How Do I Get The Best Answer in the Shortest Time to Questions on the KM Forum?

Tips & Tutorials
,
1

Tip: How Do I Get The Best Answer in the Shortest Time?

Summary:

The better quality and more complete the information you post about your issue, the quicker we can give you a useful answer.

  1. Tell us your complete workflow along with your end-objective up front – do not spoon-feed it to us one post at a time -- i.e. don't waste your time or ours.
    • At the very least provide a summary of what you're doing.
      • By having a more complete picture of your task we can often suggest more efficient methods of going about it.
         
  2. If it's feasible – please provide the simplest possible test macro demonstrating your issue.
    • If we're not testing we're probably guessing.
    • The easier you make it for others to evaluate and test your work the more likely you'll get useful help – and this will save everyone time.
    • Actual testable macros often include fiddly details that are omitted from written descriptions, and these can often make the difference between solving a given problem and not.
       
  3. Show us what you want as much as possible and provide short descriptions.

Feel free to comment on this page and tell us how these instructions can be improved.

Pending Revision

First, let me say that this is one of the friendliest, most helpful forums on the Internet. We have a number of talented, experienced members who are more than willing to help. Most of the stuff below should be obvious. But to help you, we need certain critical information from you.

Keep in mind that you are asking others to give you one of their most valuable resources – their time.

So it is to your advantage to post as much info about your problem/issue as you can that will help others quickly and clearly understand your problem, and to encourage them to help you.

In your initial topic/request

To get the best results in the shortest amount of time please post the following:

For All Questions

  • Provide version numbers for Keyboard Maestro and macOS.
    • Don't guess, and don't say "latest"
    • Get from the Keyboard Maestro Editor > About menu
    • and Apple > About this Mac menu
    • Or – Use this Macro.
  • Tell us what software you're working with
  • If your workflow is complicated, then break it down into steps that you would do manually.

For Requests About Text Manipulation

  1. Your complete requirements, including your end-objective
  2. Complete real-world source text that will be representative of all cases.
  3. The source of your data, like web page, file, other app, etc.
  4. Exactly what you want the results to look like after the macro has completed.
  5. All text should be placed in a Code Block to preserve its format and characters.

For Problems With Your Macro or Script

  1. State exactly what the problem is – don't just say "it doesn't work".
  2. Provide the expected results (in text or screenshots).
  3. Provide observed results, and make clear the differences.
  4. Post/upload your script/macro (click for instructions).
    • It is important to post both macro image and file.
    • Many experienced KM users will NOT download a macro they have not seen.
    • We need the file to easily test the macro (don't make us retype stuff).

For Web Page Automation

  1. Your end-objective
  2. URL of the target web page, or HTML code of the section of the page of interest.
    • You can get the HTML by right-clicking on the web page object, "Inspect", then right-click on the major HTML element (usually <div>), "Copy Outer HTML".
  3. Screenshot of the section of the page of interest.
  4. If you need to access a number of objects on the page, then post your manual step-by-step workflow to get/do what you want.
  5. The browser you are using if it needs to be a specific browser.

For All Other Tasks

  1. Be as descriptive as possible.
  2. State your end-objective.
  3. If you have a macro you've written, Post/upload your script/macro (click for instructions) even if it doesn't work.
  4. You're more likely to get help when you make it as easy as possible for people to help you.
19 Likes
2

TLDR2:

  • Show more, tell less.
  • Give a sample of your input data,
  • and show your desired output.
5 Likes