Default keyboard layout in Spotlight

Question

Long time multi-lingual OS X user. I find it annoying when I invoje Spotlight and start typing an Apps name instead of getting "Photoshop" I get for example "Пчотосчоп" (Phonetic Russian Keyboard). I don't name my files documents or any other creations in anything but English. The solution could be to monitor the changing state of the Spotlight window – upon appearing change the kb layout to english and after finishing the session (open app/file, close with esc, click outside the spotlight window) change it back to the previous layout. Does /System/Library/CoreServices/Spotlight.app draw the spotlight window or is it some other process? How can I get these changing window states?

A solution based on the likes of Keyboard Maestro is passable, but not recommended as KM or others may introduce slight delays to the process. I type really fast and use the GUI just as quickly, so any misfires or lags in the process will drive me mad.

Answer 1

Since it is impossible to set a default keyboard layout in Spotlight, the fastest way to switch between layouts is to use a keyboard shortcut. You can press Option-Command-Space to move to the next keyboard layout.

If this one conflicts with Spotlight shortcut, you can change it in Apple menu > System Preferences > Keyboard. Click Spotlight on the left and double click on the shortcuts to change them.

If you don't want to use shortcuts, you can monitor and change the language layout using the Keyboard Viewer on the menu bar.

If you don't see the flag on the menu bar choose Apple menu > System Preferences > Keyboard, click Keyboard and check the box “Show Keyboard, Emoji, & Symbol Viewers in menu bar".