Since Apple introduced Spotlight into macOS back in 2005 I’ve used it extensively, for opening applications, doing calculations, running Google Searches without leaving where I am, but there were a few features missing, like getting the weather or converting currencies.
After some search I found a free app called Alfred that basically opens up your entire computer, and the web, into a Spotlight-like feature. Using the same Cmd + Spacebar command it pops up and you are free to do whatever you want.
Searching in specific websites
A great feature is the ability to not only search Google, but pretty much search any pre-defined website directly.
For example, I have been looking into buying some land in Catalonia, and whenever I need to find out where it is on Google Maps I just have to do Cmd + Space and then type in “gmaps Plaza Tetuan, Barcelona”. Or if I want to check YouTube “yt Antoine Herve”, for amazon “amazon macetas”, Google Translate “translate com fer l’amor”, and so much more.
Above a short list of what you can do, you can also add your own custom searches.
Extending it with workflows
What is great is you can add extra features to them with workflows.
For example I’ve added a weather widget which gives the weather daily or weekly, some currency converter, shortcuts to the Todoist app, and even wrote my own little workflow that automatically creates an event in my calendar when I type something like “addcal Call with Rich at 8pm tomorrow”.
… but wait, there’s more!
The features are endless, you can control your computer wirelessly through your phone to put it to sleep, switch it off, change the volume, or you can create complex workflows that are automatically triggered when something happens, it truly makes your computer and yourself more productive.
Anyway, these are just words from somebody who enjoy this little app very much. It is free, but you can also buy a one-time license to unlock certain features.