How Do You Ctrl F on a Mac?
We’ve all been there: You need to find a word or phrase in a word processing document or web page. You don’t want to read the entire page; you want to find the word right away. If you’re on a Mac, here’s what to do.
On a PC, you can search for words and phrases using Ctrl F. On a Mac, the equivalent is hitting Command+F on the keyboard. When you do this, a search bar opens in the program you’re using. You might prefer to search using a menu instead of the keyboard. Most apps that support search let you open the search bar by clicking the Edit menu > Find > Find. In the search bar, type the word or phrase you need to find. The number of matches appears in the top right corner. The tool also highlights all instances of the word or phrase. Move through the results by hitting the Return button on the keyboard or clicking the arrow keys next to the search bar. When you’re done with the search, close the searcher by hitting the Escape key, clicking the Done button, or clicking the X in the search bar to clear your search.
How Do You Do a Search on a Mac?
The instructions from the last section are great if you’re searching within just one program at a time. But what if you want to scan all programs and files on your Mac from a single search tool? Enter Spotlight.
Spotlight is built into the macOS. It’s a powerful, system-wide search tool. Here’s how to use it.
Open Spotlight by clicking Command+Space Bar on the keyboard. The Spotlight bar will appear. You can also click the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner of the screen. In the Spotlight bar, type the word or phrase you’re looking for. Results will begin to populate in the drop-down beneath the search bar. Click the one you want to open (or use arrows keys and the Return button). You can also browse a list of all results that match your search on your computer. To do so, scroll to the bottom of the list. Click Show all in Finder to open a Finder window. Double click the result to open it.
