This actually failed in Sonoma or before, but it still doesn't work for me, and with Mac OS 2026 coming up, I figured maybe it's time to see if it can be fixed.
I make heavy use of tags in the Finder. Using the technique outlined here: Tag Selected Files I created multiple automations to tag files/folder with a colour, as per this example to toggle something blue:
As you can see it's basically the provided example with a down arrow keystroke added. It worked fine until an OS update broke it. All it does now is type the down arrow to select the next file/folder in the window, no tag added.
There is one thing, though: the provided example has a little tickmark that my version of KM (11.x) does not: "Fix Finder Selection Bug".
Is that why the automation is failing?
I tried the "remove tag favourites" as suggested in this post to solve the problem in Mojave: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/339126/is-there-a-way-to-set-a-finder-shortcut-for-tags-in-macos-10-14-mojave/340880#340880
But it is not working for me in Sequoia.
I'm losing time tagging things by mousing up to the window menu and selecting a tag individually, and besides that it's bugging me.
Does anyone know a workaround or fix for this?
Thanks.
EDIT: I found an old screenshot dated September 2022, so this has been broken since Ventura.
This works fine for me on Sequoia 15.5. Can you post your macro file to see if there's anything weird going on there?
Huh. Weird. The difference I see is I have selected %Variable%Path% and you have &local_path%
Here's my macro.
Tag Selected Files Blue Toggle.kmmacros (3.0 KB)
Your macro works perfectly on both my Sequoia machines, not sure what could be happening. Are you getting an error of any kind as a notification, or in the log?
Huh. Extra weird.
Here's the recent editor log entries:
2025-05-25 15:44:12 Editor Starting 11.0.4
2025-05-25 15:44:13 Launch Engine
2025-05-25 15:44:29 Editor Quitting
2025-09-14 08:57:43 Editor Starting 11.0.4
2025-09-14 08:57:45 Engine is already running
2025-09-14 09:10:11 Editor Quitting
2025-09-21 09:01:05 Editor Starting 11.0.4
2025-09-21 09:01:07 Engine is already running
And the Engine.log
2025-09-22 09:18:07 Execute macro “Bring back window to front” from trigger The Hot Key ⌃Tab is pressed
2025-09-22 10:27:00 Execute macro “Sormadoble” from trigger The Hot Key ⌃\ is pressed
2025-09-22 10:31:44 Execute macro “Tag Selected Files Blue Toggle” from trigger The Hot Key ⌃F15 is pressed
2025-09-22 10:31:44 Log:
2025-09-22 10:31:44 Action 19 failed: Set File Attribute failed to get path for %Variable%Path%
2025-09-22 10:31:44 Set File Attribute failed to get path for %Variable%Path% in macro “Tag Selected Files Blue Toggle” (while executing Set Tags (toggle) to “Blue”).
2025-09-22 10:34:29 Execute macro “Tag Selected Files Blue Toggle” from trigger The Hot Key ⌃F15 is pressed
2025-09-22 10:34:29 Log:
2025-09-22 10:34:29 Action 19 failed: Set File Attribute failed to get path for %Variable%Path%
2025-09-22 10:34:29 Set File Attribute failed to get path for %Variable%Path% in macro “Tag Selected Files Blue Toggle” (while executing Set Tags (toggle) to “Blue”).
2025-09-22 10:48:17 Log:
2025-09-22 10:48:17 Action 19 failed: Set File Attribute failed to get path for %Variable%Path%
2025-09-22 10:48:17 Set File Attribute failed to get path for %Variable%Path% in macro “Trying” (while executing Set Tags (toggle) to “Blue”).
2025-09-22 10:48:36 Execute macro “Tag Selected Files Blue Toggle” from trigger The Hot Key ⌃F15 is pressed
2025-09-22 10:48:36 Log:
2025-09-22 10:48:36 Action 19 failed: Set File Attribute failed to get path for %Variable%Path%
2025-09-22 10:48:36 Set File Attribute failed to get path for %Variable%Path% in macro “Tag Selected Files Blue Toggle” (while executing Set Tags (toggle) to “Blue”).
2025-09-22 10:57:02 Execute macro “Tag test yellow” from trigger The Hot Key ⌃Help/Insert is pressed
2025-09-22 10:57:03 Action 54 failed: Set File Attribute failed to get path for
2025-09-22 10:57:03 Set File Attribute failed to get path for in macro “Tag test yellow” (while executing Set Tags (toggle) to “Yellow”).
2025-09-22 10:57:04 Execute macro “Append τ to filename” from trigger The Hot Key ⌃Home is pressed
2025-09-22 10:57:08 Execute macro “Append η to filename” from trigger The Hot Key ⌃End is pressed
2025-09-22 10:57:39 Execute macro “Append ∂ to filename” from trigger The Hot Key ⌃⌘D is pressed
2025-09-22 12:15:29 Execute macro “Sormadoble” from trigger The Hot Key ⌃\ is pressed
2025-09-22 12:15:29 Execute macro “Sormadoble” from trigger The Hot Key ⌃\ is pressed
2025-09-22 14:20:50 Execute macro “Tag Selected Files Blue Toggle” from trigger The Hot Key ⌃F15 is pressed
2025-09-22 14:20:50 Log:
2025-09-22 14:20:50 Action 19 failed: Set File Attribute failed to get path for %Variable%Path%
2025-09-22 14:20:50 Set File Attribute failed to get path for %Variable%Path% in macro “Tag Selected Files Blue Toggle” (while executing Set Tags (toggle) to “Blue”).
2025-09-22 14:39:06 Execute macro “” from trigger The Hot Key ⌥Escape is pressed 2025-09-22 14:39:10 Execute macro “~” from trigger The Hot Key ⌥⇧Escape is pressed 2025-09-22 14:39:23 Execute macro “” from trigger The Hot Key ⌥Escape is pressed
Huh. I see there's more not working. The last three macros are there to overcome my compact keyboard's lack of a backtick key, and they do nothing also.
That error is saying that there's no path in your Path variable, and that's why it's failing. Stupid question, but you're sure you have an item selected in the frontmost Finder window when you trigger the macro?
-rob.
Haha, yes. Logical question though. A finder window has focus, a file/folder(s) is/are highlighted, type Ctrl-F15, and the selection drops to the next item in the Finder window file list.
I'm thinking something in the install is hosed. I was going to try deleting KM - I have Hazel which will delete all related files. Is there a way to save the macros I've built so I can import them back when I reinstall KM? Or is that going overboarcd?
This doesn't really make sense, the Path variable is whatever it was before the macro was run, so tells you nothing.
Move this into the For Each action.
Then it will tell you what the Path variable is in the loop.
When the item is selected, what does the FinderSelections token display?
It could be that Keyboard Maestro does not have automation control over the Finder.
