Mac: Sometimes you want to Google (or Bing? up to you…) something, but opening up another browser tab feels like a touch too much effort. If you use macOS, try this handy keyboard command that makes search queries from Spotlight automatically open in your default browser’s search engine.
First, pull up Spotlight — the search bar built into macOS which you’ve probably used to find files and apps on your Mac system — by pressing Command+Space bar.
Now, say you want to look up “what to do if my dog ate weed”. Instead of opening a browser, going to Google, and typing that phrase in, you can just type it into Spotlight instead.
If you don’t like the suggestions Siri provides, hold down Command and tap B on your keyboard. Spotlight will open your browser and put your search query into the browser’s default search engine. In my case, Google.
But Spotlight isn’t the only feature that can do this. In the interest of balance, we should also point out that Spotlight’s arch-nemesis Alfred can do it as well. When you bring up the Alfred search bar and start typing search queries, you are also given the big G option. Alfred also provides a customisable keyboard shortcut so making quick search queries is extremely fast and simple.
The only difference is that you aren’t given actual search results inside Alfred, as you are in Spotlight. But hey, is that really a deal-breaker?
PSA: How to search the web using Spotlight Search on macOS | Reddit
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