Not long ago the palette started opening hen I used a key command that's in multiple apps. I thought there's a way to stop that, but I don't remember.
What palette?
The one that opens when I use the same trigger in different applications, showing the macro listed from each app.
It sounds like you need to put the App specific Macros into Groups that are set to only enable when the App you want to use the Macros in is the front App.
I've done that form the very begging. I have a list of all the apps I use in the left column, then the macros in the column to the right when I choose an app.
I have macros in the Global Macros, but I'm careful not to use those triggers with any app specific macros.
That sounds like the Conflict Palette. That shows when more than one active macro have the trigger you just sent, so my guess is that you've changed the availability of one or more Macro Groups as @Zabobon has described above.
If you can't tell from the macro names in the Palette which Groups are available, ⌥-click an item in the Palette to open that macro in the Editor so you can check its Group's settings.
That is showing all the Groups of Macros you have made. You need to click on one of those Groups (i.e. "Pages") to see when that Group's Macros will be active (as in my post above)
If you export and upload (instructions here) two or three of your "clashing" macros from different Groups we'll be able to see how your Groups are set and what the conflict might be.
Each macro is set for a specific app. I have never set a macro for more than one app. As you see from my post, I have a variety of apps, each has its own set of macros.
If the Conflict Palette is appearing:
- Perform the trigger to make the Conflict Palette appear.
- Hold the option key down
- Click the first macro
- Note the macro group that the macro is in - it will be displayed at the top right corner of the macro detail view, or if nothing is displayed there, it will be the single macro group that is selected in the Macro Groups column.
- Repeat for each other macro listed in the Conflict Palette.
- Adjust the macro groups’ configurations such that only one macro group is active at a time.
We can't see that.
We can see you have a number of Macro Groups, named for applications, but the important bit is the settings for those Groups and those are missing. For example, it's quite easy to accidentally set a Group's "Availability" to "when this application is running" (so available even when the app is in the background) when you actually want "is active" (must be frontmost).
If you have all your Groups set up like that, then the Macros can only be triggered by hotkeys when their specific App is at the front.
I don't think there has ever been a known issue of this not working so, this is most likely a setting in one or more of your Groups.
The Global Macro Group is different - its Macros are always available in any App and that cannot be changed.
So, assuming the Macros that are causing the conflict palette to pop up are not in the Global Macro Group some of your Groups must have overlapping App permissions.
2 Ways to troubleshoot:
- As @Nige_S has suggested, when the Conflict Palette appears hold down the Option Key and click on one of the Macros in the list. This will open the Keyboard Maestro Editor at that Macro and you can check what Apps it is available in by looking at the top of the Macro:
If it shows something like this, it means it isn't limited to an App:
For a Macro to be limited to one App it needs to show something like this:
- If you don't remember the hotkeys that are causing the conflict palette to pop up, you will need to click on each of your Groups in the left column and see what their settings are.
Ah, good. That explains it. That option would allow the macro to run as long as the App is running even if it is not the frontmost App.
By the way, in this case the Conflict Palette was an annoyance. But it can be very powerful if you use it deliberately. For example, I have macros that open certain folders and I give them a trigger that uses the first letter of the folder name. I don't worry that I have several macros with the same trigger and use the conflict palette as a quick way of opening any folder. If I press ⌃⌥⌘A I might get folders called
Apple
Accounts
Art
listed in the Conflict Palette and I click the actual folder I want to open. It's a very fast way of getting to certain saved folders without having to remember anything other than the folder's name.
The ones that I changed from Available when these applications are running, to Available in these applications, stopped working. I had to put them back, and getting the palettes again. I'm forced to not use a specific key in different apps,
Now I'm totally confused. Either the Available choice does not activate the macro, or the other Available shows the palette. Can anyone do a screen share with me and clarify what I'm doing wrong?
Available when these applications are running will be active if the application is running, whether it is at the front (ie it's name is in the menu bar) or running in the background.
Available in these applications will be active when the application is at the front (and hence obviously running).
If two macros with the same hot key are active (whether in the same macro group or different macro groups), then the Conflict Palette appears to allow you to choose between them.
A macro is active if:
- It is enabled
- It’s parent macro group is enabled
- It’s parent macro group is active
You can select Show Active Macro Groups from the Keyboard Maestro status menu and it will show you which macro groups are currently active.