Apologies for the long post, but I really wanted to make a complete case here...
The Issue
'Execute a Macro' makes me scroll through my huge list of groups and macros to find what I need.
For me to find whatever macro I'm looking for – I have to remember the group the macro is in. Did I put it in my 'Display' group? Did I put it in the 'Window' group? Did I put it in 'System'?
Here's what I'm up against when selecting by Group or All Macros:
Off I go looking through all my groups and taking forever to find it. This is a major bottleneck in my macro creation flow 
Anticipated suggestion #1
While setting the macro to execute, you can always hover over 'All Macros' and type the name of the macro
Problem: This only works if you remember what the name of the macro starts with. If the thing you remember is in the middle of the string - you're screwed. This happens to me 95% of the time,
Anticipated suggestion #2
If you don't know the group, you can look it up by selecting 'All Macros' in the Groups pane and use the search bar (in the top right).
Problem(s):
- It takes me out of the macro I'm currently writing
- Once I've found the macro I want to use, I have to navigate back to the macro I was working on. I suppose the 'Back' history button comes in handy here - but there is often latency when navigating this way and I don't always find it on the first try - so I may need to go back [2 - X) times. Then I'm suddenly searching for where I was in the first place!
- Once I do get back – I have to find and select the macro I want to use after already searching for it in another capacity.
All 3 of these points are also opportunities for me to forget what I was doing.
It's just too many steps and interrupts my flow when writing macros.
Ultimately my goal is to keep the focus on the macro I'm currently working on.
New Implementation Options
Option 1: Include macro names in the results of an 'Add Action' search (Ctrl-Cmd+A).
Yes, I know this shortcut is for actions, but there could always be 2 search result sections.
The first section would consist of the legacy 'Add Action' behavior. This shows search results for actions only as normal and is labeled 'Actions'.
The second section would have a label like 'Execute a macro...' with the names of macros populating in a list below it. This list updates as you type. Selecting from this list would insert an 'Execute a macro' action with the macro field prepopulated.
Something like this (a quick 'n dirty rendering but you get the idea):
If we are concerned about 2 results sections being too confusing for some users - then maybe add a checkbox in the 'Add Action' search. Something like "Include macro names in results", with the default being OFF.
Option 2: Add a search bar filter somewhere in the 'Execute macro' field
This would work similar to the 'Add Action' search where the user can type any part of the macro name and it will show up in the results - not limited to macros only starting with the search term.
Not sure how to illustrate this one because the current implementation is a relatively simple list hierarchy selector. It would have to somehow fit in the view of the first image I posted above.
I don't like this as much as Option 1 because I still have to search for the 'Execute a Macro' macro and then find the thing I want.
I would rather just find the thing I want immediately, regardless of whether it's an action or a macro – but I understand that mixing actions and macros might be a non-starter, so I included it here.
Suggestions?
I'd appreciate any other suggestions – either for improving the current implementation or working within it – but keep in mind I would REALLY like to be able to do this in a single step without having to remember groups and full names or go search elsewhere.
Include macros in action search
