Click and drag image - won't drag?

Questions & Suggestions
1

I am at last moving from Quickeys to Keyboard Maestro.

One item I am having trouble with is a macro to click on an image in a browser then drag it to an icon of a folder and drop it there. I have a macro which almost works but doesn’t seem to drag it just moves the cursor form the start position (over the image) to the intended finish point. Nothing seems to drag.

Can anyone advise me as to how to get it working. Many thanks Richard

2

Having this problem too! I have terrible wrist pain and I’m trying to make the drag-to-the-desktop action be automatic

3

ppayne hi,

I have one thing that ‘almost’ works. It seems though if I use a mouse click that the action goes too fast. Using a keypress if I press the cmd key, wait for a count of three, then press the second key it works some of the time. I have been in contact with Peter Lewis over an alternative way which I am currently stuck on. This involves saving the image under the cursor to a specified folder. I’m not sure how to post a picture of it to this reply but if there’s a way you know of I can send the picture to let you do it and also one of the alternative approach.

4

Have you considered using Sticky Keys? It’s in System Preferences->Accessibility, then select “Keyboard” from the list.

Also, if we’re talking about browsers, you can usually right-click on an image, and select “Save image as” or something similar.

5

Dan hi and thanks for your thoughts.

Stickers doesn’t really help here - it’s to do with how long it takes for the image to be copied before the drag.

I have a part formed KM macro which tries to do just as you suggest i.e. right click and save with a date time stamp to a particular location. At present I don’t think I’ve got the write file part correct and am hoping Peter Lewis (who suggested this approach a few days ago) may be able to debug what I’ve written.

Cheers

6

Lets back up a bit and rather than “click on an image in a browser then drag it to an icon of a folder and drop it there”, lets talk about what you are actually trying to do.

You have an image in a web page - what do you want done with it? Because clicking and dragging is possible, but its a very tricky procedure to automate, and even then it requires the destination to be visible.

Assuming you are pointing your mouse at the image, then you can control click on it and have a number of options which could be helpful:

  • Save Image to “Downloads”
  • Save Image as…
  • Copy Image

Lets assume you want them saved as a new file in a specific folder. Each case above is possible to use:

  • Save Image to “Downloads”
    • Enable Macro “Save It” triggered by adding a file to the Downloads folder
    • Control Click
    • Insert Text by Typing “Save Image to%Return%”
    • Macro “Save It”, initially disabled does:
      • Move File %TriggerValue% to ~/MyFolder
      • Disable Macro “Save It”
  • Save Image as…
  • Copy Image
7

Peter hi,

I now have a fully working Keyboard Maestro macro that does just as I want ie it save the image underneath the cursor in Safari naming it as the date_and_time.

Is there a simple way to paste this into the forum so that others (two or three have needed a similar macro) can access it?

Thanks Richard
P.S. By the way, I think you must be about the most helpful developer I have ever come across

8

Select the macro, and then select Keyboard Maestro Forum from the Share button menu at the top of the Keyboard Maestro editor window and share it to the forum. Select the macro category.

See: How to Post/Upload Your Macro to the Forum.

Thanks for taking the time to do this!

9

In addition to the manual method Peter linked to, you can use this macro:
See

Macro: [KM] UPLOAD Macro to New or Existing Topic

If it is a finished macro, then I'd suggest uploading to the "macro" category (sub-forum), and then linking back to here.