Organizing Macro Groups

[_jims]

The following post made me think about a related topic: organizing macro groups.

If you have your own methods for organizing macro groups, please consider sharing them in this thread. Thanks!

Organizing Macro List - by subfolder and by color

Is there a way to: Put macros in a subfolder? For example - in my Global Macro list, I would like to have a subfolder for all macros that open files. Colorize the name of a macro? I know you can change the color of the macro icon, but I want to add color to the name, as it would easier to spot. If this is possible, is there a way to do this to multiple macros at once? Is there a way to colorize multiple macro icons at once?

---

I organize my macro groups using three Unicode prefixes. Besides visually categorizing the groups, the prefixes also cause them to sort in a predictable order within the Keyboard Maestro editor.

Prefix	Unicode	Intended Use
⁝	U+205D	Application-specific groups
⋮	U+22EE	All other groups that I create
𝄈	U+1D108	Global palettes

In the Keyboard Maestro editor, the groups sort in the order shown above.

I intentionally chose subtle, narrow characters so the prefixes don't draw attention to themselves or noticeably lengthen the group names.

I also use a few other special characters in group names (though not necessarily as prefixes):

Character	Unicode	Purpose
☆	U+2606	Indicates that the group contains macros used for an application palette
	U+26AA	Indicates that the group's macros are available only in the specified application
	U+1F534	Temporary marker that makes the group stand out

---

Here are a few example groups:

Prefix	Group	Description (macros for...)
⁝	⁝KM ☆ P1	Palette 1 for the Keyboard Maestro application
⁝	⁝KM ☆ P2	Palette 2 for the Keyboard Maestro application
⁝	⁝KM ⚪️	Not on a palette, but available only in the Keyboard Maestro application
⋮	⋮Window Management	An example of one of my general-purpose groups
𝄈	𝄈6 [ R ⌥ ] Applications P1	Global Applications palette 1
𝄈	𝄈6 [ R ⌥ ] Applications P2	Global Applications palette 2

---

One additional benefit of using one of the three prefixes (⁝, ⋮, or 𝄈) is that my groups are segregated. When I import macros from other sources, any newly created macro groups aren't interleaved with my own, making them much easier to identify, review, and organize.

[kevinb]

To recap from the other thread: for a long time, I used to organise macro groups by using prefixes, but I recently stopped doing so because (1) it’s handy to be able to select a macro group (or at least land in its vicinity) by typing its first few letters when the focus is on the Groups list; (2) the icons that I use (sparingly) after some kinds of macro groups gave me enough context.

The advantage of point 1 is not that significant, especially if one uses @Nige_S’s macro Go to macro group*, which will find any macro group easily.

On point 2: the main icons (illustrative characters) that I use as suffixes are and to indicate whether a macro group is active globally or is restricted to one or more applications. Also, as I’ve mentioned previously, I use 𝓢 to indicate a group of subroutines.

The choice of symbol for applications is not one that I am happy with. I understand that 申 in Japanese refers to a job application rather than a program! However, to date, I have failed to find a replacement that I find thematically and visually acceptable. It is odd that a search of Unicode character sets plus Apple’s “SF Symbols” did not yield anything obviously suitable for the concept of “program”… so perhaps I have missed something!

@_jims

One additional benefit of using one of the three prefixes (⁝, ⋮, or 𝄈) is that my groups are segregated. When I import macros from other sources, any newly created macro groups aren't interleaved with my own, making them much easier to identify, review, and organize.

For my use case, I have not found it useful to segregate my macros from those of other KM users. The vast majority of my macros are ones that I have made, but for other people’s work, I just like to make sure that each macro contains a note of attribution; I will often add a Comment action that contains the URL of the relevant forum page.

* I made one tiny tweak to my copy of the macro; I turned off the “Notify on failure” option for the Prompt with list action, so that escaping from the list by pressing ⎋ would not display an error notification.

[iampariah]

Here’s my contribution to the topic. I try to avoid emoji and special characters because I don’t fully trust they’ll be reliable in the future (despite my intimate understanding of OpenType fonts and their futureproofness [izzat a word?]). My exception is with palettes, which I want to be aesthetically pleasing from title down.

[kevinb]

@iampariah

I try to avoid emoji and special characters because I don’t fully trust they’ll be reliable in the future

I think this should not be a concern if the emoji or other “special” character (do you mean one that isn’t in the ASCII set?) has been incorporated in the Unicode standard.

[Nige_S]

My Macro Groups resemble my Desktop -- a mess!

Random Groups from Forum downloads. A "Test" Group for messing around and macros for Forum posts. "Subroutines" for... subroutines. KM's defaults. The rest named for function ("Text Expansions", "Bookmarks") or app/job specificity ("Terminal", "Freshdesk" for when our ticketing system's web page is frontmost).

No fancy colours (colour blind!), not many icons, no clever naming conventions.

But I don't actually have that many "production" macros, so don't need much organisation...