Use Spotlight as an Application Launcher
February 19th, 2008 by steveblue
This is a neat little tip. Type the name of any Application into Spotlight, wait a moment, and the Application will appear as the top hit in a list of the search results. Just hit Return and the Application will open.
You can refine your search results in Spotlight to search for and display the Applications first. Open Spotlight in System Preferences by typing “Spotlight pref” in Spotlight and hit Return. This will take you directly to the Spotlight Preference Pane.
In the Spotlight Preference Pane you can customize how search results are displayed.
The typical Apple Keyboard Shortcut for Spotlight is Cmd+Space. This will direct typing on the keyboard to Spotlight. So just type in the search string and press Return.
What did you learn in this post?
Or did it leave you with further questions?
Comment here to Ask Steve Blue!
Written by Steve Blue
steveblue@iuseapple.com
Mike
This is a really basic tip, don’t you think? It is what Spotlight is used for. Here’s one for you: [opt][cmd][space] opens an advances Spotlight window, effectively replacing the [windows][e] shortcut all us ex-XP users miss so badly.
Feb 19th, 2008 12:09 pm
steveblue
Sure Mike, this is a basic tip. Sometimes I just like to write about the actions I take for granted. You’d be surprised how many people I’ve tutored in their homes don’t know about Spotlight. I’ll post something more advanced soon.
Feb 19th, 2008 6:33 pm
Murphy
I agree with Steve. There are tons of people out there that would NEVER know about this, along with plenty of other basics the rest of us take for granted.
In Tiger, you had to hit Command Return to select the top hit in Spotlight. It’s definitely more useful in Leopard.
Feb 20th, 2008 6:23 am
Jon
This is definitely useful as is the expanded Spotlight feature Mike described. Nice tips. Thanks!
Feb 28th, 2008 7:14 pm
Terry
This is an awesome tip! As a new mac convert, the biggest difficulty for me has been having to use the mouse so much.
In windows, I would just make sure to put a unique character at the beginning of my most used apps in the start menu, then hit [window], [key] to launch that app. I haven’t had a mouseless way to launch apps in Leopard without installing Yet Another App… so this is Ideal!
Thank you!
May 14th, 2008 6:21 pm
Nikki
Thanks, but my favorite application to use is Quicksilver. It basically acts like Spotlight, but does a lot more. Freeware too.
Jun 12th, 2008 4:34 am
Justin
Is there a way to disable (or preferably change) the keyboard shortcut for spotlight? I do a lot of formatting in documents (mostly powerpoint presentations as I am a Jr. High teacher, so I bold and italicize a lot of stuff). Long story, well, less long is that in doing all of that formatting and then hitting space bar to move on to the next letter sometimes I haven’t let up on command all the way before I hit space for the next word (as I am in a hurry). So, is there a way I could remap it to a key that 1) isn’t already taken and 2) I don’t use very often when typing, unlike the space bar which I use almost EVERY time right after I change formatting.
Aug 26th, 2008 8:33 pm
Steve Blue
Justin,
You can change the Keyboard Shortcut. Open System Preferences, choose Keyboard & Mouse, click the Keyboard Shortcuts tab, then scroll down to the bottom of the resulting list.
Where the list reads:
Show Spotlight Search Field CMD Space
Double Click CMD Space and perform the replacement shortcut while it is highlighted. For instance, if you want to make the new shortcut “Control Space” then hold down Control and hit the Space bar.
Steve
Aug 28th, 2008 7:27 am