Type a keystroke problem after Catalina update

Questions & Suggestions
1

Hi there,

I just updated from High Sierra to Catalina. Now one of my most important makros stopped working.
Its a simple "type a keystroke" action that bring up the Quick entry window of Omnifocus by typing F19. When I type it on the keyboard it works. When keyboard maestro does it I get an error sound.
With another key combination the action is still working.
What am I missing here?

cheers
Jonas

2

What key combination does not work and which one does?
Have you tried your key combo when you are in say Textedit?
So which app do you use most of the time and it does not work in?
Load the trial version of Keycue and see if you have a conflict either with the system allocated keys or your apps own shortcuts.

3

Hi jonathonl,

thanks for the answer.
As far as i can see ist only the F19 key.

I built a makro that only contains the "type the F19 keystroke" action and still get an error sound. The strange thing is, that F19 works when I press the button.

It is not a key combo, it`s a hotkey.
I tried to figure out any conflicts via Keycue like you advised me but did not find any.

Like I said, this startet when I updated to Catalina. But I guess its not an safety issu, because other makros seem to work like before.

cheers
Jonas

4

OK lets try and solve it the other way round.
Modify Omnifocus preferences for the short cut that brings up this window instead of using F19, say CMD+OPT+O. Then use Keyboard Maestro to map your prefered hotkey combo e.g. CMD+Q to type that keyboard combo CMD+OPT+O for you.

I am sure my colleagues will come up with a better solution though.

The omnifocus manual at https://support.omnigroup.com/documentation/omnifocus/mac/3.4.5/en/capture-methods/#quick-entry
says

## Quick Entry

With an easily configurable keyboard shortcut, you can use Quick Entry from anywhere on your Mac to add items to your database as long as OmniFocus is running. Make sure the shortcut in OmniFocus General preferences is what you want, and it’ll open the Quick Entry window no matter which app you’re viewing in the foreground.

You may also like to look at (if you have not already done so)

5

Catalina doesn't support triggering hot keys with simulated keys for function keys or arrow keys, but weirdly does allow it for other keys.

So you cannot use the Type a Keystroke action with a function or arrow key to trigger a hot key in another application.

If you can change the triggered hot key to some other key, then Keyboard Maestro can trigger that.

Unfortunately this appears to be a weird issue in Catalina.

6

Hi jonathonl,

thank you for the reply.
I will definitely check out the Omnifocus pack.
I just saw the reply of Peter. I guess I will have to change my longtime Omnifocus shortcut for the quick entry window…

7

Hello Peter,
thank you for the quick answer. As said before, I guess I will have to change my longtime karabiner hyperkey shortcut. Too bad.

By the way I am a big fan of keyboard maestro !
I use it all the time.

cheers
Jonas

1 Like