I felt the same way, until I read @xdev’s post above:
Who knew? It never occurred to me that there would be a Setting that governed Spotlight’s search options. I have subsequently trimmed Spotlight’s “search creep” substantially.
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I should add that in Sys Prefs > Spotlight if you turn off the internet-based searches, it greatly speeds up Spotlight’s speed.
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I don’t have a magnifying glass in my menu bar. I expected to find an option to show or hide it in System Preferences > Spotlight, but it wasn’t there. Is that because I’m still on Big Sur? (FWIW, I also do not have “internet-based searches” available in the list at System Preferences > Spotlight.)
Depending on your OS, there’s option to display that icon under Dock & Menu Bar. Search for “show spotlight” in the preferences pane to find it.
It’s not called that, but some of the searches like “Siri Suggestions,” use the internet.
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I use Spotlight to search text content on my hard drive. I do NOT use it for, and have disabled, all other kinds of searches.
I replied never but I use Houdah Spot which I think reads the Spotlight database.
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Ya. Launchbar for those. Only use Spotlight when remoted onto other computers.
Seeing the things Spotlight can now do, will investigate how to do some of those things in Launchbar, particularly maps searches.
Thanks.
r
I had no idea Spotlight could do more than find files and folders, and no idea where to learn more about it.
To search for a file, I almost always use Find Any File.
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I use Alexa on an Echo device for many of the similar functions Spotlight provides. I mainly use Spotlight as a launcher. Houdah Spot or Tembo in my menu bar is a much better search engine. So is advanced Finder search after learning how to use it. Changes to Spotlight for finding contacts and phone numbers have made it much more difficult to use for this purpose.
EasyFind for me. It is easier and simpler to find specific items for me.
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I use Spotlight search via ⌘-Space for launching applications. Searching pictographs is not my best mental capability. I am much more adept at list processing. I limit keyboard-initated searches to applications to reduce the result list size.
I find the Finder search field much more satisfactory for both file by name and content searches.
My Dock has around two dozen of my most used applications. The Dock is locked so that the applications are grouped for my best use. Think of it as a mini-launch pad arranged by myself, not Apple. (within Dock limits, of course)
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Long time Alfred user. On any Mac, I just disable the Spotlight keyboard shortcut completely and use ⌘+Space to open Alfred instead.
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Same here. I use HoudahSpot very often.
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New TidBits “commenter” here, so forgive me please if I’m in the wrong spot to comment. I rarely use Spotlight–maybe a dozen times a year, and then just by filename words. My search engine of choice is FoxTrot Professional, which I use close to daily. (Yeah, I don’t often need to find things. [If you knew me, you’d also be thankful that I just deleted from my draft comment a small dissertation on FoxTrot, recognizing that this reply/comment doesn’t seek that level of detail.])
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I dont use spotlight itself but I do use its index via HoudahSpot
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CMD-space only for launching apps and keyboard calculations. Find Any File is my go to app for file finding; it always works and results don’t leave me doubting their accuracy. Someday I’ll look for something that can actually search Apple’s Mail archives but too busy now to bother.
I use FoxTrot, too. It’s a little pricey, but it has probably paid its way after about fourteen years of almost daily use.
I use HoudahSpot. Every time I see what Spotlight can do I laugh at how limited it is and admire how powerful HoudahSpot is.
