator or even going to open up the calculator application I can go to spotlight and I can type in something like 6 plus 2 6 plus 8 let's say times parentheses 9 and now you can see it did their parentheses that way i can do powers as well so i can do six to the eighth power and then you can see that pretty much any math function that you do on the calculator application you can do it here and then when i hit enter it pops open calculator if I want to I can do definitions to from dictionaries I type in Apple let's say you can see right here definition and hit enter it will pop open dictionary and from here I can see the definitions of apple and also if I was searching for let's say Apple if I go up and I want instead of opening something I just want to see where it's located in the finder Oh first of all if I hover over hover over it it will show the path or for definition will show the definition but if I command click on it then it opens up the folder where it's located and shows me right there that's handy and also if I want to skip down in different categories you can see I have top hit definitions applications etc I can hold down command and use the up and down arrows to switch to different categories that's neat as well so those are just some of the kind of hidden features within spotlight and if you and if you utilize these to their full capabilities spotlight can be a really really advanced searching tool and almost as advanced as searches within mac OS itself in a finder window where you can have all these different kinds of last open dates you can make it almost as powerful as that without having to go through all the trouble of entering all those things so I hope you found this video useful and thank you for watchinghey everyone today I'm going to show you some of the secrets of spotlight now for most of you i'm guessing that when you go up to spotlight and just by clicking the magnifying glass in the corner of your screen to search for something you probably type something like Apple and you look for your results from there but that's not all spotlight can do there's a lot of the functions with it that apple doesn't really talk about but they make spotlight a really powerful search tool and much more powerful than it appears on the surface so let's start off right away with a keyboard shortcut now to access spotlight instead of going up and clicking the magnifying glass what you can do is you can hit command spacebar and it'll bring up spotlight and you can start typing so you don't have to move your mouse all the way up there and click that's pretty nice now from here of course you can search normal things like once again Apple but you can also put things in quotes and when things are in quotes I it restricts the search so first of all if I search something like Apple Computer anything that has the word Apple and computer in it can show up here in the list but if I put quotes around the words Apple computer now the documents or whatever that shows up has to have that phrase in the search so you're not going to get results that have just the word Apple somewhere and then just over a computer you're gonna have you're going to get that exact phrase that's handy you can do some different words to separate your searches as well and those are and not and or and you have to type these all in caps so the first of all the one that's and and is what you're normally going to see so if i would type in apple computer same thing as typing in apple and computer you're going to get the resume results if you do that but if you type in apple or and i once again in caps computer we're going to get results that have the word apple or computer you can see when I search for apple top hit is Apple script editor now let's say i don't want apple script and i want something else so i can type in apple not script and it will give me not that results so now i won't see anything with script in it so you can see how that kind of works another powerful thing is i can use kind and then a colon and then right after that type whatever kind of document or whatever I want so if i type kind colon app now it's going to show me a list of application and there in order of recently used or i could do kind fine now it's going to give me a list of different fonts this works for pretty much anything so i can even do kind folder and it'll give me a list of folders the possibilities of using kind are pretty endless you can do that for aliases apps audio safari bookmarks contacts emails folders fonts events images movies pdfs etc etc keeps going on i can also do the same thing with name colon firefox i'm i'm only going to get results with the name of firefox so you can see it just shows me firefox and in the firefox application that i have on my ipod i can do the same for created if i want to find documents that were created on a certain date so i can't i've been created and i'm going to colon and then just for example 6 18 11 so now it's going to search everything that was created on today and it's going to list those all off here and in order of when you last opened them or were they when they were last created rather i can do the same with a date so if I second date and I put a specific date it will give me things created on that date I can also use less than or greater than to specify before or after a certain time another cool thing if you're looking for music you can type in audio bit rate and then colon and I'll say go on 256 it shows me all the songs with that audio bit right Sam for composer to protect composer no there's songs with composer of Metallica I can do some things with photos too so i can type is o and made it on iso 100 their show me all the pictures taken with iso of 100 that's cool I can do calculations on your too so out of having to go to dashboard to open up calculator or even going to open up the calculator application I can go to spotlight and I can type in something like 6 plus 2 6 plus 8 let's say times parentheses 9 and now you can see it did their parentheses that way i can do powers as well so i can do six to the eighth power and then you can see that pretty much any math function that you do on the calculator application you can do it here and then when i hit enter it pops open calculator if I want to I can do definitions to from dictionaries I type in Apple let's say you can see right here definition and hit enter it will pop open dictionary and from here I can see the definitions of apple and also if I was searching for let's say Apple if I go up and I want instead of opening something I just want to see where it's located in the finder Oh first of all if I hover over hover over it it will show the path or for definition will show the definition but if I command click on it then it opens up the folder where it's located and shows me right there that's handy and also if I want to skip down in different categories you can see I have top hit definitions applications etc I can hold down command and use the up and down arrows to switch to different categories that's neat as well so those are just some of the kind of hidden features within spotlight and if you and if you utilize these to their full capabilities spotlight can be a really really advanced searching tool and almost as advanced as searches within mac OS itself in a finder window where you can have all these different kinds of last open dates you can make it almost as powerful as that without having to go through all the trouble of entering all those things so I hope you found this video useful and thank you for watching\n"