Use Spotlight

Press Command-Space and begin typing. Spotlight can launch applications, find documents, and show settings. It is often the fastest route from an idea to the right application or file.

Spotlight exists so you never have to remember where something is — only what it is called. Instead of clicking through Applications or digging through folders, you type a few letters and press Return.

Launching and finding

Type the first letters of an app name:

term

Terminal appears as the Top Hit. Press Return to open it. This works for any application, and after a while it replaces the Dock and Launchpad for everything you do not use hourly.

The same flow works for documents and settings. Type part of a file name or a settings keyword like “wallpaper” and Spotlight lists the matches.

Select a result and hold Command to reveal its location. Press Return to open it. The reveal trick matters when you need the enclosing folder, not the file itself.

Calculations and conversions

Spotlight also handles calculations and conversions. Type an expression directly:

1499 * 0.22
250 usd in eur
72 f in c

The answer appears instantly. No calculator app, no browser tab.

When something does not show up

The usual failure: you search for a file you know exists and Spotlight returns nothing. Two common causes.

First, the folder may be excluded from indexing. Check System Settings → Siri & Spotlight → Spotlight Privacy — anything listed there is invisible to Spotlight, and it is easy to forget an exclusion added months ago.

Second, on a machine that just restored from backup or migrated, the index may still be rebuilding. Give it time; results improve as indexing completes.

Try this now: press Command-Space, type the name of an app you use daily, and launch it with Return. Then search a file, hold Command to see its path, and open its folder.