Set up Siri
Before you can start exploiting the power of Siri on your Mac, you will first need to take a few moments to set your digital assistant up correctly. To do this, start by going to System Preferences>siri and work through the following…
1 Enable Ask Siri
Make sure that the ‘Enable Ask Siri’ box is ticked as this effectively turns on Siri. You can also tick the ‘Show Siri in menu bar’ option to provide a handy shortcut.
2 Create a shortcut
Rather than clicking on the menu bar item, it is far quicker to press a keyboard shortcut to call up Siri. Go to Keyboard Shortcut>customise to create your own.
3 Language and voice
Obviously, ensure that the language is set to your native tongue, unless you are studying a foreign language, and click on the ‘Siri Voice’ menu to select the accent.
4 Voice feedback?
This refers to you being able to hear what Siri is saying to you. You can turn it off and still fire commands at Siri, you just won’t be able to hear it responding audibly.
5 Suggestions
Click on ‘Siri Suggestions & Privacy’ and you will be able to add/deselect apps that Siri is able to learn from and make related suggestions to.
6 Type don’t speak
If you prefer to type your Siri commands and questions and not speak them then go to System Preferences>accessibility>siri and enable ‘Type to Siri’.
1 Train Siri
You’ll need to put in a little groundwork training to get Siri to work efficiently – and you can start with your contacts. Click on the Siri icon and tell Siri what relationship certain contacts are to you. For example, say, “Dave is my father,” and Siri will offer to update your contact card.
2 Say it right
If Siri has trouble pronouncing certain names correctly then you can rectify this by saying, “Learn how to pronounce [contact name].” Siri will then provide a selection of different pronunciations that you can listen to by clicking the Play button. Pick the right one.
3 Find family
With key relationships established, you can now call on Siri to trace the current whereabouts of family members. Say something like, “Where’s my wife?” and Siri will open the Find My Friends widget within its console and show the location of the person on a map.
4 Search notes
If you keep pages and pages of random notes then you can task Siri with finding a particular one
– as long as you know one or two keywords. Say something like, “Find my note containing [keyword],” and Siri will launch your Notes app and provide an array of possible matches.
5 Adjust volume
If the music is too loud, don’t bother messing around with System Preferences or menu bar items. Just say, “Turn down the volume,” and Siri will do it for you. Remember to ask Siri to turn it back up again when you want to resume rocking out.
6 Play music
You can ask Siri to play specific music from your Music library or, if you’re an Apple Music subscriber, you can say, “Play [band or artist],” and Siri will start playing a specially curated radio station relating to your requested band or artist.
7 Tag favourites
If you say, “Make this song a favourite,” Siri will fill in the little star icon in the Music interface and make a note. If you then say, “Play my favourites,” Siri will blast out a mix of your favourite tracks. Remember, no one respects your music taste like Siri!
8 See what’s new
If you ask Siri to, “Show me new albums,” you will be pointed to the newest releases in the itunes Store. You can ask to view any store content this way, including movies in Apple TV. In the instances where Siri can’t help, it will at least open your Music app for you!
9 Change preferences
We seem to spend absurd amounts of time opening up our Mac’s System Preferences and tweaking certain settings. But just say something like, “Open my Accessibility settings,” or, “Turn on Bluetooth,” and Siri will launch System Preferences and jump there.
10 Open websites
As Siri is capable of automating most aspects of your Mac, why not save time typing or accessing bookmarks in Safari by simply saying, “Open [insert website name].com,” and have Siri do all of the legwork? Siri will open a new tab in an existing Safari window and load the site.
11 Show files
Rather than clicking through endless folder hierarchies trying to find specific files, you can ask Siri to, “Show me my most recent files,” or, “Show me documents from April 2018.” Results will be displayed within the Siri window for you to select. This works with photos, too.
12 Take a selfie
This obviously makes more sense when using your iphone, but the “take a selfie” command still works just fine on Mac. When you say the command, Siri will instantly launch your Mac’s Photo Booth app for you, although it stops short of actually snapping the shot.
13 Make calls
Open Facetime and go to Facetime>preferences, then tick the ‘Calls from iphone’ option. You will then be able to make and receive calls on your Mac. Just say, “Call [insert name],” and Siri will launch Facetime and start calling.
14 Convert currency
If you are planning on travelling or are perhaps purchasing goods from foreign websites then you can ask Siri to make quick and easy currency conversions. Just say something like, “What is 99 US Dollars in Pounds Sterling?”
15 Bad karaoke
Siri does have a playful side and loves to sing. Say, “Sing a song,” and Siri will deadpan its way through an old classic or two. Start reciting lyrics such as, “I see a little silhouetto of a man…” and Siri will pick up the baton.
16 Check the weather
Go to System Preferences>security & Privacy>privacy>location Services (or just ask Siri!) then tick ‘Weather’. You can now ask, “What is the weather like?” and Siri will provide a quick report for your area.
17 Change your search engine
Even if you have Google equipped as your search engine of choice in Safari, you can still use other ones at will. Just say, “Search Bing for [insert topic],” and Siri will open a new Safari tab and show the results.
18 Flip a coin
If you prefer to make decisions with the flip of a coin but don’t have any small change to hand then simply ask Siri to, “Flip a coin.” Siri will instantly reply back with either, “It’s heads,” or, “It’s tails.” You can also ask Siri to, “Roll a dice,” if you are missing one for your board game.
19 Search social media
Siri can also be used to cast an eye over social media. For example, say, “What is [insert name] saying on Twitter?” and Siri will present the most recent tweets for that specific person in a window. Scroll down and click ‘Open in Twitter’ to see them all within the Twitter interface.
21 Get apps
If you have heard about a new Mac app then you can say, “Get the app [insert app name]”. On hearing this command, Siri will launch the App Store and instantly search for the app that you have requested, saving a lot of time.
22 Convert measurements
Siri is a whizz at quick calculations, calling on your Mac’s built‑in calculator app to do the sums. You can also ask Siri to convert inches into centimetres and kilometres into miles, too – just say what you want converted and into what alternative unit of measurement and Siri will do the rest.
23 Tell a joke
If you find yourself with time to kill then ask Siri to tell you a joke. Some are genuinely amusing, others utterly abysmal – you just never know what you’re gonna get. You can also throw in a bit of interplay by asking, “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Some of the answers are quite profound. You see, Siri isn’t just all about the serious stuff.
24 Send messages
As the Messages app is universal between Mac and IOS, you can compose and send messages using just your voice. Start by saying, “Send message to [insert name],” and when Siri asks what you want to say, dictate the text. When you have finished speaking you will then be prompted to send the message to your intended recipient or cancel it.
25 Name songs
If you would like to identify a piece of music that is currently playing, then say, “What is this song?” Siri will listen for a second or two and then use its built‑in Shazam technology to identify the song and artist. It will also provide a Music app link that you can click on to find out more.
26 Set reminders
If you need to be reminded of something, instead of launching your Reminders app and typing everything out, click Siri and say, “Remind me to [insert task],” and Siri will create and save a new reminder.
27 Ask an 8 Ball
Rather than carrying around a physical 8 Ball, you can say, “Hey Siri 8 Ball” followed by a question. Siri will reply in 8 Ball mode. As mentioned, Siri has a playful side, you just need to know how to tap into it.
28 Do not disturb
Remember that Siri can be used to tweak all manner of system settings. For example, if you need to knuckle down to some serious work then you can say, “Turn on Do Not Disturb,” to cease all notifications.
29 Create lists
If you’re running low on something then you can use Siri to add it to a shopping list. Say, “Make a shopping list,” and Siri will create a new list in Reminders that you can then verbally add new items to.
30 Show photos
Siri works wonders in trawling your photo library for requested images. For example, say, “Show me photos from August 2013,” and Siri will open your Photos app and instantly relay the results of your search. Your criteria will be displayed at the top.
31 Show slideshows
If you say, “Show me a slideshow in Photos,” Siri will start playing a slideshow of images, with accompanying music, from a random period. It’s a nice way to kill a bit of time and it’s always fun to reminisce with some old images.
32 Show favourites
If you have marked images in your photo library with a heart, then you can ask Siri to, “Show favourites,” while in the Photos app. This will take you straight to your Favourites album whereby all of the images that you have marked will be displayed.
33 Find people
When people are displayed in your photos, click on the pin, then the thumbnail image of a face and then type in the name in the image. You can then say, “Show me photos of [insert name],” and all images that are tagged to that particular person will be displayed.
34 Ask trivia
The beauty of Siri is that if anything slips your mind or you just want to learn something quickly, you can say something like, “Who directed Three Men and a Baby?” and Siri will quickly source the answer. Anything you want to know in a flash, just ask Siri for instant insight!
35 Get technical
You can ask Siri all manner of technical information about your Mac such as, “What processor does my Mac have?” or, “What is my Mac’s serial number?” or even, “How much storage space do I have left?” It’s much quicker than going to Apple>about This Mac.
36 Buy books
Siri is woven into the fabric of your Mac’s default apps, including Books. So you can say, “Buy the book [insert book name],” and Siri will open the app and perform a search.
37 World info
Got a quick query about where a particular country is situated? Ask
Siri and it will look it up in Maps. You can also ask things such as, “What time is it in Jakarta?” and Siri will check with your Mac’s World Clock.
38 See what’s on
If you find yourself with a rare free night, ask Siri, “What is on at the local cinema?” Make sure that you have Location Services turned on so that Siri can determine where your nearest cinema is.
39 Drag and drop
When you have requested things such as new cinema releases that cannot be pinned to your taskbar, you can always just click and hold on the results and drag them to your desktop to create a PNG file that you can easily refer back to.
40 Pin results
You can ‘pin’
Siri results to your ‘Today’ taskbar in Notification Centre. When the results are displayed in the Siri window, click on the ‘+’ icon in the top‑right corner and then open your Notification Centre to see them pinned to the top for easy reference.
41 Ask for directions
Say, “Give me directions to [insert location],” and Siri will open your Maps app and plot the optimum route to your destination. If you intend to walk or get public transport then you can work this into your question, too. Just say, “Give me walking directions/bus routes to [insert location]”.
42 Beatbox
This one definitely falls under the ‘things to do when you’re bored’ category, but if you say, “Beatbox for me,” Siri will run you through one that it has been practising, over and over until it slowly fades out. You can have fun experimenting with all kinds of questions that Siri reacts to.
43 Find emails
Siri can make light work of scouring your emails. If you are trying to find an email from a particular person, or containing a particular subject matter, then just say, “Find emails from [insert name],” and they will be listed within the Siri window for you to peruse. Click on one to open it in Mail. It certainly saves you a great deal of clicking.
44 Find local businesses
If you have an emergency, such as a leaky pipe, then you can say, “Find me a local plumber”. Siri will instantly scan your Maps app and provide a list of local firms that you can click on and contact. It’s so much quicker than performing a search in Safari, and you can call them straight from your Mac.
45 Get sports stats
Siri can tell you anything about the world of sport. For example, say, “Who are the worst team in the Premier League?” and Siri will roll off the season record for the team languishing at the bottom. Siri may even provide an additional light‑hearted quip in the form of, “Ouch!”
46 Open your Launchpad
If you still use your Mac’s Launchpad to launch various apps then you can get Siri to open it quickly and easily. Just say, “Go to Launchpad,” and Siri will take you straight there. It also works for Mission Control and pretty much any application.
47 Check spelling
How infuriating is it when you are trying to write a word but you can’t get the spelling close enough for your spell‑check to auto‑correct it? No problem, just say, “Spell [insert word],” and Siri will recognise the word and spell it.
48 Get advice
Siri can help out with all kinds of problems. For example, if you say, “I have forgotten my itunes password,” Siri will tell you where to go and provide additional information on how to address the problem.
49 Put Mac to sleep
When you need to shut your Mac down or put it to sleep, Siri can help with that, too. Just say, “Put my computer to sleep,” or, “Shut down my Computer,” and Siri will perform the action on your behalf. So you can turn off your Mac or put it into power‑saving mode while already putting your coat on to leave the office – it’s so easy.
50 Say goodbye
When you have finished using Siri, you can click on the ‘X’ icon in the corner of the window. However, a far better way of closing the Siri window is to do it with your voice. Just say, “OK, thanks,” or, “Goodbye,” and Siri will automatically close down and vanish from your screen.