Welcome Window
This window welcomes new users and gives you some options for learning about Keyboard Maestro.
If you are new to Keyboard Maestro, start the tutorial and Keyboard Maestro will walk you through creating a simple macro.
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Macros Window
This window lets you manipulate Macros and Macro Groups, creating new ones, deleting old ones, enabling and disabling them, editing them and so on.
You get this window pane by launching Keyboard Maestro.
The window contains a list of Macro Groups and their associated Macros.
You can create a new Macro Group by clicking the button below the Groups list.
You can create a new Macro by selecting a macro group and then clicking the button below the Macros list.
You can see the selected Macro Group or Macro in the right hand column, and edit it by clicking the Edit button.
You can select the All Macros meta-Group to show all Macros, and you can use the search field to filter down the list of macros.
You can rename a Macro Group or Macro by double clicking it and changing the title.
You can delete a Macro Group by selecting it and clicking the button below the Groups list.
You can delete a Macro by selecting it and clicking the button below the Macros list.
Similarly, you can enable or disable Macro Groups or Macros by clicking their respective button.
You cannot delete, rename or modify the Global Macro Group.
See also the Macro Groups, Macros and Macro Editor Window sections.
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Tutorial
If you are new to Keyboard Maestro, start the tutorial by clicking the button in the Welcome window or by choosing Tutorial from the Help menu and Keyboard Maestro will walk you through creating a simple macro.
Follow the instructions. Keyboard Maestro will hilight the location of the various buttons to help you quickly create a macro. You can even use the tutorial as a wizard to create a hot key triggered macro to perform any of Keyboard Maestro’s many actions.
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Macro Group Editor
To edit a Macro Group, select it and click the Edit button. Its details will be shown in the right hand column. You can edit its name, control which applications it is available in, and how it will be activated.
Typically a group’s macros would be available everywhere (available in all applications), or it might be specific to a particular application (available in the following applications) in which case you might name the Macro Group after the application.
You can also configure the macro group to be activated only after a Hot Key press (either for a single use or toggled on and off), and whether to display the macros in a floating palette.
See also the Macros section.
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Macro Editor Window
To edit a Macro, select it and click the Edit button. Its details will be shown in the right hand column. You can edit its name, add or remove triggers, and configure its action list.
To add a trigger, click the green button and select the type of trigger. To remove a trigger, click the red button.
To see how to execute this macro via a script, select from the “Or by script”’ menu. How you can execute the macro remotely is also displayed.
To add an action, click the New Action button, or equivalently the button below the detail view. This will show the lists of possible actions. Double click one or more of them to add actions to the action list for this macro.
You can also Copy and Paste actions, as well as drag them around to rearrange them. Use the button and button to delete or enable/disable the selected actions.
You can try the selected actions by clicking the button.
You can click the button to record your actions.
To learn more about creating or editing Macros, see the Macros section.
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Macro Library Window
This window contains examplke and template macros you can add to your macro collection. You can use the macros as is, or edit them to customize them for your particular needs.
You get this window by choosing Macro Library from the Window menu. Hibari 1 5 9.
Each entry represents one or more macros, usually in a single macro group, but occasionally in more than one macro group. You can learn about them by selecting them, and then you can insert them into your macros by clicking the button or by dragging them to a particular macro group (dragging is not available if the library entry represents more than one macro group as you can't drag to two macro groups).
You can add macros to your library by using the File -> Export as Macro Library and selecting the Add to Library checkbox. You can get Macro Library entries from us or from other Keyboard Maestro users and add them to you library by double clicking them or by choosing Import to Macro Library from the File menu.
Remember to use caution when installing a macro or macro library from anyone - macros can potentially do a lot of damage and compromise the security of your Mac, so only install macros from trusted sources.
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Recording Window
This window shows you when Keyboard Maestro is recording your actions.
You get this window by clicking the button in the Macro Editor window or by triggering a Record Quick Macro action.
Clicking on this window will stop all recording.
To learn more about recording, see the Recording section.
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Application Launcher Window
This window lets you launcher applications.
You get this window by triggering the Activate Application Launcher macro.
To learn more about the Application Launcher, see the Application Launcher section.
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Application Switcher Window
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This window lets you switch between active applications, as well as quit or hide applications or quickly launch frequently used applications.
You get this window by triggering the Activate Application Switcher macro.
To learn more about the Application Switcher, see the Application Switcher section.
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Window Switcher Window
This window lets you switch between windows in the current application, as well as close or minimize windows.
You get this window by triggering the Activate Window Switcher macro.
To learn more about the Window Switcher, see the Window Switcher section.
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Clipboard Switcher Window
This window lets you select between named clipboards to Cut, Copy or Paste to/from.
You get this window by triggering one of the Activate Clipboard Switcher macros.
Select something and select a named clipboard and click the button or button to cut/copy to a named clipboard. Select a named clipboard and click the button button to paste a named clipboard. Click the button to create a new named clipboard. Select a named clipboard and click the button to view it. Select a named clipboard and click the button to delete it.
Click the button to toggle whether the window should close after an action.
Use the search field to filter the named clipboards.
To learn more about the Clipboard Switcher, see the Clipboard Switcher section.
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Clipboard History Switcher Window
This window lets you paste from your clipboard history of items that you have previously cut or copied.
You get this window by triggering the Clipboard History Switcher macro.
Cut or copy something and it will appear in this list. Select an item and click the button button to paste a named clipboard. Select an item and click the button (or press Command-L) to mark it as a favorite, or click the button (or press Command-S) to send it to another Mac. Select an item and click the button to delete it (this is useful if you want to delete a password or other sensitive information).
To view an item more fully, select it and click the button (or press Space) to display the Quick Look window.
To send a clipboard to another Mac running Keyboard Maestro, click the button to display the sending window.
Select the desired local destination, or type a host:port destination to send it to a remote Mac, and click the send button. Keyboard Maestro will keep trying to send to the Mac even if it can't connect right now, so as long as both Macs are connected to the Internet eventually, the clipboard should get through. While a clipboard is being sent, it is marked with a progress icon. If a clipboard is marked to be sent in the future, it is marked with a ➹. Once it has been successfully sent, it is marked with a ➚. If it fails to be sent, and Keyboard Maestro has given up, it is marked with a !. Clipboards that have been received are marked with a ✉.
Click the button to toggle whether the window should close after an action.
Use the search field to filter the named clipboards.
To learn more about the Clipboard History Switcher, see the Clipboard History Switcher section.
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Preferences Window
This window lets you configure Keyboard Maestro.
You get this window by launching Keyboard Maestro and choosing Preferences from the Keyboard Maestro menu.
To learn more about the Preferences, see the Preferences section.
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Preferences General Pane
This window pane lets you configure general preferences.
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Preferences Web Server Pane
This window pane lets you configure the built-in web server which enables remote execution of macros.
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Preferences Clipboards Pane
This window pane lets you add, remove and rename Named Clipboards.
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Preferences Exclude Pane
This window pane lets you add and remove applications from the global Excluded Applications list.
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About Window Pane
This window shows you the version of this copy of Keyboard Maestro, to whom it is registered, and allows you to visit the web site.
You get this window by launching Keyboard Maestro and choosing About Keyboard Maestro from the Keyboard Maestro menu.
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The Hot Key trigger is perhaps the most common and most basic of all triggers. When you press the configured keyboard key, the system swallows the keystroke, and Keyboard Maestro executes the macro.
The key can be a letter, number, symbol or function key, often in combination with one or more modifiers (Shift, Control, Option and/or Command). Almost any key can be a trigger, and keep in mind the number pad counts as different keys to the numeric keys on the main keyboard.
You can type the desired key or key combination in the hot key box, or select a predefined key (holding down any desired modifiers) from the popup menu to its right. Note that there is a relatively prevalent third party / system bug that makes the system think it is permanently in a password field, and this will prevent entering a hot key by typing in this manner.
You can type the desired key or key combination in the hot key box, or select a predefined key (holding down any desired modifiers) from the popup menu to its right. Note that there is a relatively prevalent third party / system bug that makes the system think it is permanently in a password field, and this will prevent entering a hot key by typing in this manner.
The keystroke may include zero or more of the normal modifiers (Command, Option, Shift, Control), together with another key (such as a letter, number, function key or other keys). The Fn key is not a modifier and cannot be used as such. It retains its normal purpose in toggling the function keys role, and so it might be part of a hot key, but only if the function keys normally have their hardware (eg brightness up) role and then Fn key makes them into a function key suitable for use in a hot key trigger.
You can configure the hot key trigger to execute the macro when the key is pressed, when it is released, or repeatedly while the key is held down. This allows you to do things like have a macro execute when the key is pressed, and then a second macro execute when the key is released, for example to toggle a setting on and then off again.
You can configure the hot key trigger to execute when the key is tapped (press and released quickly) each time, the first tap, double tapped, triple tapped, or quadruple tapped (v7.0+). Keep in mind that Keyboard Maestro cannot see the future, so “tapped once” will fire even on the first tap even if you tap the key twice (“tapped” would fire both times).
You can use the %TriggerValue% Text Token to determine the hot key that was typed.
Hot Keys will override application menu Command Keys or any other keys typically used in applications, but if any other application registers the same hot key, then both your macro and the other application's action will happen.
⚠️ Note that whether or not a key typed by Keyboard Maestro itself will trigger a hot key (and thus be swallowed and execute a macro) or not (and thus go through to the application is not defined - either behaviour may happen and which behaviour happens will vary depending on many unpredictable factors.
So keep in mind that regardless of whether you trigger the macro on hot key pressed, down, released or tapped, the key is swallowed by the system and cannot be used for its normal purposes. You can use the USB_Device_Key trigger if you you want to trigger the macro without the system swallowing the key.
Modifiers alone (eg just Control) cannot be used as a hot key, although you can use the USB_Device_Key trigger to detect modifier key presses as well as other button presses like the mouse buttons or keys on non-standard keyboards like the XK-24.
Hot Keys suffer from the drawback that you need to remember a cryptic keystroke. This can be mitigated by selecting consistent keystrokes (such as Control-Letter to mean insert text and Control-Option-Letter to mean launch an application). You can also use a tool like KeyCue to display command keys and macro hot keys.
To further help with this, if multiple macros are executed with the same hot key, the conflicting macros are displayed in a palette allowing you to select the desired macro. You can select a macro from the palette using either number keys, or by typing the first distinct character to filter the macros down until only one is left. You could use this feature to allow a single hot key to do multiple user-selected actions.
A note on terminology:
Keyboard Maestro 8 0 5 – Hot Key Tasking Solutions Using
- Hot Key - system wide hot key API (swallows keys and overrides other behaviours, fires in every application that registers it).
- Command Key (or Menu Command Keys or sometimes Menu Shortcut) - menu keys for selecting a menu, usually but not always with the Command key modifier, generally application specific (except for the shared menus like the Services, but they are still application specific, but the menu is duplicated in each application like the Edit menu typically is).
- Keyboard Shortcut - could be either (hence the use in the System Preferences, Keyboard preferences).