Syncking only some macros, but not all between 2 Macs!

[Palle_GreyT]

Hello

I am 82 years now and uses KM as my supertool. It is great and the forum has given me tons of useful inputs.

My “problem now” is that I do most of the jobs on my MacStudio running 15.7.3 and typing on a fullsize satechi keyboard. Now I also have a MacBook Pro which I use for travel / or for splendid ideas when the office Mac is closed, but in reality the 2 Macs function in harmony.

somehow I have gotten the same macros on the MacBook as on the studio, but cant remember how I did it, and before venturing into sync, I need som clarification on a very basic situation:

1. say on the studio I have a macro that uses Ctrl F16 to execute macro
2. on the MacBook “same action/ macro” will need to use a different hotkey (Ctrl F12) because there are no F16 key.
3. How do I avoid syncing problems by using “same macro” but different hotkeys???

Kind regards

Palle Jensen

[NaOH]

Macro syncing is enabled/disabled in Preferences > General.

As for wanting different Hot Keys available on different Macs, a macro can have multiple Hot Keys, thus enabling macros that can activated on both machines. Alternatively, if syncing macros between Macs, there is an option to disable a Macro Group (a Group, not individual macros) on a Mac.

[peternlewis]

Syncing is all or nothing.

As @NaOH suggests, adjust your macros so they work on both Macs - adjust the triggers or use multiple triggers or use multiple macros, and/or adjust the actions.

[Palle_GreyT]

I aggree, and I amstuck a bit.

use iCloud on Mac Studio, create a folder for sync and “created new”… seems to work, but seen from the MacBook I get this message:

so how long should I wait? Or am I goofing it?

Palle

[peternlewis]

In my experience, iCloud Drive is not always a well behaved as far as syncing goes. I generally have recommended either DropBox or OneDrive, although I had started to hear less complaints about iCloud - until recently.

[Palle_GreyT]

So I used Dropbox, which went better… and it gave me the insight that running “same” macro on each mac, but with different hotkeys (due to fewer keys on the macbook) is not a practical way of working for me, so I aim at using the mac studio for basic and refinement work, and the macbook for basic only.

I run Scrivener on both, and save the macbook project i iCloud. As I need it I then copy to project… on the mac studio. Here iCloud works exellent

GreyT

[peternlewis]

@Palle_GreyT

So I used Dropbox, which went better… and it gave me the insight that running “same” macro on each mac, but with different hotkeys (due to fewer keys on the macbook) is not a practical way of working for me, so I aim at using the mac studio for basic and refinement work, and the macbook for basic only.

Macro Groups can also be configured to be active only on the current Mac. So you can make one (or multiple) group(s) for each Mac.

[Michiel]

As said syncing is all or nothing; but it is fairly easy to determine on which Mac you’re invoking a macro (I don’t remember the steps exactly but used it a couple of years ago, don’t need it anymore). And then based on the knowledge on which Mac you are you could take different steps.

Also agree with @peternlewis remarks on iCloud syncing - in my experience it was also not really wellbehaving. I use Dropbox.

Cheers –Mike

[Palle_GreyT]

Thanks for all your inputs…. And great to know that “the forum” is alive and present

GreyT

[amalis]

If you use Dropbox for syncing your macros, be sure to only have the KM editor open on one computer at a time, else you’ll end up with multiple versions of the macros.

[feinberj]

I also want one sync’ed file for multiple computers, with (some) different keystrokes for my desktop versus my laptop. I was shown an elegant solution some years back that I am still using.

First of all, I try to keep most of the keystrokes the same for both machines. But, for those where I want a difference…

I have created a macro group within KM “Folders Mac Pro only” and another macro group “Folders Macbook Air only”.

For the “Folders Mac Pro only” group, I open KM on my Mac pro, click on that group, and make sure “Disabled on this Mac” is unchecked. Then I open KM on the Macbook Air, click on that same group, and make sure “Disabled on this Mac” is CHECKED.

For the “Folders Macbook Air only” group, I open KM on my Mac pro, click on that group, and make sure “Disabled on this Mac” is CHECKED. Then I open KM on the Macbook Air, click on that same group, and make sure “Disabled on this Mac” is unchecked.

What is key for this setup is that the “Disabled on this Mac” checkbox, for a given group, is stored SEPARATELY for each computer, even in a sync’ed file. Pretty much everything else is shared across computers in a sync’ed file, but that particular checkbox can have one value for the Mac Pro and another value for the Macbook Air.

So I think this would work well for you, provided that you don’t have too many shortcuts that are machine-specific. Mine are mostly the same for both desktop & laptop, but there are a few which are different.

I’ve also included screenshots showing these two machine-specific groups for both the Pro & the Air, so 4 images total.

Hope this helps!

John Feinberg
KM user since 2019
(QuicKeys before that)