Alex Blake for Digital Trends:
These days, Siri is more than just a voice assistant — it’s a whole smart AI system embedded in Apple’s devices. That means there’s so much you can do with it, especially now that it’s on MacOS as well as iOS. What’s more, Siri understands natural language, so you can say things like “Pump up the volume,” and Siri will understand that you want your Mac’s volume increased.
By default, Siri listens for your voice. If you’d rather type your requests, you can enable that. Open System Preferences, then click Accessibility. Scroll down to the bottom of the left-hand column and click Siri. In the pane that appears, click “Enable Type to Siri.” This will disable speaking to Siri, but note that Siri will still listen for your voice if you activate it while using a headset with your Mac.
Keeping track of all your files can be tricky. Luckily, Siri is on hand to help. Just tell Siri to “Search for PDF documents,” for example. But Siri can do more than just simple searches. It understands various conditions, such as “Show me all files I opened this week.” You can then refine results too, for example by saying “Only the ones titled ‘report’” once the original results have been loaded.
MacDailyNews Take: There are many more useful tips in the full article which, if you’re a long-time Mac users like us, is a helpful reminder that Siri is there on your Mac, too, waiting to be used!
