Better Spotlight

Before Spotlight on the Mac, there was [Sherlock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_(software), a file search utility that existed on the Mac back in OS 8.5. One version of it so incisively eviscerated a beloved shareware app that “Sherlock” became a verb: to wit, when Apple obviates your product by building its functionality into the system.

Spotlight functions perfectly well as a file search utility and even an application launcher. Over the years, Apple has added many features to the service, including a dictionary, calculator, and even web searches.

I’ve welcomed Spotlight’s evolution over the years, but recently found the order of search results skewing away from file search results–what I typically use Spotlight for–and web search results. I dug into the Spotlight settings in System Settings and found that while you can’t set the order of the search results (a reasonable request), you can turn categories off.

I turned off off fonts, tips, and websites. I can’t say tips and fonts were bothering me, but it’s great to have spotlight acting like its old self again.

Spotlight Category Options in macOS Sequoia

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