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How Search Works
What SearchOnMac Searches
Files, apps, windows and tabs, your clipboard, Mail and Calendar — searched together.
3 min read · Updated September 2026
Files and folders
SearchOnMac keeps its own index of your everyday folders, like Downloads, Desktop and Documents. It matches names, folders, dates and kinds of file, and the text inside PDFs, documents and screenshots. That text stays in a private file on your Mac that you can clear at any time.
Apps
Every app in your Applications folders, and whether it’s already open — so switching to one is instant.
Open windows and browser tabs
Your open windows across every desktop, and the tabs open in browsers like Safari, Chrome and Arc, so you can jump straight to the one you want.
Clipboard history
When you turn it on, SearchOnMac keeps the text you copy on this Mac so you can find it again; the most recent 100 items are searchable. Passwords that password managers mark as concealed are never recorded.
Mail and Calendar
With your permission, SearchOnMac also finds emails by sender, subject and date — never the message itself — and your calendar events.
Try it on your Mac.
Press ⌥ Space and type what you remember.