3.06 Gigabytes of updates and no responsiveness to this issue. Frustrating.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Spotlight - How to Remove Web Search from Results
- Thread starter seetheforest
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Yup c'mon Apple. I remember when Steve Jobs showed off the new Spotlight and emphasized it would be a new way to search YOUR MAC for whatever document you were looking for. Apple quietly phased in embedded web searching here, with the option to disable going away mid-Monterey, I think. Now I have to scroll down past any number of things, including App Store offers (you're advertising to me on my personal device now!?), trending Safari searches I don't care about, and links to various Apple-related product searches in order to access the results I'm looking for - a very un-Steve set of hurdles that annoys the f out of me. Wouldn't be surprised if Apple gets $ to highlight certain search results above others, like Google does.
Hi guys, I was struggling with this also, and fiddling around, I seem to have red myself of browser searches. In spotlight preferences, I unchecked these three "Bookmarks & History", "Other", and "Siri Suggestions" and now all I get from firefox, is an offer to search the web, all other results finally just come from my own computer. Hope this helps someone else with this nightmare. I'm on the latest OS and update at tinme of writing, so that's MacOS Monterey Version 12.6
Not fixed in Ventura. So frustrating. But now the system settings are in a different format which also makes it harder to find the setting you want to adjust! Yay! Why can't they add "web search" to the search results so that we can simply unselect it? WHY?
I saw your post after I posted mine (I'm now running Ventura). I already had the other two unchecked so I also unchecked "Other". It didn't help me.
I eventually had to upgrade to Monterey for "reasons", and so now have to deal with this monstrosity. It really does reduce the utility of Spotlight to "Launch Application" and almost nothing else – I find the mini-calculator useful occasionally. Such a shame, because Spotlight was so useful through to Catalina.
And they still haven't fixed the "Developer" section showing in all cases. Just give us the option to switch it off for heaven's sake.
The overall utility is so wrong, so low, it has surely been done on purpose and for a reason, but I've no idea what that might be. Perhaps time for Alfred...
(I just entered "user" to go to "Users and Groups" and got a search for "user-defined classes". How can anyone get this so wrong?)
And they still haven't fixed the "Developer" section showing in all cases. Just give us the option to switch it off for heaven's sake.
The overall utility is so wrong, so low, it has surely been done on purpose and for a reason, but I've no idea what that might be. Perhaps time for Alfred...
(I just entered "user" to go to "Users and Groups" and got a search for "user-defined classes". How can anyone get this so wrong?)
Yep. I more or less gave up on Spotlight and have been using Raycast. I’ve found it to be much more customizable for my needs. Alfred would be another alternative.
I wonder if it's something they can't fix, because it's part of the contract Google pays them (tens of) billions for. (I.e., a requirement to embed web search in every search interface they provide. Even though you can customize the engine it hands off to to not to be Google, I believe very few people do this.)
I "fixed" this issue by moving to Launchbar.
Spotlight just got worse and worse for me. For example, after typing "exp" for my expenses spreadsheet, Spotlight suddenly started returning Expansion Slot Utility, which I've never used; "Time" would go into Time Machine itself instead of its Preferences; and "net" would go somewhere other than Network Settings. On and on the results were rubbish. Launchbar is much closer to where I expected Apple to take Spotlight, but it clearly isn't going to happen, so I moved on.
Spotlight just got worse and worse for me. For example, after typing "exp" for my expenses spreadsheet, Spotlight suddenly started returning Expansion Slot Utility, which I've never used; "Time" would go into Time Machine itself instead of its Preferences; and "net" would go somewhere other than Network Settings. On and on the results were rubbish. Launchbar is much closer to where I expected Apple to take Spotlight, but it clearly isn't going to happen, so I moved on.
Yep.
I type a few words from names of files I open frequently, and now my files are not even in the list of results.
This is so dumb.
Yes, this is why I finally tried Launchbar – Spotlight kept "forgetting" things. That and the crazy behaviour that is the subject of this thread. It's bonkers, really, because Spotlight's core function is to adapt to your behaviour. So those things, plus the inability to control Spotlight's behaviour – like removing web search – made me jump
Last edited:
Ha, just came across this thread. I've been thinking how useless Spotlight has become for the past two months. Difficult to say whether Siri or Spotlight takes the crown for most ******ified Apple service.
I give up! It's not worth fighting with Spotlight. So what are people using as a replacement these days? I see LaunchBar mentioned. What about Alfred? Raycast? Any recommendations?
I give up! It's not worth fighting with Spotlight. So what are people using as a replacement these days? I see LaunchBar mentioned. What about Alfred? Raycast? Any recommendations?
It is a 3-way religious war. You have to try them and discover what you like. (I use Alfred)
It's probably best to continue the conversation about other apps here "Spotlight alternatives for macOS"
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/spotlight-alternatives-for-macos.2457635/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/spotlight-alternatives-for-macos.2457635/