What Are Some Practical Uses of "Export Macro as Finder Trigger File"?

Questions & Suggestions
21

Thank you.

Yes you are right. I just wanted to add it to my triggers including something for my Stream Deck.

After playing around, I found that click on found image works. The first letter of each file name can serve as trigger.

Thanks very much.

22

In which case an "Execute AppleScript" action with the following should do it -- change "Downloads" to the name of the folder containing your KM trigger files:

tell application "System Events"
	tell application process "Dock"
		tell list 1
			click UI element "Downloads"
		end tell
	end tell
end tell

Pop that in a macro that can be triggered from StreamDeck and you should be up and running.

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23

Works perfectly, which is obvious, coming from you. Thanks very much !

1 Like
24

Just in case you also didn't know this one exists, check out "Trigger Macro by Name"! :smiley:

I have a single-step macro that just plays this one action (triggered by ⇧⌘-Space, in my case), and it is literally the most-used macro in my collection because it gives me direct access to all macros. (For similar reasons, make sure to learn the ⌃⌘A shortcut, which presents a similar list, but for Actions!)

Not only does "Trigger Macro by Name" give you quick access to running any Keyboard Maestro macro, if you use ⌥ (alt/option) to select a macro, it'll be opened in Keyboard Maestro, rather than run. This is a lifesaver when a macro misbehaves due to some timing issue or other subtlety missed during initial development.

That latter point bears emphasis because, afaik, it's not explicitly covered in the docs/wiki.

Fwiw, I think Stairways would do well to give this feature its own dedicated shortcut and to support ⌘-Return & ⌘-Click to edit the selection, since that would make it discoverable for anyone who uses the equivalent feature in Spotlight et al, but that suggestion was rejected. Ah well. Still an awesome product, though, is it not? :nerd_face:

25

I use it to edit macro (opt click on list of macros), but the delay before the macros list is displayed is is too long to be of practical use IMO, except for rarely used macros. Thank you for your comment.

26

It doesn’t stop there!

Here’s the set of really useful shortcuts when editing macros in the KM editor:

⌃⌘A - insert an Action (in a macro)
⌃⌘T - insert a Token (in a field)
⌃⌘V - insert a Variable (in a field)
⌃⌘F - insert a Function (in a field)
⌃⌘W - insert an ICU Date (in a field)

Each of these brings up a spotlight-like dialog that helps you easily find and insert the corresponding item.

4 Likes
27

Ah, I guess I haven't got enough macros to slow it down yet. :sweat_smile:

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28

Wow, that is such a nugget!

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29

Make sure you review the Keyboard Maestro Editor and scope out its other menu items and keyboard shortcuts.

There are more such nuggets...

:sunglasses:

1 Like