I use Alfred, not Spotlight, including to find and open files. According to the usage stats in Alfred I use it on average 3.8 times per day, which is less than I would have guessed. Perhaps I have fewer apps and files on my Mac than others?
I use my own NeoFinder software to search for data, as Spotlight hides too much stuff from me (invisible folders, system folders) and doesnāt work at all for offline or even connected SMB server volumes.
Spotlight feels like one of the many many technologies that Apple had initially created for a clear purpose, and that worked really well for a time, but fell in deep disregard and total lack of maintenance over the years.
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Spotlightā¦ you know, the thing represented by a MAGNIFYING GLASS. WTF, Apple? 
I use Spotlight every time I use my Mac itās probably my most important āappā, now that I think about it!
I always use Spotlight - cmd-space - to open apps. Itās so fast! And itās usually enough to write the first few letters. Never use the Dock for this (or anything else, really), or Mission Control. If I canāt remember the apps name Iāll open the applications folder and scroll down till I find it. I suppose I could use Mission Control for that, but Iām an old dog (bought my first Mac - a Mac Plus that I still have) in 1988 and never looked back), and scrolling down the familiar Finder interface works well for me.
I begin file searches with cmd-space, but itās annoying that Spotlight doesnāt show file or folder paths, which would be helpful when search results show multiple folders with the same name. Why not? One would think that would be an easy implementation.
If Spotlight fails me, I do a finder search. For some reason (not for lack of a pretty high level of Mac curiosity, so I guess Iām pretty satisfied) Iāve never tried any of the other tools mentioned above. But Iām curious about Raycast.
Other than as an app launcher and file finder, I mostly use Spotlight for exchange rates, simple calculations, and conversions. If Iām looking for mail or photos, Iāll normally search in those apps.
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In the name of full disclosure I think you should mention youāre the author.
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When I press command-space, I get nothing put a little dark-colored circle that goes away when I click on it, or actually, if I donāt
Good point, I have updated the post as well.
I use Spotlight almost daily, but not much and the main problem is that apart from helping to launch apps not in Dock, I seldom find what I am looking for in the quick results and then need to open the results in Finder and then about 50% of the time find what I am looking for there ā typically some not so recent document containing the word(s) I am searching on ā one common problem being that encoding of documents could make it difficult for spotlight to find what I am looking for. I always keep EasyFind (better than any other search program I have heard about) at hand to be able to search more effectively mail files etc. when needed, but it takes so long time ā¦ .
To look up words I never use spotlight the normal way but always use three-finger click which was a smart thing (for once) by Apple to add (esp. when you go into Dictionary to specify in the settings to use Wikipedia in some languages as well). I never use Spotlight for web searches as it is not particularly well designed for that. Calculator I use in Brave ā the Brave search can handle longer sequences of number operations than Google Search! I never find anything in Photos and have to search by looking (as I have not given them proper titles for the most part). Conversion I usually do on an iOS map for checking how far I get on my bike for a certain average speed :-). System settings search has become relevant since Ventura and used it a few times now. I seldom find contacts when searching for them even though I am better than most on keeping my Contacts up and knowing the importance of it (as few Mac users do, when using Mail). Maps? oh well.
I use Alfred, which requires Spotlight to function. I never use Spotlight directly except on a computer where Alfred isnāt installed, e.g., my wifeās Mac Mini.
LaunchBar to launch & search. Like others here I find Spotlight a bit irritating ā on the rare occasions I do use it to search for a file I always call up its results in the Finder.
Whereas, along with Default Folder, I love LaunchBar ā it just works!
Several applications besides Adobe (although thatās our biggest one) use command-space. First thing I did when Spotlight came along was change the shortcut to control-space for all of our Macs. Never looked back. I use it 100% to launch applications and calculations. I donāt think any of the others at my company do. Itās weird now when Iām helping a friend at home and I hammer on control-space trying to figure out why it wonāt work 
.
I use Spotlight to launch Alfred, on those very rare occasions when itās not already running.
Yes to Alfred for casually finding files, especially for finding Contacts (WAY better)! Often Spotlight seems to find everything BUT what Iām looking for, which it hides somewhere in clumps of extraneous and unwanted websites, songs, emails etc. For occasional digging out of obscure files, my 100% go-to is Templemanās Find Any File.
Ralph, in Spotlightās Search Results window, click to highlight a file or Folder name in the search results - and then press CMD-R. Finder will open the window and highlights the search result item.
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I personally prefer to use Fast Find for finding files. Iāve never utilized Spotlight directly.
As for opening Apps, I created a set of Folders arranged alphabetically with aliases to my most used Apps and link to it in the Dock, which works like the Classic Apple Menu. Iāve carried this āApple Menuā across many machines and OS upgrades.
I rarely use Spotlight, mostly because it gives me so many different search results. I rarely find this useful.
For an app launcher I much prefer Launchpad.
Its search feature works as easily as Spotlightās but it ONLY searches apps.
Actually, most of the time I use my Recent Apps stack in the Dock as my primary app launcher. If the app I want isnāt there, I go to Launchpad.
I use Spotlight but every time Iām annoyed that I have to click so much. I want to find files and not file content. I often have to search for files that canāt be searched with Spotlight. I much prefer to use Find Any File.
To start apps I use Alfred.
I use spotlight extensively, but not with the Apple UI, which is miserable.
I use HoudahSpot which provides spotlight functionality with a great interface. It has saved my digital life numerous times, notably when I was looking for old administrative documents (Iām French). A handy tool worth a look.
Dear Adam,
greetings from France. Good subject, as for the past 18 years Iāve wondered
WHO are the hidden users of Spotlight.
1 - I NEVER use it. I find index creation and update a VERY TIME-CONSUMING
task, so Iāve disabled it.
2 - I canāt spare the time and disk space for it, and it is not very fast. For external
disks - I have about 120 TB on 3-4 NAS and several smaller 2 - 24 TB drives, indexing
takes forever and hogs space.
3 - I use UINIX find with all its options - piped into GREP for search, or AWK or other options
4 - I also use a beta āFind my fileā which can even search text contents of files, without occupying
disk space. It is not very fast, but itās usable in the background.
There you have it, all the best
Alexandre
I use it fairly regularly to find specific files and filetypes. I use LaunchBar and itās pretty good for finding most of what I need. But Iāll switch to spotlight if LaunchBar doesnāt come up with the right thing.