Cupertino has not updated the standard search engine in macOS for a long time. New tokens in buildings are very rare, and some features are regionally restricted and useless in Russia (and many other countries). For example, we have spotlight Doesn’t recognize objects or animals in photos, doesn’t show weather forecasts, and doesn’t show delivery or flight times.
Only the most devoted macdrivers use the standard search, for the rest it is a little-useful string, which is sometimes accidentally included instead of switching the input language.
Apple has limited potential spotlight and do not allow third party developers to add extensions. You need to either make a chip yourself, or allow it to enthusiasts.
Long time best replacement spotlight was a utility Alfred. This is a feature rich application of its kind that has tons of features, extensions and plugins. Several times they tried to make friends with him, but each time there was not enough time and patience, they prepared everything for themselves.
The most important plugin did not stay the first time, so that the configured automation would be crooked, it was a pity to waste your time digging in Russian-language forums.
I don’t dispute what potential you have Alfred Huge, but time for the implementation of the program needs to be given a lot.
What replaced Spotlight and Alfred
For more than a year I have been following a promising developing project Raycast and finally decided to give it a try.
In essence, this is the same universal definition string with the specified values, but not as heavy and difficult to learn as Alfred. Utility Raycast I have already acquired lighting fixtures, and enthusiasts have filled the add-on store.
For installation Raycast do the following:
1. Download the utility from the developer’s site.
2. Postpone Raycast into action Programs.
3. Go to System Preferences – Keyboard – Keyboard Shortcuts… and disable the default launch shortcut Searchlight.
4. Now run the utility Raycast and in the initial window, select convenient keyboard shortcuts for activation.
You can take an initial training to get comfortable with the features of the program.
What Raycast can do out of the box
In the utilities, you need to activate autorun at system startup, you can reassign keyboard shortcuts to select, enable or disable the program icon in the menu bar, select a theme design, font size, and select a window.
Raycast repeats all basic features Searchlight: search for files on the computer, queries in Google, mathematical calculations.
Advanced calculator and currency converter. In the search line, you can write not only mathematical formulas, but also the currency for conversion. The utility copes with currency conversion, interest calculation, calculation of the difference in time zones and the number of days per day.
▶ View calendar and reminders. The first time you go to these sections, you must give the utilities access to the corresponding applications.
After that, quickly view current events, create new ones, manage notes and to-do lists.
▶ Control system. With the help of a special command, you can quickly perform the necessary actions without going to the settings.
For example, you can unmount a drive or partition, increase the intensity, change the volume level, log out, or lock your Mac. Among other interesting system actions, I will note the inclusion of displaying hidden files and terminating the dependent application. There are special shortcuts for this, but they are forgotten and at the right time you have to do everything with the mouse or google.
▶ View clipboard history. Usually, a third-party application or utility is used for this. Raycast can replace them.
When entering a command Clipboard show the data you recently backed up. You can filter by data type and see only text, links, or files. Frequently copied data can be pinned and opened using customizable keyboard keys.
▶ Windows application management. This feature of the program allows you to use another type of application that you need to comfortably work with macOS.
You just need to run the search text while working with the program and enter the command – the window will be moved to the specified area. Of course, the location of the zones, the size of the windows and their position on the screen can be flexible to ensure security in the zones. You can also add comfortable shorts there so as not to write the command in full.
▶ Text templates. For frequently entered data, you can create such title snippets. In this way, you can quickly defeat the card number, phone, email address or something else.
You can create a kind of snippets with the current date, time, or text copied to the clipboard as variables.
Even such a starting set of features will be enough to use a function from a couple of components. Raycast for some private requests or actions.
How to expand the capabilities of Raycast. Most Useful Plugins
When you get comfortable with the standard options, you can go to the menu of available extensions. Here you can build functional utilities almost indefinitely.
By the way, in the menu for managing installed add-ons, you can configure three important options:
▪ Nickname is the character that activates the command in the search bar. For example, you can set up a search in Google by the symbol “G”, after which it will be enough to enter a letter and start searching for a search query.
▪ hot key – a global keyboard shortcut between which you can open an option without opening a search bar. For example, you can set your own shortcut to view the clipboard or to move the active window to the desired part of the screen.
▪ Included – this item allows you to disable unused actions so that they are not offered in the search bar Raycast.
When you figured out the options and settings, you can go to the add-ons store. At the time of publication of the article, there are already more than 1000 extensions. I offer a choice of additional extensions.
▶ ChatGPT bot. To set up, you will need to get your API key and enter it into the system. You can do this according to our instructions. After that, you can use AI directly in the search bar.
▶ Google Translator. A standard translator with great translation power and care for correcting their fragments.
▶ YouTube downloader. Plugin for downloading videos from YouTube. Able to intercept the link from the clipboard and ensures the preservation of the quality of the videos.
▶ System Monitor. This add-on shows your Mac booting up for the first time. You can find out which applications load the processor, provide RAM, or consume network traffic.
▶ Apple Mail. A small plug-in allows you to quickly transfer the necessary letters to a standard mail client, forward them or find an address.
▶ Toothpick. This add-on is designed to control connected Bluetooth gadgets. You can quickly switch to a different audio output source, hijack a mouse or keyboard from another computer, or disable an accessory you don’t need.
▶ Weather. Meteorological extension to view the current weather or forecast in a convenient way.
There are plenty of other add-ons for connecting to apps or services via text search. Raycast.
So for several weeks now I have been using this application, completely rejected by the standard spotlight and perform some of the necessary actions with lightning speed.
If you use Raycastshare our favorite forks, and if you prefer Alfred – ready to listen to the arguments in his favor.
Source: Iphones RU
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
