Hello,
I'm running Keyboard Maestro version 10.2. The other day I was fiddling with the performance settings in Google Chrome, and since then, all macros contained within folders that are "Available when a focused window title contains [xyz]" no longer activate when I hit the relevant hotkey. I think I’ve restored the performance settings to what they were previously, but no joy. The macros do still work in Safari, so presumably it’s a Chrome-specific issue. Any ideas?
Cheers!
The only idea I have is to simultaneously install a second copy of Chrome and test it on that version. You should look up how to do that safely. I found this:
"The simplest and safest way is to install different Chrome channels (Stable, Beta, Dev, Canary)."
This way you can determine if it's something in the performance settings that you changed accidentally.
I’ve installed Chrome Canary, and the macros work fine with it. I’ve cross-referenced settings and extensions, and I believe they’re the same in the two versions. Perhaps it’s an issue with the current version of Chrome?
Quick update. One of the macro groups is intended to be triggered when the focused window title contains “Google Sheets”. That currently doesn’t work. However, if I change it to “Google”, it does work (but is no longer specific enough for purpose). But if I change it to “Sheets”, it doesn’t work.
My only remaining idea is that you upload your macro, because sometimes people make mistakes that they aren't aware of. When you described your macro above, there's a chance that you didn't describe it completely.
"contains 'Sheets'" is working fine here -- latest Chrome (142.0.7444.60 (Official Build) (x86_64)).
Try a macro in a Group that always activated/enabled that simply reports the current page title, see if that sheds any light:
Of course that works fine, but when there's any uncertainty about the characters themselves, as it seems there may be in this case, the following action will help clarify that. This will display spaces as tildes and newlines as $, and it will even display control characters as ^A, ^B, etc.
It would have done if I had posted the right thing!
What I should have said was "...reports the current window title...", as I think that's what Group activation uses and, in Chrome, they aren't the same:
That shouldn't matter for a "contains" check, though.
I'm starting to suspect a re-named window title (Window->Name Window...), either via extension or as part of an opener macro:
You get the prize!
I don’t know what’s caused (or causing) the difference. I don’t think active extensions are the issue, as I have the same set in both versions of Chrome I’m running. I wonder whether it’s a ‘hangover’ from a historic extension?
The
– Pinned - Google Chrome – Thomas (Personal)
...is to be expected for a pinned tab in Chrome when you are logged into your "Thomas" personal account.
From a quick play, "Books" replaces "Studies - Google Sheets" when you rename a window "Books" -- and it applies to all the tabs in that window. So if I open the BBC home page in another tab:
But it seems to be a common complaint that window names aren't saved, when making a bookmark for example, and there isn't an extension that can help -- so it looks like something is setting the window name.
That something could be as simple as restoring that tab/window from the previous session, either deliberately or as a "recover last session" -- that's the only case I've found where names carry over.
According to ChatGPT, this is an issue inherent in Google Chrome, and there’s no real way around it. I don’t know if that’s true? Problem is, using a different approach (e.g., using %FrontBrowserTitle% in an if statement) seems to be noticeably slower when doing quick-fire macros (e.g., hitting a key to copy and alter text).
Given the hoops I had to jump through to reproduce the problem, it's less inherent to Chrome and more particular to your setup and/or use of it.
If you can find out what is renaming that window your problem should be solved -- you won't be able to stop "Pinned" and so on (unless you stop pinning those tabs!) but you should be able to get window name to start with the page title.
Start by disabling all extensions and going to the URL you want in a new window, without using a bookmark, "Restore", or similar. If that works as you want then start enabling extensions until you find what breaks things. If it doesn't work when "clean" then try a different Profile with default setting and see if that stops it from happening.
Alternatively, you might be able to use the URL as a proxy for window name -- it really depends on what you're checking for.
Sorted! It turns out all I needed to do was close all the pinned tabs. Everything seems to be back to normal now. Thank you all for your help!
