14 DAY TRIAL // One of the key features in Yosemite described by Apple both at WWDC and at the October 16 event last week is Spotlight, the OS’ system-wide search function which now extends its queries to the Internet.
Or so would Apple have us believe. While some users are enjoying a wonderful experience with this feature, Spotlight on some computers doesn’t perform as expected. This was our case as well.
Everything works fine, with one exception
Opinions are divided regarding Spotlight in OS X Yosemite. The system-wide search function has moved from the top right-hand corner to right smack in the middle of the screen. Some people like it, others don’t. Personally, I find it very natural to have it there.
In fact, I’ve always regarded search as one of the key functions of any OS. It’s amazing how Microsoft has denied users an intuitive search of the computer’s entire contents for so many years. But I digress.
What I’m saying is that Spotlight in Yosemite is simply awesome. It’s got transparency, it looks up everything on your Mac that even remotely resembles your query, it lets you specify dozens of places to look and not to look (i.e. optimizations), it integrates with the Dictionary, and it even brings up files that have been buried deep inside the OS, like .xml files, .ipa files (iOS applications), and so on.
At the very bottom of the results window, you get an option to Show all in Finder, which is very handy for people who work with large databases or need to access the same files over and over again each and every day from different parts of the computer.
So everything is great with Spotlight on Yosemite, with one massive exception.
No web search
Web search was actually one of the things I was hoping to use the most in Yosemite. Imagine my frustration when I discovered it wasn’t functional.
Granted, it works for most people. But for some users, like these frustrated customers on Apple Support Communities and myself, Spotlight doesn’t bring up the promised Wikipedia results and other web searches we’ve been looking forward to seeing.
Why? After doing some digging, we discovered it may have something to do with the customer’s region. Some users have found that by matching their language with their region, the system instantly started to provide Bing results. Others, who performed the same modifications, didn’t see any changes in their Spotlight searches. Myself included.
It’s unclear if we’re either too dumb to understand how the new Spotlight works or if Apple needs to provide a software fix, but one thing is for sure: the feature doesn’t work as intended, even if it’s just because you have to perform tweaks to get the advertised functionality.
