KM Editor Productivity Tips?

Does anyone have any productivity tips for using the KM Editor?

Tips for things like the quickest way to add Actions, i.e. keyboard shortcuts. I know about ctrl+cmd+A, but is there a quick way to narrow down the list that comes up? For example, I worked with one editor that not only matched what you typed as a string, but also checked to see if the letters matched the first words of the thing you were searching for. Is there anything like that available, or something else?

Tips for entering variable names quickly?

Other things?

I love KM, but as a developer, I’m used to being able to do things faster from the keyboard. Not complaining, just looking to see if there’s quicker ways of doing things.

Thanks!

The Insert Action by Name search knows mostly about words, so you can often use just the first letter. For example “s v t c” will select Set Variable to Calculation.

You can also duplicate or option drag existing actions which may be a quick way.

You can copy actions into Named Clipboards and paste them using macros if desired. You could also use exported action files and drag or import them.

Most fields include type completion, and you can press Escape to immediately trigger the type completion. So for example “Sou[escape][return]” will select the variable Source.

And yes, it remains a deep irony that Keyboard Maestro is itself very challenging to control.

I’d be interested to hear other people’s answers as well, and perhaps any suggestions for future improvements. For the most part I find the design of the macro is typically more time consuming that the time spent making the macro, but other people might have different expierences (I doubt I’m typical ;- ).

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Thanks for the input, and yes, the irony is amusing. Been there. That’s the price we pay for a utility that appeals to such a wide audience.

I didn’t know pressing Escape triggered the type completion immediately. That by itself will probably speed things up quickly.

I believe this is relatively standard Mac behaviour (for example it works in Pages, though Mail uses Option-Escape). Its handled by the system completion routine.

Dang, now I have to admit I’m a Windows developer, not a Mac developer, and I didn’t know that. But don’t hold it against me - at least I use Macs IRL.

Hey Dan,

You can add Keyboard Maestro macros to select the menu item for any given action or sequence of actions.

Or you can add keyboard shortcuts that will be visible in the menus using the system prefs > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts.

You can also save any given action or actions in a custom clipboard and create a macro to paste it/them.

Keyboard Maestro can OPEN a menu without activating any terminal menu item, so you can inspect and type-select to get where you want.

There are a lot of little tricks you can employ.

-Chris

Good tips. Thanks!

"Where was I??"

... using icons to make editing easier.


Editing can get confusing bouncing back and forth among several macros and several groups.
Especially editing sub-macros (sub-routines) that work across several applications.

To navigate easily, I use bright colored icons as 'targets' in the Editor.
Temporary targets, just for the duration of that editing project.

This screen shows at a glance where I'm editing right now: red icons
.

.

Aliases in KM editor would make it even easier, but I haven't figured out a way to do that.

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this does not work for me - what am I missing?

@troy this is for the Insert Action by Name feature. Personally I've rebound it to ⌃+Space, and use it almost exclusively when adding Actions.

Yes, what you show, works for me, “set v c”

but this does not work for me, [quote=“peternlewis, post:2, topic:3536”]
The Insert Action by Name search knows mostly about words, so you can often use just the first letter. For example “s v t c” will select Set Variable to Calculation.
[/quote]

Oh I see. I thought you were trying to use it without the Add Actions by Name. Now that I check, it doesn't work for me either:

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Confirmed. Does NOT work for me either.

And this is confusing:
"set v c"
picks Set Variable to Calculation.

BUT,
"set v t" NOR "s v t t"
do NOT pick Set Variable to Text (as I would expect).
Both pick "Set Variable to Calculation" :open_mouth:

Instead, you have to type:
"set v x"
to pick Set Variable to Text

That was written a bunch of versions ago, presumably I’ve adjusted the search since then to show more options which means you have to be more specific. set v tex works.

There are a lot of actions, at some point you have to either type enough to specify them or choose from the options.

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Ha, I failed to notice the time gap between these posts. Whoops!

Hey Mark,

Make your own aliases.

Create a palette for the Keyboard Maestro Editor with Macro-Navigation Buttons.

Edit_KM_Macros.ccs Macros.kmmacros (4.9 KB)


The macros for this palette are easily edited AppleScripts.

You can use the name of the macro (or group) – OR its UUID.

The palette is activated via F1

And then you can give the various navigation buttons keyboard shortcut if desired.

It would be relatively easy to create a macro to automatically add the selected macros/groups as macros to this group.

-Chris

2 Likes

Very helpful approach.

Thank you, @ccstone.


From browsing this forum, I’m learning that many reported “problems” about KM, and many “feature requests,” can actually be solved by using KM itself, plus some individual creativity.
Chris’ post above is an excellent example of that.

Absolutely. Keyboard Maestro is like a toolshed - people come in and ask for a chair, and others will point out the wood and the tools and help you figure out how to use them and then you can come away with exactly the chair you want.

This is also seen in the way I typically do support. I generally prefer to explain how you can use Keyboard Maestro to accomplish your goals rather than building a macro and handing it over. Thankfully there are lots of other folks here who happily build amazing macros to compliment my style of support!

3 Likes

Examples please.

The macro is downloadable and contains such examples...

-Chris