Help: Semaphore

Here are some of my suggestions to manage and use thousands of macros:

  1. Trigger by Name is your friend! Either to search all your macros or to search within a specific predefined collection (groups or with a "prefix" or using search keywords).

  2. Make your shortcuts and macros context dependent so they are only available or enabled in the right situations.

  3. Use conflict palettes to handle overlaps.

  4. You can also use tools like Karabiner Elements to create new “modifiers” (similar to a Hyper-key, but with other keys, like “Tab-mode,” “Esc-mode,” "z-mode", etc.).

  5. And one of my favorites...

JMichaelTX's "Rerun" macro

Often, you only need a macro for a specific temporary task. In these cases, you can use a variable like PREFIX__Last_Run_Macro_UUID along with a separate “Rerun” macro that executes the last macro stored in that variable. Here’s the workflow:

  1. Create your macro (or record it, if it’s simple). Add a step that sets PREFIX__Last_Run_Macro_UUID to %ExecutingMacroUUID%.
    image

  2. Trigger your macro using “Trigger by Name” (or any trigger you prefer). This stores the macro’s UUID in PREFIX__Last_Run_Macro_UUID.

  3. Use your “Rerun PREFIX__Last_Run_Macro_UUID” macro or AppleScript (bound to an easy shortcut) to trigger the macro you stored in Step 1.
    image

  4. Repeat Step 3 as needed. You get the convenience of a shortcut without having to assign one permanently, just for the time you need it.

Also, because to rerun it you only need to execute just a little bit of AppleScript, you can use other tools like Karabiner, BetterTouchTool, Alfred, etc. easily.

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