KM editor must remain on, why?

Questions & Suggestions
1

KM 9.0.5 on Mac OS 10.12 — It seems the Keyboard Maestro Editor must remain launched or else none of the macros will function. But I thought you could quit the editor, only launching it to make changes. What's up with this? Probably a mistake in setting here somewhere… Thanks.

2

I agree with your view that you only need the KM Editor to make changes, and only the KM engine needs to be running. However, if you find you need the editor, then just run it anyway as it does not consume much resource.

3

That is incorrect. Unless you are editing a macro, there is no need to have the KM Editor (Keyboard Maestro.app) running. It has no role in triggering macros.

If you have having problems triggering a macro, it is most likely because one or more of these conditions:

  1. Macro or Macro Group is disabled
  2. Macro Group is inactive

If you have having problems triggering a specific macro, please upload your macro so we can examine and test.

4

Hello J Michael TX,

Thanks for your response.

Maybe it’s correct or incorrect but that’s how it behaves. I have Keyboard Maestro installed and enabled on more than one machine startup. They all work in the correct way, wherein the macros work even when the editor is not turned on. Except for this one Mac startup, where none of the macros work unless the editor is enabled.

Any contribution towards understanding that curiosity would be appreciated.

LesB

5

OK, so a crucial part of that not in the original post is “Except for this one Mac startup”.

That indicates a login items issue.

Things to try:

  • Ensure Keyboard Maestro is not translocated.
  • Check your System Preferences, Users & Groups, Login Items, it should have Keyboard Maestro Engine only, and not Keyboard Maestro:
    • Remove all the entries.
    • Enable Launch Engine at Login in Keyboard Maestro’s General Preferences.
    • Ensure the Keyboard Maestro Engine appears in the Login Items list.
  • Restart and check the Login Items list and the Engine.log file - verify whether Keyboard Maestro Engine launches at all.

If you continue to have troubles, either Keyboard Maestro is translocated, or the Login Items system may be corrupted and may need resetting.

1 Like
6

Thank you Peter, this was exactly the right answer. The problem was easy to solve with your help, and it now works correctly. — Les B