Check keyboard trigger conflict in KM Editor?

Questions & Suggestions
1

More and more, I'll build a macro for an app, and when I use the keyboard trigger, it conflicts with some other macro with a larger scope.

It would sure be handy if I knew that when I was picking the trigger in the editor. Is there any way for me to be alerted of potential trigger conflicts while still in the editor?

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2

I didn’t test these answers myself, but these are the answers that I get when I asked ChatGPT the same question that you asked…. These answers are not to be considered authoritative because ChatGPT does make mistakes.

In Keyboard Maestro, you can indeed search for macros that use a specific hotkey. Here's how you can do it:

  1. Search the Macro List:

    • Open the Keyboard Maestro Editor.
    • In the search field at the top right corner of the editor, type in the hotkey you are looking for (e.g., "⌘C").
    • The editor will filter and show all macros that contain the specified hotkey.

  2. Use "Show Conflicts" feature:

    • Go to the View menu in the Keyboard Maestro Editor.
    • Select Show Conflicts. This will display a list of macros that have conflicting hotkeys, allowing you to identify macros using the same hotkey.

  3. Use the "Trigger by Hot Key" action:

    • If you remember part of the hotkey, you can search for macros that are triggered by the same key.
    • Go to the All Macros list and check for macros with the "Hot Key Trigger" icon. You can scan manually if the search doesn’t reveal enough details.

These methods should help you find macros based on their hotkey triggers easily.

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3

Thanks for this.

Search the Macro List:

It's helpful to make a macro in KM to paste the symbols "⇧⌃⌥⌘" into the search window so you don't need to remember how to type them.

Use "Show Conflicts" feature

I could not find this feature in the VIew menu, or by searching Help. Is this a ML mistake?

Use the "Trigger by Hot Key" action

Couldn't find this either. Is it another ML mistake, or is it hidden?

Many thanks!

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4

Don't forget that KM ships with a "Menu Glyphs" macro group that you can load from the Library and which will show a palette you can click-to-paste those symbols.

@_jims and @griffman have posted their own, much expanded, versions (and I'm sure there are others). See here and here.

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5

I'm not an expert using the KM Editor, so I'm not sure, but the following page can really help finding hotkey conflicts. It shows you how to use the editor's special qualifiers so that you can list all macros that have a certain property. For example, you can list all macros that have the letter Q as a trigger by using the string "trigger:q". It seems to be working for me.

https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/manual/Search_Strings

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Hi, @anamorph.

Yes, I think many users have encountered the same issue. I assume you are primarily referring to hot key triggers.

One thing you can do it just assign the preferred hot key, try it and see if there's a conflict. Often when I do that, I find a lesser-used macro and I do one of the following to that macro:

  1. Disable the macro
  2. Remove the conflicting trigger
  3. Change the hot key

Occasionally I even delete the conflicting macro.

BTW, the Trigger Macro by Name action and the Alfred Workflow Conductor are great options for macros that are used less often.

Now, to get a bit into the weeds...

I've shared two macros that I use to assist when I encounter a hot key conflict. Here's my workflow (YMMV!):

  1. With the new macro, assign the preferred hot key.
  2. Press the hot key.
  3. Assuming there's a conflict, a Conflict Palette is displayed.
  4. Assuming that the conflicting macro is innocuous, run it. Then run Edit a Recently Executed Macro to quickly navigate to the conflicting macro.
  5. If running the conflicting macro is not a good option, use Search All Macros to navigate to it. (Alternatively one can use the Keyboard Maestro Editor Search field (upper-right) or a Smart Group both with the Search Strings suggested by @Airy).
  6. As mentioned above, for the conflicting macro: disable it, remove the conflicting trigger, change the hot key, or delete it from my library.
  7. Using the Keyboard Maestro Editor Back button (in the History group), return to the new macro.

Okay, back out of the weeds. :wink:

7

Alternatively, Search All Macros can help with that.