Macros in palette don't all work when aliased or copied

[S.Hart]

I have eight palettes each with numerous text-insertion macros for scientific names and locations. Each is set up to hide any other palettes and open one palette. So, for example, I click on Animals and any other palettes showing close and the Animals palette opens. If I then click on Plants, the Animals palette closes and is replaced by Plants.

In Photos, this all works perfectly.
But if I add the same list of macros to my TextEdit group, only one of the show/hide shortcuts (Location) works. I have tried copying and pasting, and just discovered Command/Option drag to create aliases. Still doesn't work.

Here's an example (there may be a much more efficient way to do this, I suspect.):

Hide Macro Group “Plants”
Hide Macro Group “Insects”
Hide Macro Group “Marine”
Hide Macro Group “Location Names”
Hide Macro Group “Birds”
Hide Macro Group “Spiders ”
Hide Macro Group “Fungi, Lichens”
Show/Hide Macro Group “Animals”

[S.Hart]

I have made no progress on solving this problem.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[appleianer]

@S.Hart

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Hi @S.Hart, my English isn't that good. Here is my structure of my Finder Macro group with the subgroups.
Is that what you use or want to use?

[S.Hart]

Yes, this looks similar to what I already have.
As I wrote above, this works in Photos, where I originally set it up but not in Text Edit, for example. Strangely, only the Locations palette show/hide macro works everywhere.

Here's what the steps look like:

[Followed by hide each other palette but one]

[appleianer]

@S.Hart

As I wrote above, this works in Photos, where I originally set it up but not in Text Edit, for example. Strangely, only the Locations palette show/hide macro works everywhere.

If I understand you @S.Hart correctly, you are using your macro group and the macro subgroup System Wide... if necessary with a shortcut that works in photos, but not in TextEdit?

It would be helpful if you would publish screenshots of the entire structure of the macro groups, as this would help you to understand your problem better.

Here my structure from the above gif:

(1) This is my main macro group with the most important actions/macros for the Finder (finder).

(2) Here I make sure that the macro group only appears in the Finder. If you have a system-wide macro group, you don't have to change anything here.

(3) With this setting I make sure that the macro group is hidden again after clicking on an action or a macro.

I don't use any shortcuts/triggers to call the macro groups. I use a touch gesture via the BetterTouchTool app. So I don't get problems with overlapping shortcuts in macOS.

(1) If I need a sub-group (here CloudApp) in the main group (here finder), I create it with an icon and a meaningful name.

(2) Also here the macro group is hidden when clicking on an action or a macro.

A custom shortcut/trigger to call this subgroup is not needed at any time, as I then connect the subgroup to the main group (finder).

(1) To connect the subgroup (CloudApp Finder) with the main group (finder), I set the action "Show Makro Group for One Action.

(2) This setting hides the subgroup after a click (Action/Macro).

(3) Here I insert the created subgroup (CloudApp Finder).

With this system (similar to a folder structure) you can create as many macro subgroups as you want and only need a shortcut/trigger.

[S.Hart]

Your system is much more complex than what I'm trying to do.

I tried a different tack:
I made a new Macro Group with just the palette shortcuts, dragged from their original location in the Photos Macro Group.
I set this new palette to work in both Photos and TextEdit. So Photos now has two palettes.
The palette shows up fine, but I have the same problem with the behavior of different show/hide triggers: they all work in Photos, but only one (Locations) works in Text Edit.

[S.Hart]

Solved!
As any KM old hand might have guessed, this problem was operator error.
What I needed to do was go back to the top level macro group and enable the group in all the apps I want them to be able to work in.
So from some time in the past, I had enabled my Locations list in several apps, but the other lists only in Photos. (emoji for slapping forehead)