Siri preferences

3 Call upon Siri

If you’ve previously removed the Siri icon from the dock, drag Siri from the Applications folder into the Dock. In the menu bar, icon visibility is determined in Siri’s preferences pane. If your Mac has a Touch Bar, its Control Strip includes a one-press Siri key.

5 Commands and queries

For guidance on what you can ask of Siri, invoke it and say “What can I ask you?” Its window will show a mix of apps and activities; click one for examples. You don’t need to close and then reinvoke Siri to ask it something else; say “clear” or “restart” to it.

7 Add ‘Hey Siri’ to your Mac

This iPhone feature isn’t provided on the Mac, but you can add it. In Keyboard prefs, click Dictation, turn it on, and enable Enhanced Dictation. Go to the Accessibility pane, select Dictation, enable the dictation keyword and set it to ‘Hey’ (without quotes).

4 Invoke from the keyboard

Siri’s default keyboard shortcut requires you to hold ç+[ spacebar], adding a slight delay before reacting. Opting for the predefined ƒ+[ spacebar] alternative or a custom shortcut makes it react instantly. You can also disable keyboard access if you prefer.

6 Keep a file search around

Siri’s window stays open till you click an item or close it. If you asked about files, such as “Show files I’ve worked on this week”, there’ll be a + at the top of the results. Click it to pin the search to Notification Centre’s Today view, where the results will update.

8 Finishing touches

Click Dictation Commands and enable advanced ones. Click the +, set the command to ‘Mac’ (without quotes), to work in any app, to press a key combo, then press Siri’s combo (it must be the ‘press’ rather than the ‘hold’ kind, and not use ƒ; see step 4). Click Done.