Macros that were working have stopped. Since I added a new macro for a different set, I have the following problems:
I have a macro assigned to my Firefox set (Command B) that launches intothe Bing Search page.
This worked perfectly until I created a new macro that assigned Command B to the menu item Edit/Clear/All in Excel
Now the Excel macro works, but the Firefox one will not. Moreover, the Command B macro that is built into Filemaker Pro, no longer function.
Can anyone tell me what has gone wrong here?
I am running Mac OS 10.9.5 and KM 5.3.2
See the wiki troubleshooting section Not Firing.
Here is what to do:
- Ensure the Keyboard Maestro Engine is running - the Keyboard Maestro status menu should show in the menu bar on the right hand side (unless you’ve turned it off).
- Ensure you have accessibility enabled (click on the status menu and Keyboard Maestro will tell you if there is a problem).
- Ensure the Macro Group is enabled, and is active in the application in question.
- Ensure the macro is enabled.
- Ensure the macro actions are enabled.
- Add a status menu trigger, and verify that the macro is active by checking for its name in the Keyboard Maestro status menu.
- Add a Display Text Briefly or Growl action to the macro to verify that the macro is firing.
- Choose Start Debugging from the Status Menu, ensure Pause New Macros is turned on, and trigger the macro. Step through the actions to see where it is going wrong.
Basically, you have to discover if the macro is active, if the trigger is firing, or if the actions are failing.
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Still not working. All sets are enable, and Command B macros in Firefox and Excel are enable, as are all sets. When I am in Excel the menu item works, when I am in FileMaker Pro the browse command (which is built into FMP) does not; and when I am in Firefox a box comes up offering a choice of launching Bing or “Switch to next Application”.
Doesn’t putting macros in a set isolate them, so that KBM knows which macro to fire?
There are not “sets” in Keyboard Maestro.
I don’t know what a “browse command” is.
“offering a choice” sounds like you have two active macros both with the same hot key, in which case Keyboard Maestro offers you a choice of which macro to trigger.
“Doesn’t putting macros in a set isolate them”. There are no “sets” in Keyboard Maestro. And if you mean Macro Groups, no, they do not isolate anything, though they do control when a macro is active.
If macros are not firing, have you done any of the last three things in the list I posted previously?
- Add a status menu trigger, and verify that the macro is active by checking for its name in the Keyboard Maestro status menu.
- Add a Display Text Briefly or Growl action to the macro to verify that the macro is firing.
- Choose Start Debugging from the Status Menu, ensure Pause New Macros is turned on, and trigger the macro. Step through the actions to see where it is going wrong.
And if you are getting the conflict palette, then that is because two macros are active, you need to use macro group or other means to ensure that only one macro is active, or alternatively you need to embrace the conflict palette for the facilities it gives you.
So, if I understand you correctly, if I have two applications open, and they share a macro trigger, I will have a problem. But if I only have one app open there is no conflict. Is that correct?
No.
If you have two or more macros active that have the same hot key trigger, then when you press the hot key, Keyboard Maestro will offer you a choice as to which one you want. This is a feature which can be used to great advantage by giving a bunch of related macros the same hot key.
If you want to use the same hot key trigger on two different macros when you are in two different applications, then ensure that only one or other of the macros is active at any time. You control when macros are active by configuring the macro group that contains them. The simplest organisation is to create one macro group for each application, configure each macro group to be active only in one application, and put each macro in the appropriate macro group:
- Macro Group “App A”
- Configured to be active only in “App A”
- Containing the macro with trigger X appropriate for App A
- Macro Group “App B”
- Configured to be active only in “App B”
- Containing the macro with trigger X appropriate for App B
Got it - I’m obviously not a power user - thanks for your help.
It doesn’t take much to get from your first macro with Keyboard Maestro to “power user”. Each part of Keyboard Maestro that you learn is designed to open up new areas of power, all of which can be used with the stuff you’ve already learned.