Keyboard Maestro Set Up and Sync Question

Questions & Suggestions
1

I recently had problems with my main Mac, an iMac running on Mavericks with KM 6.
I did a clean install of MacOS Sierra on the iMac and then used Migration Assistant to copy everything from my Sierra MacBook Pro. This brought over my apps including KM 8.0.4, so now both are running KM 8.

Each install appears to have an identical set up and both have 2 purple coloured Group folders ‘All Macros’ and ‘Enabled Macros’ with all other group folders being blue.

I use Dropbox for saving my macros and assumed each install was synced to this Dropbox folder. But, as the ‘Reveal Macro Sync File’ is greyed out they probably aren’t synched.

I have just installed KM 8 on an older Mac, also running on Sierra and using the same Dropbox folder. This install doesn’t have the ‘All Macros’ of ‘Enabled Macros’ purple group folders.

Here’s what I need to know:

If they are all pointing to the same Dropbox folder, should the ‘All Macros’ and ‘Enabled Macros’ folders show on all of them?

How can I check which macro folder each install is using?

If I find they are all using the same Dropbox folder would it be best to sync them all?

Thanks for any advice on this.

2

The macros are never stored on Dropbox. They are always stored at:

~/Library/Application Support/Keyboard Maestro

Generally, it is best if you don’t mess with that folder unless you know what you are doing.

When you tun on macro syncing, your macros are synced to and from the file on Dropbox, which Dropbox in turn syncs to the other Macs. If you are not syncing, the only File menu item related to syncing that will be lit up is Start Syncing Macros.

So it sounds likely that you are not syncing macros, in which case you need to figure out which Mac has your most up to date macros, and save any extra macros on any other Macs, and then start syncing on all the Macs.

https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/manual/Macro_Syncing

Read all the warnings!

The Smart Groups are synced with the macros, so All Macros and Enabled Macros will be synced just like other macro groups and macros.

3

Thanks Peter, that’s very helpful. I’ll check all this out and come back if I have any more questiions.

4

If you follow @peternlewis' advice, then all should work well.

I can tell you I have been syncing my KM macros via Dropbox for years now, and it has always worked flawlessly, as long as I MAKE SURE that each Mac is running the same version of KM.

To reinforce what Peter said, there is NO need to do anything with the primary location where the KM macros are stored. Do NOT try to use a file alias or symlink for this. Just setup KM syncing to point to a Dropbox folder and you will be fine.