Unexpected Behavior with ⌘⌃↑/↓ and Arrow Keys When Moving Actions

Questions & Suggestions
1

I’m using keyboard shortcuts to move actions up and down in my macros, and I’ve run into some strange behavior.

When I press ⌘⌃↑ or ⌘⌃↓ (Command + Control + Up/Down), instead of moving the selected action just one step, it jumps all the way to the top or bottom of the macro. This seems to override the common macOS convention used in apps like Apple Notes, Scrivener, and OmniFocus, where those shortcuts typically move an item just one position.

I've created a custom shortcut in Keyboard Maestro to move an action up/down one spot, mimicking that standard behavior — but KM’s default seems to be overriding it.

Additionally, I've noticed some inconsistent behavior with the left and right arrow keys:

  • Sometimes Right Arrow dives into a subroutine or group (as expected from the "Go to Action" menu),
  • Other times it unexpectedly moves the entire action or macro group to the bottom of the list instead.

I’ve sorted my macros by Most Recently Executed, and I don’t see anything that would indicate a conflict or a macro triggering this behavior.

My Questions:

  1. Where in Keyboard Maestro’s menus is the shortcut assigned that causes ⌘⌃↑/↓ to move the action to the top or bottom?
  2. Is anyone else experiencing this behavior with arrow keys moving actions or groups unpredictably?
  3. Is there a reliable way to override or disable these defaults?

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Example(s) - Skillet Macros.kmmacros (47 KB)

2

Have you tried ⌃↓ and ⌃↑ instead?

I prefer KM's way, the ⌘ modifying the shortcut to "the big version" -- but if you don't like it, write a macro! :wink:

Something like this could do it:

Switch KM Move Action Keys.kmmacros (6.6 KB)

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Switch KM Move Action Keys.kmmacros
Switch KM Move Action Keys.kmmacros1666×2904 161 KB

Make sure you limit it's availability to the apps you want to change the behaviour in :wink:

3

Oh that's cool and yes I like that too just not what I am use to. To keep the other two consistent with other applications I probably would have done Power Claw (Command+Option+Control (⌘⌥⌃)) + up and down arrow for moving to the top or bottom but that is more modifiers.

I did make my own modifiers in the one above but Keyboard Maestro still takes control if I move actions too fast and jumps it to the top. That is a nicely scripted all in one macro you made thanks for sharing.

Do you experience " 2. Is anyone else experiencing this behavior with arrow keys moving actions or groups unpredictably?"

When I select an action inside a group sometimes Comtrol (Command+Control (⌘⌃)) + left and right arrow will move up and back in to the macro group but for me mostly it moves them to the top or the bottom of all the actions in the macro.

4

I don't use the arrow keys much in KM, I just drag'n'drop actions the way Jobs intended :wink:

5

Haha or was it Xerox :wink:. We both winked at each other I am not sure what that means haha.

6

If we're talking about who invented it -- nope. That's generally reckoned to be Douglas Engelbart and his team at the SRI International's Augmentation Research Center, as revealed by them at "the Mother of all demos".

I'd argue that Apple made it good because Jobs saw how such direct manipulation would open up computing "to the rest of us". But I'm an Apple fanboi so I would, wouldn't I :wink:

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