With Keyboard Maestro, is it possible to have too many great macros? If this question piques your interest, this thread might help you.
I've been using Keyboard Maestro for years. Since discovering this forum, I've downloaded some incredible macros that users have generously shared. Also I've created many and shared a few myself.
With all this goodness, my Keyboard Maestro library has grown beyond 1600 macros; and paradoxically I sometimes I forget to use one of the many useful macros within.
I've partially mitigated this issue by creating a hierarchy of Keyboard Maestro palettes. Originally these were Conflict Palettes but later I started applying the Show Palette of Macros action. One feature that was particularly appealing with the latter, was that each could include a unique style.
I was really pleased when I found Show a Palette of Macros - Auto-Create and Populate developed and contributed by @noisneil (with help from @Nige_S). I've been using it since because it makes it incredibly easy to populate the palette with the macros of interest. But with 1600+ macros, even my hierarchy of palettes didn't completely solve the problem.
I searched for additional tools. Since I also use and love Alfred, I installed the powerful workflow, Conductor, developed and shared by Stephen Millard. Like all workflows that Stephen has shared, it's first-class. If you use Alfred, I suggest you give it a try.
But I was still searching for a method to quickly access and run certain classes of macros. I say classes, not groups, because these macros aren't necessarily within the same Macro Group. For example, I have tens of utility macros that I don't use everyday, but when I need them, they save me so much time.
I could have created a few giant palettes, or a sub-hierarchy of palettes, but that didn't seem ideal. I sometimes used Conductor, but in the cases I didn't necessary even remember the name of the macro, Conductor wasn't ideal because all library macros appeared in the long scrolling list.
Enter Trigger Macro by Name. I had forgotten about this versatile action that includes the ability to generate a Prompt With List-like list. It's now even better; with one of the recent Keyboard Maestro releases, the action displays metadata for each macro.
But for me, the key feature is that the Trigger Macro by Name list can be limited two ways: 1) the list of macros or/groups can be configured, and 2) the allowed group (Active macros | Enabled macros | All macros ) can be specified.
Since the Trigger Macro by Name action include a list of macros structured like the Show Palette of Macros action, I became motivated to borrow the logic from Show a Palette of Macros - Auto-Create and Populate to create a similar utility macro to configure Trigger Macro by Name actions.
With @noisneil's permission to steal shamelessly, I've created and shared a similar macro: Create a Macro Selection Macro
If you have other methods to efficiently find and use the macros in your library, please share your experience below.
