Keyboard Maestro “[KM Editor] Insert Action Group and Rename” Macro

Macro Library
#1

Hey all,

Just in case this idea is helpful... I am always organizing sections of my macro by adding Groups, and I always rename them immediately after inserting. Since I couldn't find a hotkey (or menu item to let me map one) to rename a newly-inserted Group, I made this simple macro.

It uses Found Image to insert a group, then uses Rename from the right-click menu. It should work as long as the group is visible on the screen. But since it's relying on the "found image" feature, I'm not sure if your computer's font settings etc could break it.

If anyone has a better alternative instead of relying on Found Image and right click context menu, let me know!

Keyboard Maestro “[KM Editor] Insert Action Group and Rename” Macro

[KM Editor] Insert Action Group and Rename.kmmacros (80 KB)

Keyboard Maestro Export.png1546×2488 444 KB

1 Like
#2

Ps. the Repeat 3x was just to insert a small pause after each down arrow but I disabled it since it seems to be working fine without pauses there, for now.

#3

@Joel_Rendall, thanks for sharing your macro.

An alternative to using the DOWN ARROW, is to use "Insert Text by Typing" of the option you want:

You may also be interested in this related macro:

[KM] Put Selected Actions into Group Action

1 Like
#4

I like to use Insert Text by type “Rename%Return%” so it’s one action, but yes, selecting menus by name is generally better than by position.

#5

The reason I don’t do that is to make sure there is some amount of time for the menu item to be selected before the RETURN is pressed. Probably doesn’t matter in most cases, but I’ve learned to allow for a bit of delay in most UI Actions.

#6

It shouldn’t make any difference since the keystrokes should all be queued, and in any event the timing of the two should be very close without a pause between them.

There are certainly other cases (eg on a web page) where a pause would absolutely be needed there, but then some web pages manage to get the keys out of order too.

#7

I agree on the “shouldn’t” part. But I’ve seen a number of macros that “shouldn’t” have failed, but were fixed with a small pause.

I know you programmers like to compact code, and that’s good most of the time, but maybe not all of the time. :wink:

I don’t think my approach hurts anything, but maybe helps. It is also more flexible if I need to change/insert steps in the future.

#8

Thanks for the help, guys. @JMichaelTX, your macro is exactly what I needed so I combined it with this one (after minor adjustments), and posted a reply in your other thread [KM] Put Selected Actions into Group Action

Cheers,
Joel