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New to Mac or looking to maximize your productivity? The fastest way is to learn how to use Spotlight search and the Shortcut app to make everything on your computer just a few clicks away. In this episode of Setup Essentials, Phil walks you through how this lesser known feature can be used to instantly find files on your computer, open all of your work applications, and even ask your preferred AI agent questions right from the desktop.
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Whether you're a veteran Mac user or have picked one up recently for the first time
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you should know how to use the Spotlight feature to its fullest extent. Thanks to the latest macOS updates, Spotlight is more powerful than ever
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and when you combine it with the Shortcuts app, it basically becomes a command center for your entire Mac
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In this video, I'll show you how Spotlight on Mac works, a few useful features you might not know about
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and most importantly, how to use Spotlight with Shortcuts to take the Mac user experience to the next level
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Let's do this. Spotlight is the built-in search tool on macOS, designed to help you find anything on your Mac almost instantly
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With Spotlight, you can search for apps, files, folders, emails, photos, and even things on the web
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So instead of digging through Finder or Launchpad, you can just type what you're looking for and open it immediately
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You can even search for system settings and jump directly to them. But Spotlight can actually do a lot more than simple searches
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To open Spotlight, just press Command and Space on your keyboard. It's one of my most used shortcut keys and makes my productivity much more efficient
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One thing a lot of people don't realize is that Spotlight also works as a quick utility tool
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For example, you can use it as a calculator. Just open Spotlight and type something like 245 x 18 and it will give you the answer immediately
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It can also handle unit conversions. So you can type something like 10 miles in kilometers or what's 75 degrees Fahrenheit in Celsius
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And Spotlight will convert it instantly. You can even use it for things like currency conversions or quick definitions These little features might seem simple but once you start using them regularly they save a surprising amount of time But where Spotlight really becomes powerful is when you
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connect it with Apple's Shortcuts app. So before we get into it, leave a like and subscribe if you
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haven't already so you don't miss other episodes of Setup Essentials. Spotlight has built-in
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Shortcuts integration. If you're not familiar with Shortcuts, it's Apple's automation tool that lets
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you create custom workflows on your Mac. And the best part is that once a Shortcut exists
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you can run it directly from Spotlight. That means instead of opening apps and doing everything manually
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you can trigger an entire workflow just by typing a few words. Shortcuts is great because there is a lot of flexibility on what you can create with it
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Whether you're a beginner or someone with lots of experience coding, it's really easy to dive right in
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In the Shortcuts app, you will already see a few default options there
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but to create some, you want to hit the plus icon and go to work. It really is a let your imagination run wild type of app
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because I have seen and used so many incredible shortcuts on my Mac
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I am telling you guys, it's such a slept on feature. And I'm going to share with you guys a couple of shortcuts
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that I think 99% of you will find to be incredibly helpful
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This shortcut is designed to take and summarize any PDF documents for you
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First, open the shortcuts app. You can find it by clicking on apps on the bottom left
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or just by using spotlight to search for it. Then click on plus to create your new shortcut
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Rename the shortcut into something simple like summarize PDF or honestly whatever you want to call it
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It's your shortcut. This is important because Spotlight will use the name when you search for it later Next click on the information icon and check off Use as Quick Action Finder and Services menu
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From the list of prompts, choose Get Text from PDF, then choose Use Model
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You can select whichever AI model you'd like to use from the options. Go to the text box and type a prompt like this
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Summarize the following PDF in a few clear bullet points. Focus on the most important ideas
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This will allow you to choose any PDF from your Mac when the shortcut runs. Next, choose Show Content
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It should auto-fill to show a response. Then, an optional final step is to add Share as the final prompt so the response can be shared immediately after to another app
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You can also just copy and paste it into the software of your choice, though
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When you finish, you should then have the option to go to a PDF on your computer, right-click, go to Quick Actions, and press Summarize PDF
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Really helpful trick that honestly I wish I had while I was in college. If you're someone who finds themselves asking AI a lot of questions
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here's a neat one I use so you can just ask the question from Spotlight instead
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Select ask for input with what you would like to ask. Then select text and type in please give short answer under 100 words to the below question
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Set variable input to text. I use ChatGPT the most so I added ask ChatGPT but depending what AI you might have enabled
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you will have different options. Finally, select show and add in your AI model
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I named the shortcut Ask GPT, so in Spotlight when I type Ask GPT in my request
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and press enter it will ask ChatGPT and provide me an answer all from Spotlight If you like me and like to listen to music to help you concentrate you need this shortcut It plays your favorite focus playlist
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sets your preferred volume, and turns on Do Not Disturb. Here's how I set it up. Select Set Focus
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choose your focus mode, set it to on until turned off. Select Play Music and choose the music you
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want to play. Then set volume. I do 40%, but totally up to you guys. I named mine lock in and
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typing it in spotlight allows me to do just that. Once you start pairing spotlight with shortcuts
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your Mac becomes much faster to use overall. There are so many shortcuts you can go in and make and
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tons of amazing tutorials online. I highly recommend you guys put some time into learning
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this because this feature has changed the way I work on my Mac, whether through work, personal
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projects or even for getting errands done. So if you haven't been using Spotlight much on your Mac
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I hope you take this video as your sign to start. You will be surprised how much faster your workflow
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becomes. If you have any favorite Spotlight tricks or shortcuts that you use every day
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let me know in the comments. And as always, leaving a like on this video and subscribing
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is a great way to support the channel. Until next time, I'm Phil Rodriguez
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this is Tom's Guide, and I'll see you in the next video. Thank you
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