Spotlight is for everything. Seen is for the screenshots.
You already have Spotlight and you should keep using it for everything else. Screenshots were never its plan: it finds filenames, it reads text from some images some of the time, and it has no idea that the thing you're looking for is a receipt.
- Spotlight is a generalist. Apps, files, mail, messages, definitions, sums. Built in, free, ⌘Space.
- Seen is a specialist. Only screenshots. It reads every one the moment it lands and makes it searchable by what was in it and what it was. ⌘⇧7.
- They don't conflict. ⌘Space stays ⌘Space. ⌘⇧7 is new.
Side by side
| Seen | Spotlight | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free in beta, then yearly | Built in |
| Searches everything on the Mac | ✕screenshots only | ✓ |
| Reads text in every screenshot | ✓ | ✕some formats, eventually |
| Indexes the moment it lands | ✓ | ✕eventually |
| Results show what it is | ✓ | ✕a filename |
| Titles from what's in it | ✓ | ✕ |
| Knows what kind of thing it is | ✓ | ✕ |
| Pasteable the instant it lands | ✓ | ✕ |
| Capture card | ✓ | ✕ |
| Annotation, scrolling capture, ruler, colour picker | ✓ | ✕ |
| Files stay where macOS puts them | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI assistant access | ✓JSON with the text | ✓file paths |
| Everything stays on your Mac | ✓ | ✓unless Siri Suggestions |
| Any Mac | ✕Apple silicon, macOS 13+ | ✓ |
What Spotlight does better
Everything that is not a screenshot. It opens apps, finds the PDF, does the sum, defines the word, reaches into Mail and Messages, and it is on every Mac without installing anything. Seen does not replace ⌘Space. It replaces the one part of ⌘Space that never worked: the screenshots.
What Seen does that Spotlight doesn't
It treats a screenshot as what it is. Spotlight sees a file called Screenshot 2026-10-08 at 15.54.31.png and, depending on the format, the machine and how long it has been sitting there, it may or may not have read the words in it. Seen reads every one within seconds of it landing, gives it a title from its content, labels what it is of and what kind of thing it is, and keeps all of that in a local index you can open with any SQLite client. Search results are pictures with names, not a list of timestamps.
The difference shows up at the start too. Spotlight begins when you go looking. Seen begins when the screenshot lands: it is already on the clipboard, there is a card you can drag into anything, and the index is filling while you are still looking at the thing you captured.
Use both
There is nothing to set up. ⌘Space is still ⌘Space. ⌘⇧7 is for the screenshots, and it only knows about the folders you told it to watch.
Which one
- Everything else. Spotlight.
- Screenshots. Seen.
- Spotlight already finds your screenshots by their text. Then your captures are JPEGs, or your Mac is one of the ones where it works, and you are still searching a filename list with no idea which one is the receipt. Try ⌘⇧7 for a week. The titles, the kinds and the card are the other half, and Spotlight will never have them.
What you've seen, when you need it.
Seen catches every screenshot you take, reads it on your Mac, and makes your whole history searchable. Same ⌘⇧4. Nothing leaves your machine.
Download for macOSMore comparisons: Seen vs CleanShot X · Seen vs Shottr · What Seen is
Spotlight's handling of text in images is as tested by Howard Oakley at eclecticlight.co, January 2024 and August 2025; checked 8 October 2026. Prices and features change; if we have something wrong, tell us and we will fix it.