Having Trouble Installing Plug in Actions

Solved. Instead of clicking on the link to download the zip file I right clicked and chose "Download Linked File as..” I was able to drag the file into KM.

I see the plug in now and didn't need to restart or anything. Thanks for bearing with me on this.

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Thanks heavens for that! I was beginning to run out of ideas! Good that it’s solved :wink:

What you describe typically happens if your browser is set to auto-open certain file types.

Unless you are mainly downloading images/videos and want to see them immediately after download, I would in general rather deactivate that option.

As an example, here the checkbox in Safari which you have to deselect:

Safari > Preferences > General > Make sure the indicated checkbox is not selected.

Now you should be able to download a zip file via simple left-click on the link, without having the browser auto-expand it.

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This setting is a security hole in macOS and should always be turned soundly OFF in my opinion.

It also leads to problems such as evinced in this thread and wastes people's time.

Bad Apple!  :sunglasses:

-Chris

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Yet I create KM macros to circumvent the NON auto-opening of files that aren't supported by Apple :smiley:

Hey Michael,

That's entirely up to you on your system, but it's not a safe practice.

Any Mac security expert will tell you so.

As a 37 year veteran Mac-user I agree with them.

I have a macro that opens my ~/Downloads folder from anywhere, and I have a number of others for processing the contents.

-Chris

I seem to be unable to install my first plug in. I download a plug in from https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/third-party-actions.
Yes, I right clicked on the link and downloaded the zip into my downloads directory so that Finder did not automatically unzip. I drag the Zip file over on top of the KM icon in the dock but nothing happens in KM. The plug in groups folder is not created. If I try it again, KM complains that the imported action already exists.

Any ideas?

There is no such thing as a plug in groups folder.

Once you’ve installed a plug-in it is available to use as a regular KM action so if you display the list of available actions you will see a category called Third Party Plug Ins. Have a look at post #4 above where you’ll see a screenshot that should help you…

Then it has imported it. Choose the Keyboard Maestro Menu Item Actions → Show Actions. And have a look in the smart folder called Third Party Plug Ins:

image

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I feel so silly. Of course I see I need to look at the actions window to see the added action! Duh. Thanks for the quick help.

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I was getting the same issue with a plugin that "already exists"... only it doesn't!

So for anyone else, you do have a copy of it at:

~/Library/Application Support/Keyboard Maestro/Keyboard Maestro Actions

Delete it and re-import.