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I love the spotlights cmd + space functionality to start apps. Half of the time now the spotlight isn't working for me. I'm on 10.9.2 if that matters.

Say I'm in Chrome and want to open Word, for example. I hit cmd+space and... Chrome scrolls one page down. This is not just Chrome issue, if I'm using Wunderlist for example (another app) cmd + space doesn't do anything. I have to hit it 3-4 times to get spotlight open.

How can I get cmd + space functionality back? Its super quick way to launch apps and I miss it.

EDIT: Is there a quicker way to open an app with keyboard shortcuts? I'm slowly giving up on the spotlight. :(

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  • I could newer start word using cmd+space. I can start spotlight with it,
    – Ruskes
    Commented Apr 3, 2014 at 16:05
  • @Buscar웃 cmd+space, start typing "word" until the application is the top hit, hit enter.
    – dwightk
    Commented Apr 3, 2014 at 17:03
  • As Isaid, that works here, make sure you have it enabled in Spotlight preferances
    – Ruskes
    Commented Apr 3, 2014 at 17:14
  • @Buscar not only can you enter 'word' to start an app, spotlight will learn and eventually you can type open word in a few seconds by space+cmd+w ... that's right eventually you will be able to type w and it will work fine. Its great when it works, now it doesn't work half of the time :( which is very frustrating.
    – Ruben Rubovski
    Commented Apr 3, 2014 at 17:15

2 Answers 2

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Have you tried changing your Spotlight shortcuts? You can set the spotlight shortcuts (or any others) to whatever feels good for you. 

Apple menu > System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Spotlight

Click the shortcut you want to change, then tap the new shortcut keys on your keyboard.

A quicker way to launch commonly used applications would be to set a shortcut to launch a specific app. to do this, create an automator script to launch the application then set a shortcut to run the script. Here's a tutorial that explains how to do it. https://computers.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-launch-any-app-with-a-keyboard-shortcut--mac-31463

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On my MBA 10.9.2 I use the System Preferences Spotlight and Check off the 2 boxes for shortcuts.

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  • That disables spotlight completely. I'm trying to get spotlight working from within the apps like Chrome. Right now when I space+cmd in Chrome I get page-down. This is the problem -- I need spotlight working as it did before.
    – Ruben Rubovski
    Commented Apr 4, 2014 at 14:11

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