How to search menu items on Mac: the Help shortcut that runs any command
Every Mac app has a command palette, and most people have never opened it. Press Shift-Command-? and the Help menu drops open with the cursor in its search field. Type a few letters and you can search menu items in the app you're using, every menu and submenu at once, then press Return to run the one you want. It's built into macOS, so it works in nearly every app, and each match shows you the command's own shortcut. Here is how Help menu search works, what it does that Spotlight doesn't, and what to check when the shortcut does nothing.
How to search menu items on Mac
- Switch to the app whose command you want.
- Press ⇧⌘?. On a US keyboard the question mark is Shift-slash, so it's really ⇧⌘/ — Apple writes it as Command-question mark.
- Type part of the command's name:
supersfor Superscript,mergefor Merge All Windows,exportfor anything with Export in it. - Use ↓ to move through the matches. As you land on each one, macOS opens the real menu and points a floating arrow at the command, so you can see where it lives.
- Press ↵ to run it, or
escto back out.
That's the whole technique. It searches the frontmost app's menu bar, including items buried three submenus deep, and it doesn't care whether you remember which menu a command belongs to. Word, Excel, Photoshop, Final Cut and Xcode all have menus too big to browse. There, it's often quicker than using the mouse, even if you know where the command is.
What the results show you
The list has two parts.
- Menu Items come first. These are commands in the current app, each with its menu path and, when it has one, its keyboard shortcut on the right.
- Help Topics come next: articles from the app's own help book. Below them, an "Other Help" area can include Mac help. That's also the quickest way to ask "where does this setting live in System Settings?"
Those shortcut hints are the real payoff. Search for the same command three times and the next time you'll just press its shortcut. Help menu search teaches you each app's shortcuts one command at a time.
Spotlight can do it too, since macOS Tahoe
Starting with macOS 26 Tahoe, Spotlight also returns menu commands. Press ⌘Space in any app and type a command's name. Menu results carry a small menu-bar icon plus the app's icon, and Return runs them. If you already live in Spotlight (and its quick keys), that's handy.
The two aren't the same tool, though:
| Help menu search (⇧⌘?) | Spotlight (⌘Space, Tahoe and later) | |
|---|---|---|
| Searches | Only the frontmost app's menus | Menus, apps, files, actions, web |
| Shows where the command lives | Yes, with a pointer arrow | No |
| Shows the command's shortcut | Yes | No |
| Works on older macOS | Yes, for many years | Tahoe and later |
| Weak spots | Only searches the one app | Mixed results; commands whose name changes, like Show/Hide, can confuse it |
Use Help search when you're working inside one app and want to learn it. Use Spotlight when you're already there and just want the thing done.
Go straight into the menus from the Help field
You can also start from the Help field and browse. With the search field open, press ← and focus moves into the menu bar itself. Then the arrow keys walk the menus like a mouse would. It's a dependable way to use the menu bar from the keyboard, and it keeps working even when Control-F2 is fighting your media keys. Our guide to navigating the menu bar with the keyboard covers the rest of the "move focus" family.
When Shift-Command-? does nothing
Another shortcut took the chord. In recent macOS versions the binding appears as Show Help menu under System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → App Shortcuts → All Applications. Check that it's still there and enabled. Also check that a utility or a per-app entry hasn't claimed ⇧⌘/ for itself: some apps use it for their own shortcut list or help window. Our shortcut conflicts guide shows how to find which one wins.
It opens the help book instead of the search field. Some users have reported this in certain apps and macOS releases. First try clicking Help in the menu bar: the search field sits at the top of that menu. If that works, the problem is the key binding, not the feature. Give Show Help menu a different shortcut you'll remember in App Shortcuts.
Your keyboard layout puts ? somewhere else. The shortcut follows whatever key types a question mark on your layout, and on some layouts that isn't a comfortable chord. Remapping Show Help menu, as above, is the clean fix.
The app draws its own menus. Help search can only find what's in a native Mac menu bar. Some cross-platform apps, games and creative tools put commands in in-window menus that macOS can't see. Those apps often have their own command palette instead: in VS Code, for example, it's ⇧⌘P.
Turn a search into a shortcut
If you keep searching for the same command and it has no shortcut, give it one. Copy the exact menu title from the search result, then add it under App Shortcuts in Keyboard settings. The step-by-step is in how to add a keyboard shortcut to any menu item. Help search is how you find the command; App Shortcuts is how you stop having to search for it.
Menus find commands. Windows are a different search.
Help search can run any command. It won't find a window, though. The Window menu only lists the frontmost app's own windows, as our Window menu guide explains, and Command-Tab only picks the app. If what you're really hunting for is "that Safari window with the invoice" or "the second Terminal", that's a switching problem, not a menu problem.
That gap is why we built Let's Switch. Its free switcher flips through every open window across apps and monitors with Option-Tab, most recent first, with a live preview of each. Pro adds an Option-Space palette that fuzzy-finds any open window by typing a few letters. Press Option-Space again and the same palette launches any installed app. Help search for commands and a palette for windows cover most of what you'd otherwise reach for the mouse to do. Pro is $9.99 once, with no subscription and no account.
Frequently asked questions
What is the keyboard shortcut to search menus on a Mac? Shift-Command-? (⇧⌘/ on a US keyboard). It opens the Help menu with the cursor in the search field, in whatever app is in front.
Can I search the menu bar without opening Help? On macOS Tahoe and later, yes: type the command's name into Spotlight (⌘Space). Help search still shows more, including the menu path and the command's existing shortcut.
Does Help menu search work in every app? It works in any app that uses the standard macOS menu bar, which is almost all of them. Apps that draw their own in-window menus are the exception.
How do I change the Show Help menu shortcut? In System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → App Shortcuts, double-click the shortcut beside Show Help menu (under All Applications) and press a new key combination.