Spotlight on your Mac

Spotlight is an easy way to find anything on your MacBook Pro, such as images, documents, contacts, calendar events, and email messages. You can also use Spotlight to open apps or perform quick actions, like starting a Focus.

Search for anything. Click at the top right of the screen, then start typing. You can also press the Spotlight key (F4) on your keyboard. With Live Text, Spotlight can search for text in images (available in select languages).

Tip: Press Command–Space bar to show or hide the Spotlight search field.

The Spotlight window showing how to send a message.

Open an app. Enter the app name in Spotlight, then press Return.

Perform quick actions. You can quickly do certain tasks with Spotlight, like running a shortcut, turning on Do Not Disturb, or setting an alarm. Open Spotlight, then search for the action you want to perform.

Convert currencies, temperature, and measurements. Enter a currency—like $, €, or ¥—and an amount, then press Return to open Calculator, where you can choose a value to convert to.

Narrow your search. You can include or exclude specific folders, disks, or types of information (such as email or messages) from Spotlight searches. Go to System Settings, click Spotlight, go to Results from System or Results from Apps, then select or deselect categories you want to include or exclude from your Spotlight results.

Learn more. See Search with Spotlight on Mac.

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