Question 1

What is SearchOnMac?

Accepted Answer

SearchOnMac is a native macOS utility that lets users search their Mac using natural-language descriptions of what they remember. It searches files, apps, open windows and browser tabs, clipboard history, Mail and Calendar, using on-device AI for similar meanings and questions.

Question 2

How does SearchOnMac search my Mac?

Accepted Answer

SearchOnMac reads a query for what kind of thing you want, where it is, when you used it and what to do with it, in about 5 ms. It then searches its own on-device index and your open windows, tabs, apps, clipboard, Mail and Calendar at the same time; results usually appear in about a tenth of a second.

Question 3

What can SearchOnMac find?

Accepted Answer

Files and folders (including the text inside PDFs, documents and screenshots), apps, open windows and browser tabs, clipboard history, Mail (sender, subject and date), Calendar events and recent Terminal commands. It also does quick maths and system actions like dark mode.

Question 4

Does SearchOnMac replace Spotlight?

Accepted Answer

SearchOnMac complements or replaces Spotlight depending on your workflow. While Spotlight requires exact filenames or substring matches, SearchOnMac allows you to describe what you remember (e.g. “the PDF I downloaded this morning” or “the terminal where flutter failed”).

Question 5

Does SearchOnMac work offline?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Searching never uses the network. The app goes online only to check its license (with a grace period when you are offline) and, if you choose, to download its local AI model once.

Question 6

What data leaves my Mac?

Accepted Answer

Your searches, files and screen never do. The app sends only your license key, this Mac's name and an instance ID to check the license, and downloads its optional local AI model from Hugging Face. There are no analytics.

Question 7

How does SearchOnMac AI work?

Accepted Answer

All AI in SearchOnMac runs on your Mac. Apple's on-device language models match similar meanings ("taxes" finds "Tax Documents"), and on Macs with Apple Intelligence they help read sentence-style questions. Results by name appear first and are never held back waiting for AI.

Question 8

What permissions does SearchOnMac need?

Accepted Answer

File and app search need no special permissions. Other features ask only when you turn them on: Accessibility for windows, Automation for browser tabs, Full Disk Access for Mail, Calendars for meeting context, and Screen Recording for the optional "Remember visible content".

Question 9

How do I invoke SearchOnMac?

Accepted Answer

Press ⌥ Space (Option + Space) anywhere on macOS to bring up the floating search launcher centered over your active workspace. Press ⎋ (Escape) to dismiss.

Question 10

What is the SearchOnMac keyboard shortcut?

Accepted Answer

The default global hotkey is ⌥ Space. You can also customize this hotkey at any time in SearchOnMac Settings.

Question 11

How does clipboard search work?

Accepted Answer

SearchOnMac keeps the text you copy on this Mac (turn it on in Settings → Search); the latest 100 items are searchable, and concealed passwords are skipped. You can find copied items using memory descriptions like “the API token I copied yesterday”.

Question 12

Can I clear my search history?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can clear clipboard history, recent search entries, and learned rankings instantly with a single click in Settings > Privacy.

Question 13

What versions of macOS are supported?

Accepted Answer

SearchOnMac is compiled natively for Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4) running macOS Sonoma 14.0+ and macOS Sequoia 15.0+.

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