Handpicked Software

Spotlight is awesome for finding files, but as an application launcher it falls a little short. Enter a search term in Spotlight and press return; Spotlight opens a Spotlight window showing all results for your query, not the application. Of course, if you’re looking for an application, it’s probably listed as the Top Hit, or just below the Top Hit in a list of Application results. Here’s how to launch the Top Hit without hitting the Down Arrow key.

After searching in Spotlight, press and hold the Command key. The Top Hit will be highlighted. Now you can hit the Return key to launch the program. If what you’re looking for is further down on the list of results, you can skip from section to section by continuing to hold the Command key and pressing the Down Arrow. For example, if you’re looking for a mail message, you can skip from Applications to Documents to Mail Messages, then release the Command key and press the Down Arrow until you highlight the result you’re looking for. Then hit Return.