I’m attempting to adapt my workflow after upgrading to MacOS Sierra. Specifically, Seil and Karabiner are no longer compatible. I had previously re-mapped F19 to the left control key, then make F19 press CTRL+CMD+OPT for easy no-conflict keyboard shortcuts. It’s not clear when this functionality will be back via the in-development Karabiner Elements. Fortunately this tip gave me a way to get some of the same functionality with Keyboard Maestro.
Specifically, I’ve mapped left control to F19 and I’m using that as the hotkey in Keyboard Maestro. Then I’m creating macros for various functions with the lead character I previously used. For example: CTRL+CMD+OPT+L previously locked my Mac. Now F19 is the hotkey with a “L: Lock Mac” titled macro. Works well enough.
What I’m struggling with is using special characters in combination with macros. For example, I previously used CTRL+CMD+OPT+Enter to stop and start iTunes. There seems to be no way to use “Enter” as the secondary trigger for the macro (sorry if that’s the wrong terminology!). I’d also like to use characters such as Tab and the arrow keys.
Is there some way to do this in Keyboard Maestro I’m unaware of? I haven’t had much luck searching this forum or the documentation.
You cannot use those sorts of characters as valid characters for the Conflict Palette.
You could do it using a Macro Group, configured to be active (or show a palette) for one action, and with each macro having a specified trigger (like “L” or “Enter” or “Escape” or “Tab”). Because the macros all have hot key triggers, any key can be used (or any combination of modifiers and keys). Because the macro group is active for one action only, simple non-modified keys can be used as hot keys without issues. Also, the macro name no longer has to have the trigger key at the start. But you have to create a trigger for each macro.