Monday, December 8, 2008

Mac Tip #7: Spotlight and Spotlight Shortcut

Spotlight, located at the top right of your screen, is an easy way to quickly search for documents or applications without having to open the Finder window.  This can be beneficial if you already have lots of windows open and you don't want to open another, or you are not sure where your document or application is stored on your computer.  You can simply type in the name of whatever you are searching for in your computer and you will see a list of documents and applications come up on your computer!  Select the one you want, and you are good to go. It's like the "find it" feature on a PC, only you don't have to watch that flashlight roll around...and around....and around.

The Spotlight Icon, is found here, and looks like a magnifying glass:


You have two options to utilize this feature.  Either move your mouse there, click, and begin typing, or use this short cut:

Command + space bar

The spotlight function will pop up right away and you can start typing.  Once you type in the document name, use the arrow keys to navigate through the documents and once the one you want is selected, hit the "return" key to open it!  If you use the shortcut and decide you don't want to be in Spotlight anymore, then hit "command + space bar" and it will disappear.

Easy as pie!

1 comment:

Mary Beth said...

i really like your blog now.
so pretty.