Spotlight preferences
Use Spotlight System Preferences to choose the categories that appear in Spotlight search results, and to keep Spotlight from searching specific folders or disks.
To open these preferences, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Spotlight.
Open Spotlight preferences for me
Search Results pane
Choose which categories appear in Spotlight search results: Select the categories you want to include; deselect those you don’t.
By default, Spotlight results include Spotlight Suggestions.
Allow Spotlight Suggestions in Look Up: Show Spotlight Suggestions in results when you look up a word.
If you don’t want your Look Up search queries and Spotlight Suggestions usage data sent to Apple, deselect the “Allow Spotlight Suggestions in Look Up” checkbox, then in the list deselect the Spotlight Suggestions checkbox. When the checkboxes are not selected, Spotlight searches only the contents of your Mac, and Look Up searches only the dictionary on your Mac.
You can turn off Location Services for Spotlight Suggestions in Security & Privacy preferences. If you turn off Location Services on your Mac, your precise location won’t be sent to Apple. For detailed instructions and information, see About Spotlight Suggestions.
Privacy pane
Prevent Spotlight from searching locations on your Mac: Click the Add button
, then locate the folder or disk you want to exclude. You can also drag folders or disks into the list.Remove a folder or disk from the exclusion list: Select the folder or disk in the list, then click the Remove button
.
If you add a Time Machine backup disk to the privacy list, you will continue to see messages that Spotlight is indexing your backup disk. This indexing is necessary for Time Machine to function properly and can’t be disabled. Spotlight does exclude from searches any items you store on your backup disk that are not part of a Time Machine backup.
Important: If you add certain files and folders to the privacy list you may not be notified when updates become available for some apps. If you add your entire internal disk to the privacy list, you won’t be notified about any updates.
Set Spotlight shortcuts
Click Keyboard Shortcuts at the bottom of the Search Results pane or Privacy pane in Spotlight preferences.
You can also choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Keyboard, then click Shortcuts.
Select Spotlight on the left, then change the shortcuts on the right.
For more information about changing keyboard shortcuts, see Use global keyboard shortcuts.