Learn how to use the revamped macOS Tahoe Spotlight Search to find files and apps, run quick actions, and access clipboard history on your Mac.
Access Spotlight Search
You can access Spotlight Search on macOS Tahoe 26 the same way as before, which is by pressing together the Command + Space Bar keys.
Switch between various modes
The new Spotlight is more than just search. It also has an Applications section, a dedicated Files search, quick Actions, and Clipboard history. You can access these different modes using pointer or keyboard shortcuts, as explained below.
Using the pointer
Press the Command + Space Bar keys to open the familiar Spotlight Search. Then, instead of typing, move your mouse/trackpad cursor, and you’ll see the four circular buttons to access Applications, Files, Actions, and Clipboard modes. Click the one you need, and then enter the search term.
Using keyboard shortcut
Press Command + Space Bar to invoke Spotlight Search, and then press the following to go to the respective modes:
- Applications: Command + 1
- Files search: Command + 2
- Actions: Command + 3
- Clipboard: Command + 4
Using combined keyboard shortcuts
In the above method, you’re pressing two sets of keys (Command + Space Bar and then Command + 1/2/3/4). To get to each of these modes quicker, use these keyboard shortcuts:
- Applications: Command + Space Bar + 1
- Files search: Command + Space Bar + 2
- Actions: Command + Space Bar + 3
- Clipboard: Command + Space Bar + 4
Pressing the Command + Space Bar keyboard shortcut opens the good ol’ familiar Spotlight Search. However, if you click the magnifying icon in the menu bar, it shows the new Spotlight with the four icons for Applications, Files, Actions, and Clipboard. You can show the magnifying icon in your Mac’s menu bar by going to System Settings > Menu Bar, and checking the box for Spotlight.
Now that you know how to fully access the new Spotlight Search, here are the quick steps to make use of it.
Spotlight Search
This still has all the old tricks up its sleeve: you can search for pretty much everything, including apps, files, actions, definitions, flight information, weather, restaurants, movie showtimes, calculations, conversions, and more.
See Spotlight history
Open Spotlight and press the up arrow key to see your past searches and actions.
Filter search by locations
Open Spotlight, type the name of the location, like iCloud Drive or Finder, and press the tab key. Now, type what you’re looking for.
Search by app
Open Spotlight, type the app name (e.g., Mail, Notes, Calendar), and press the tab key. Now, type your search term to find it.
Search by kind
Type / and enter PDF, Image, or other file kind, then hit the return key. Now, type a search term to see narrowed-down results and find the right item quickly.
Note that you can also search by keywords like before (like kind:images created:1/1/25).
Show the location of a file
Search for a file in Spotlight and hold the Command key to reveal the location. Double-click the location to go to it.
Applications
The Launchpad is no longer available on Mac running macOS Tahoe; it’s instead integrated into Spotlight. To see all your apps:
- Pinch with four or five fingers on your MacBook’s trackpad.
- Press Command + Space Bar + 1
- Go to Finder > Applications
- Click the Apps icon (that looks like the old Launchpad icon) in your Dock.
While it shouldn’t be a big deal, I detest this new small Applications pane in Spotlight. To be fair, it has a few handy things like a top row of suggested apps, an optional list view, and the ability to see all iPhone apps in one place. But still, it feels like a downgrade from the good old full-screen Launchpad. Additionally:
- Unlike Launchpad, you can’t rearrange your apps as you want. Instead, the apps are shown alphabetically.
- You can’t put unnecessary apps in a folder anymore.
- You can no longer check the download progress outside of the App Store.
- Holding the Option key or right-clicking an app icon doesn’t allow deleting an app downloaded from the Mac App Store.
Hide iPhone apps on Mac
The new Applications pane in macOS 26 Spotlight also shows your iPhone apps, and clicking one opens it in iPhone Mirroring. If you want to hide these iOS apps, click the menu button in the Spotlight Applications mode and uncheck “Show iPhone Apps.”
Files
If you’re just looking for a file and don’t want other kinds of items to populate your search screen, you can use the new Files mode instead of the usual Spotlight Search. To find something faster, use the small bubbles under the search box to narrow down your results. And once you find the item:
- Select and press the Space Bar to open it in Quick Look.
- Click it to open it in a compatible app.
- To see that file in Finder, right-click over its name and select “Show in Finder.”
- And to search a folder, select it, press the tab key, and then type what you’re looking for.
Note that when you go to the Spotlight Files mode, it shows some suggested and recent items, which can include sensitive files. So, if you often share your Mac with others, consider creating a separate user account or excluding specific folders from Spotlight.
Actions
Quick Actions is an interesting new feature in macOS 26 Spotlight Search, which lets you do things without opening the respective app. For instance, if you want to start a voice recording, you can do that without going to the Voice Memos app. Similarly, you can send messages, start a timer, create a note, add a new event to the calendar, change AirDrop incoming settings, and a lot more right from Spotlight. This is similar to the Spotlight App Shortcuts feature introduced a couple of years back with iOS 17.
Here’s an example of how it works — imagine I need to message my wife about dinner. Now, instead of going to the Messages app, I will do the following:
1) Press Command + Space Bar + 3 to go to Spotlight Actions.
2) Select the “Send Message” Action and hit the enter key.
3) Type what I want my message to say. Then, type my wife’s name in the recipient field, select her contact, and hit the enter key.
4) A Live Activity appears in Mac’s menu bar showing the status, and then the message will be sent.
Obviously, the steps will differ based on which Action you choose to run, but the fundamentals are the same. Additionally, this isn’t limited to just stock apps or system functions; even third-party apps can add Spotlight Actions if they want.
Note that some Actions, such as creating a new Keynote presentation, will obviously open the relevant app.
Assign keyboard shortcuts to favorite actions
You’ll see a long list of Actions, and not all of them will be meaningful to you. Secondly, if a favorite Action (like creating a new voice recording) is at the bottom of the list, you’ll have to scroll a lot to run it, which defeats the purpose of ‘quick’ Actions. So, to access your favorite Actions even faster, you can assign quick keys for them. After that, simply go to Spotlight Actions and hit that quick key, followed by the return key to run that Action.
Click the “Add quick keys” button next to an action, and press one or more keys from 1 to 9 or A to Z. Then, press the enter key to assign the chosen keyboard shortcut to this Action.
Note: The more you use Spotlight, the better it will understand your usage and improve over time. You may not need to rely on Quick Keys, as the actions you use frequently may appear at the top.
Clipboard
In previous macOS builds, you had to rely on keyboard shortcut trickery or third-party apps to save multiple clipboards. macOS 26 finally adds a much-needed native clipboard history feature to Spotlight, which remembers all the text, images, and files you copy on your Mac, iPad, or iPhone, and saves them there.
Press the Command + Space Bar + 4 keys to see your clipboard history, and then do the following:
- Select the clipboard history item and hit the enter key to paste this clipboard into your current text field.
- Copy a clipboard by clicking the copy icon next to it.
- Right-click on a clipboard item to paste, copy, or delete.
- Hit the three-dots menu icon to clear history.
Although this is great, I will stick to using the excellent Copy Clip app to save my text clipboards. This is because accessing my CopyClip clipboard history takes just one click in the menu bar, whereas accessing the Spotlight clipboard history requires pressing a handful of key combinations.
Return to the main Spotlight Search window
Take the mouse pointer over the selected Applications, Files, Action, or Clipboard icon, and it will turn into a back arrow (<). Click it to return to the first Spotlight Search mode.
Manage a few settings for each mode
After going to Spotlight Applications, Files, Actions, or Clipboard modes, click the three-dots menu icon to change the view style or take other available action.
Change your Spotlight Search settings
You can manage several aspects of your Mac’s search feature by going to System Settings > Spotlight. Among other things, it allows you to reset all quick keys, prevent results from certain apps from appearing in Spotlight, disable the Clipboard history feature, and prevent the iPhone clipboard (Universal Clipboard) from displaying on Mac.
What are your thoughts on this new Spotlight?