Spotlight Mac: Turn Off and On in macOS Sierra

Spotlight is macOS’s built-in search tool that lets you quickly find files, launch apps, and get information. In macOS Sierra, you can turn it off entirely or just disable its keyboard shortcut if it’s getting in the way. This guide shows you exactly how to do both, and how to turn it back on when you need it.

What You’ll Need

A Mac running macOS Sierra (10.12) or a later version (the steps are the same).
Administrator access to your user account (you’ll be changing system settings).

Step-by-Step

Open System Preferences. Click the Apple menu (the Apple logo in the top-left corner of your screen) and select “System Preferences…� from the dropdown.
Click “Spotlight.� In the System Preferences window, you’ll see a row of icons. Click the one labeled “Spotlight� (it looks like a magnifying glass).
Turn off the keyboard shortcut (the most common way to “turn off� Spotlight). In the Spotlight preferences, click the “Keyboard Shortcuts� tab at the bottom. You’ll see a list of shortcuts for “Show Spotlight search� and “Show Finder search.� Uncheck the boxes next to them. This disables the ⌘+Space and ⌥+Space shortcuts, so pressing them will no longer bring up Spotlight.
To completely disable Spotlight (not just the shortcut): While still in the Spotlight preferences, click the “Search Results� tab at the top. Uncheck every box in the list (Applications, Calculator, Conversion, Definition, Documents, Events & Reminders, etc.). This tells Spotlight to not search for anything, making it essentially useless. You can also drag the “Spotlight� slider to “Off� if you see one (in some versions of macOS, there is a master toggle at the top of the Search Results tab).
Turn Spotlight back on. To re-enable it, simply go back to System Preferences > Spotlight and re-check the boxes you unchecked. If you disabled the keyboard shortcut, re-check the “Show Spotlight search� box. If you unchecked all search results, re-check the ones you want (or just check “Applications� and “Documents� to get started).
Force-quit Spotlight if it’s stuck (optional). If Spotlight is misbehaving and not responding, you can restart it. Open “Activity Monitor� (in Applications > Utilities), search for “Spotlight� in the top-right search bar, select the process named “Spotlight� (not “Spotlight Web Helper�), and click the “X� button in the toolbar. Choose “Force Quit.� It will automatically restart. This is a good first step if Spotlight is slow or not showing results.

Common Mistakes

Only disabling the shortcut, not the service. Many people think unchecking the keyboard shortcut turns off Spotlight, but it’s still running in the background and indexing your files. If you want it fully off, you need to uncheck all search results as well.
Forgetting to re-enable the shortcut. If you turn off the shortcut and later want to use Spotlight, you might forget how to turn it back on. Just go back to the same Keyboard Shortcuts tab and re-check the box.
Unchecking everything and then wondering why Spotlight is slow. When you re-enable Spotlight after having it off, it needs to re-index your entire drive. This can take a while and may make your Mac feel sluggish. Be patient; it’s normal.

Tips

Use the menu bar icon. Even if you disable the keyboard shortcut, you can still click the magnifying glass icon in the top-right menu bar to open Spotlight. If you want to hide that too, you can remove it by holding the ⌘ key and dragging it off the menu bar.
Customize what Spotlight searches. Instead of turning it off completely, you can just uncheck categories you don’t want (like “Web� or “Music�) to make results more relevant and faster.
Use Spotlight to do quick calculations and conversions. Even with limited search results, you can type “1200 * 3.5� or “25 USD in EUR� and get an answer instantly.
If Spotlight is slow, rebuild its index. Go to System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy, drag your hard drive (or a folder) into the list, wait a few seconds, then remove it. This forces macOS to re-index that location, which often fixes search issues.

Troubleshooting

Spotlight won’t turn off. If you uncheck all the search results but Spotlight still appears when you press the shortcut, you might have missed the keyboard shortcut tab. Make sure you uncheck the boxes there as well. Also, try restarting your Mac to apply the changes.

Spotlight won’t turn back on. If you re-checked the boxes but Spotlight still doesn’t respond, try restarting the Spotlight process as described in Step 6. If that doesn’t work, restart your Mac. If it still fails, you may need to rebuild the index (see the Tips section).

Spotlight is using too much CPU. This is usually because it’s re-indexing after you turned it off and on. Give it time. If it persists, check if you have any external drives or network volumes that are being indexed; you can add them to the Privacy list to exclude them.

Keyboard shortcut doesn’t work after re-enabling. Sometimes the shortcut conflicts with another app. Check your other apps’ shortcut settings (for example, some input method switchers use ⌘+Space). You can change the Spotlight shortcut to something else, like ⌥+Space, by clicking on the shortcut and pressing a new combination.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does turning off Spotlight delete my files?
A: No. Spotlight is just an index and search tool. Turning it off does not delete or modify any of your files.

Q: Can I turn off Spotlight for just one folder?
A: Yes. Go to System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy and add the folder (or disk) you want excluded. Spotlight will no longer search inside it.

Q: Why does Spotlight show no results after I turned it back on?
A: It’s probably still indexing. The indexing process can take from a few minutes to a few hours depending on how much data you have. You can check the progress by looking at the Spotlight menu bar icon – it might show a progress bar.

Q: What’s the difference between “Spotlight search� and “Finder search�?
A: “Spotlight search� is the full-screen search you get with ⌘+Space. “Finder search� is the search bar in a Finder window (⌘+F). You can disable them separately.

Q: Will turning off Spotlight improve my Mac’s performance?
A: Generally no, unless Spotlight is actively indexing or misbehaving. When idle, Spotlight uses very little resources. If you’re having performance issues, it’s more likely due to other factors.

Q: Can I use Siri instead of Spotlight?
A: Yes, in macOS Sierra, Siri can do many of the same things, like opening apps and finding files. But Spotlight is still faster for typing a search query.

General steps for current mainstream versions; menus can differ by device and version. See the disclaimer or report an error.

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