Mac 101: Spotlight, your application-launching pal
More Mac 101, our series of tips and tricks for new and returning Mac users. Love it or hate it, Spotlight's ubiquitous search has changed the Mac OS X experience; quick and (mostly) reliable full-text indexing is now part of the landscape. It's not just for finding files, however; did you know that Spotlight makes a handy application launcher too?
You can launch most any application by hitting the Spotlight hotkey (???-Space by default), then typing the first few letters of the application's name. Chances are it will be the "top hit" for your search, so go ahead and hit Return or Enter to launch it immediately. This approach doesn't have the power-user moxie of third-party launchers like QuickSilver, Butler or LaunchBar, but it's helpful for applications that don't live in your Dock when you want to reach them quickly.
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