How to Search Wikipedia from Spotlight in Lion

If you are a fan of Spotlight on your Mac you’re going to love one of the most useful upgrades to date. The ability to search Wikipedia without opening a browser window.

The same Dictionary app that powers all of your synonym and definition inquiries will also power Wikipedia searches on your Mac. This of course is a feature previously available in Mac OS.

The highlight is the ability to query Wikipedia from Spotlight without having to open a browser window.

In the guide below I will show you how to use Spotlight’s new feature to search Wikipedia from your desktop.

How to Search Wikipedia with Spotlight in Lion

Search wikipedia spotlight lion

1. Click the Spotlight icon to open the search bar and enter the query.

2. When the list of results appears you will find a section labeled Web Searches where Search Wikipedia for “Search Term” will appear.

Note: Clicking Search Web for “search term” will open the default browser.

Click the Search Wikipedia link to open the results page.

Search wikipedia spotlight lion a

The Dictionary app will open and display the result of the query from Wikipedia.

You can also use Spotlight to search for Definitions by clicking the search term in the Look Up section of the search results.

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Software/Hardware used: Mac OS X Lion.