Use Keyboard Maestro to Highlight Text

In Apple’s Preview, you probably know that you can use the application’s annotation tools to highlight text in PDF. But for most other applications, there’s no annotation tools to do the job. In TextEdit and the Notes app, you can use the Format feature to change the font style color of text, and use that has a highlighter, but the process is requires too many steps.

But if you’re a Keyboard Maestro user, you can create a couple of highlighter macros for applying a color style or highlighter to text in nearly any text-based application.

Red Strikethrough Macro in Macro Library

Keyboard Maestro contains a Macro Library (Windows > Macro Library)  with dozens of extra macros that you can add to your macro library. In the Text folder, there’s a Red Strikethrough macro, which will change selected text to Red with a strikethrough. Insert that macro into your library, and you can quickly see how the workflow works.

Red Strikethrough

The above screenshot is what the Red Strikethrough looks like. If for some reason it’s not in your Macro Library, you can simply create it by adding the steps above. But notice you can change this macro and use other types of styles. I don’t have much use for a red strikethrough, but I do like highlighting text so that I can review a document for important details.

Highlighting Text

Red Highlighter

I wanted way to highlight text, so I duplicated the Red Strikethrough macro a couple of times and made changes the settings, so that I could have a three different macros–a green highlighter, a red highlighter, and a yellow background highlighter.

The Yellow Highlighter

To create the yellow highlighter, I simply unchecked the Foreground color and enabled the Background color, and selected yellow.

If you found this macro useful let me know. And if you similar ideas for macros, please share them.

How to Create an Automatic Email Template To Use in Keyboard Maestro

“Bakari, can you share the KM workflow for creating an email template with select email addresses, etc.?”

Thanks for asking, Brian. Unfortuneately, KM alone doesn’t handle email templates as well as say Automator. But thankfully KM can trigger Automator workflows. So here’s the steps to do that.

Create New Workflow in Automator

Add a New Message Action

Set Up Your Email Template

Note: if you want to add different information to the template each time you send it, be sure to check “Show this action when the workflow runs.” You enable the workflow to show only selected items.

Save the Workflow in a Permenant Location

Note: KM Automator workflows, not Automator Applications. So be sure to save your workflow in a folder where KM can find it.

Create a New Macro in Keyboard Maestro

Add the “Execute an Automator Workflow” action to the macro, and then attach the Automator workflow file you just created. Give your macro a name and trigger, and you’re good to go. You will probably only want your macro to run in Mail, so create add to your Mail macros folder.

Let me know how this setup works for you.

How to Use Named Clipboards in Keyboard Maestro

This tutorial is about Named Clipboards in Keyboard Maestro. But first, I’m going to briefly descirbe the difference between the Mac’s systemwide clipboard, and the basic clipboard feature in Keyboard Maestro.

Just as your Mac has a systemwided clipboard, Keyboard Maestro also global clipobard. KM however can save a history of everything you copy on your Mac, whereas the Mac’s clipboard only saves one clipping at a time. Each time you copy something new on your Mac, it replaces the previous item on the clipboard. Whereas with Keyboard Maestro, it saves a copy of each new clipping you make. (Note: by default, the Saved Clipboard History is not enabled in KM. So you will need to enable it in Preferences > General > Save Clipboard History.

The screenshot below shows KM’s Clipboard History Switcher. By default, clicking on Command-Control-Shift-V, will bring the switcher. Personally, If you find that keyboard shortcut a little awkward, you can change the hot key as with other macro. The History Switcher is found by default in the Clipboard folder under Categories.

With the Clipboard History Switcher, you can of course paste clipping on the list into any application. Notice you can also star individual clippings as favorites. Starred clippings will remain in the history. You can send selected clippings to another Mac that has KM installed, but I’ll cover that in another tutorial.

Now let’s move on to Named Clipboards.

Clipboard History Switcher Window

Note: The Clipboard History Switcher captures text and image clippings, as shown above.

Overview of Named Clipboards

The Named Clipboards feature in KM allows you how to create as many clipboards as you like, but unlike the Clipboard History Switcher, Named Clipboards only retain one clipping at a time. Each time you copy a new clipping to a Named Clipboard, it replaces the previous clipping. At first that might not sound very useful, but when you learn how to use Named Clipboards, you’ll see how they can be used in actions and macros.

So a way to think about Named Clipboards is that they are temporary or permenant ways to hold clippings, including text or images. Named Clipboards can be activated by any of the KM’s triggers, including hot keys. Named Clipboards work similarly to clipboard managers such as TextExpander. Personally, however, I find TextExpander useful for storing hundreds of regularly used snippets that I frequently use. Whereas I used Named Clipboards for special automations.

To get a good idea of how Named Clipboards work, let’s create one.

Step 1: Create a New Macro. Add “Copy to Named Clipboard”

Click on the “Default Clipboard” drop-down button of items, and selecte “New”.

Step 2: Type “Temporary” in the Named Clipboard field.

Note, whatever is already on your Mac’s clipboard will appear in the Named Clipboard box. Ignore it for now. So essentially you have created your first Named Clipboard, which gets listed the Clipboars section of KM’s Preferences. You can add as many clipboards as you like.

Notice also that you can add Named Clipboards in the Clipboards section (click the + button+, and then type or paste whatever text you want to permenantly remain there. For instance, you can create a Named Clipboard for a boilerplate letter, one for your business address, and one for your Facebook URL. Each of Named Clipboards can be assigned a unique trigger and can be used like other macro action.

Step 3: Add a Trigger and name for the macro.

Now you can use this macro to copy snippets directey to your Temporary clipboard. The snippet will also get copied to your Mac’s systemwide clipboard, as well as KM’s Clipboard History. However, until you use the add a different snippet to the Temporary Clipboard, the item you last copied to it will remain there.

You can also simply manually type any frequently used text in the Temporary clipboard and leave it there to be pasted. But since this is a Temporary clipboard, you probably will use to just store a piece of copied text temporarly.

Now let’s create a macro to paste whatever is on your Temporary clipboard.

Step 4: Create a new macro and add “Paste From Named Clipboard”.

Change the Default Clipboard to “Temporary”—the one you just added as a Named Clipboard. Give the macro a name and a Trigger. Now you can paste whatever is on your Temporary clipboard into any application.

Advanced Named Clipboard Actions

Named Clipboards can be used in other macros and actions. In the next step, we will create an action that briefly displays what’s on your Temporary clipboard.

Step 5: Create a new macro and the “Display Text” action.

1) Where it says, “Insert Token”, select “Named Clipboard” from the drop-down menu. 2) Change the “Default Clipboard” to “Temporary”. Give your macro a name and Trigger. 3) Click the View button to quickly see if the action works. A box with the text currently in your Temporary clipboard should display for about five seconds. Note: You can change the “Display text briefly” to another type of action, such “Display text in a window”.

For another advanced example of how to use Named Clipboards in a macro, see my tutorial on Create a Paste Current URL Macro.

Please let me know what you think of this tutorial. If you found any part confusing, just drop me a line and let me know.

Create a Paste Current URL Macro

The following steps below will show you how to set up this macro action, which allows you to paste the current Safari URL from within any application, using Keyboard Maestro. This saves you from having to select and copy a URL. Safari does not have to be the forfront application in order to use this macro. Just make sure that the URL you want to paste is the current visiable tab in Safari.

Note: This macro action replaces the previous action I outlined over a year ago, about how to use KM to get links into MarsEdit.

 

Keyboard Maestro Editor

Step 1: Create a new and add the Set Clipboard to Text action to the editor.

Step 2: Click on “System Clipboard” and select New… from the drop-down menu. Type and add “Linked URL”

Step 3: Type the code you see in the image below or select it under Insert Token.

Step 4: Add the action “Paste from Named Clipboard”

Step 5: Change the “Default Clipboard” to the “Linked URL” you created in step 2.

Step 6: Give the macro a title and assign a hot key trigger.

Now you’re set. Now you can paste the URL of the current Safari tab into any application.

Using Keyboard Maestro to Insert Titles and URLs in MarsEdit

The following macro copies the selected title of an article and then switches to MarsEdit and pastes the title. It then switches back to Safari and copies the URL for the article, and finally switches back to MarsEdit to add the link. This macro does exactly what you would do manually, but it does it with a simply keyboard shortcut trigger. I tried using Keyboard Maestro’s Set Clipboard to Past Clipboard action to reduce the switching back and forth between apps, but that macro didn’t work consistently.

You can see a video of how it works, here. I slowed the maco action down some so you can better see how it’s done.

One Click Pause, Play and Hide

When I listen to my favorite music streaming site, Rdio.com, I typically have to pause what is playing in its Mac desktop player in order to answer the phone or when I’m dictating an article, as I’m doing now using Dragon Dictate. In order to save myself a few clicks in order to pause or play Rdio, as well as to automatically hide it, I created two little click-saving macros using Keyboard Maestro.

One Click Pause and Play

To pause or play music in Rdio, I set up a macro that activates these menu items when I click on the Rdio icon in my Dock and brings the application briefly to the front. If music is playing, the macro pauses it; and if not, it resumes play.

The macro is triggered by the Application trigger, which executes a keystroke simulation—in this case, the Spacebar key.

Automatic Hide

To save yet another click or keyboard shortcut, I use a macro that automatically hides a designated application when it is no longer in the forefront. So in this case, when I click away from Rdio, this macro will hide it after 15 seconds.

This macro is triggered by the Application trigger, which executes a 15 second pause action, followed by a “If Conditions Met Execute Actions,” and an AppleScript action.

You cut-and-paste the AppleScript script below, be sure to replace the name of the application in the script with the one you’re building the script for.

tell application “System Events”
set visible of process “Rdio” to false
end tell

Mac Power Users and Keyboard Maestro [News]

David Sparks and Katie Floyd, hosts of Mac Power Users, did a podcast about Keyboard Maestro, in which they interviewed Keyboard Maestro guru, Gabe Weatherhead aka MacDrifter.

You can hear the podcast here.

David and Katie always provide some of the best tips and strategies for using Apple and third-party software for better productivity. Their podcasts are for both new and advance Mac users.

Starting I believe in January they will do a series of podcasts on Mac automation. I’m looking forward to it.

How to Think About Automation Workflows

Right after I post my last blog about creating a droplet using Keyboard Maestro, I discovered an article via Twitter posted on site called A Better Mess.

The writer, Micheal Schetcher, wrote a review of Keyboard Maestro and how he uses it. In that article he includes the idea behind workflows. He says:

Any geek, especially those who dabble in the productivity space, tend to think in workflows. We examine how we do the things that we do. This is usually a three-step process: (1) consider your work, (2) define the most efficient steps to accomplish it and (3) automate the hell out of it. Simply put, Keyboard Maestro removes friction and reduces the steps needed to really get things done. There are several ways to accomplish this.

Touché, Micheal. I was just thinking something similar about workflow, which is I also what I  use even in non-computer tasks like cooking or organizing my messy office. Micheal is so on point about automating the “hell out of” what we do repeatedly on the computer. Programs like Keyboard Maestro, Hazel, Automator, AppleScript, TextExpander, Typinator, and the like can save us so much damn time when it comes to performing redundant tasks.

I always observe what I’m doing and how often I do it. Then I try to automate as many parts of that task as possible. Each time I perform the task, I think about how I can refine the workflow to make it easier and more efficient.

Before I switched over to Keyboard Maestro, I created over two hundred macros in QuicKeys for nearly everything I do on my Mac. I didn’t of course use them all everyday, but when I needed to perform certain tasks, especially ones I hadn’t performed in a while, a macro I previously created for a task could be triggered and ran, saving me lots of clicking and even remembering keyboard shortcuts. Now I do the same using Keyboard Maestro.

I also use the Status Menu Trigger in Keyboard Maestro to bookmark files, website pages, and other apps related to an application I’m working in. So for example when I create a how-to video using ScreenFlow, I have a KM macro that launches my YouTube account for Mac automation videos. The macro is present in the Status Menu of Keyboard Maestro when I have ScreenFlow as the frontmost application. I don’t use my Mac automation YouTube account a lot, but bookmarking it in KM makes it easy to access, which is typically  when I’m working in ScreenFlow.

So yeah, thanks Micheal for your brief description of how to think about workflow—the best way to be more productive on your computer.

QuicKeys Developer Explains Lack of Lion Support [News]

Wow, just learned today why Startly, the company behind the Mac automation program, QuicKeys, has been relatively silent about the long overdue Lion update for their program.

Unfortunately many long users of QuicKeys, including myself, have jumped ship and started using Keyboard Maestro because there was not much coming from Startly about why they had not updated QuicKeys.

Essentially the programmer responsible for the update passed away, but Startly was not kept up to date about the programmer’s fatal illness. The company is now seeking a qualified programmer who can complete the job. You can read more about here.

This is good and bad news for QuicKeys users who have switched over to Keyboard Maestro. I still think both programs are very good for general Mac users who want to automate tasks on their computer, but it’s time consuming to develop macros in both applications, and it has taken too long for QuicKeys to be updated for Lion. I can barely open and use it Lion.

However, I think what I will try to continue to write articles and do how-to videos for both programs.

I will also try to write an article that explores the differences between the programs.

Creating an App Droplet in Keyboard Maestro

Because the developers of QuicKeys have still not upgraded their application for OS X Lion, I have moved over to Keyboard Maestro. I’ve always thought both programs were nearly equally as good, but since I discovered and started using QuicKeys first, KM laid dormant in my Applications folder because it didn’t make since to run both Mac automation programs on my computers.

I’ll write more later about what I like about Keyboard Maestro, but I thought I’d do a quick little tutorial about how to make an application droplet in KM. I wrote the developer of KM and he wrote back and explained in a brief sentence how to create a droplet. But I thought I’d illustrate it here for newer users of Mac automation, Keyboard Maestro in particular.

What is a droplet? Well, it’s sort of acts like an application. While most of the automations you build in KM are triggered by either a keyboard shortcut, an application, typed string, or through the KM status menu, you can also create a droplet for any KM macro and launch it say from your Dock as you would an application or file. Here’s an example:

I use a macro that launches my most used applications. These applications could be of course automatically launched when I log into my account, but I don’t like that option because sometimes when I’m trouble shooting a problem on my computer, I don’t want all those apps launching when I’m experiencing problems.

I could also easily set a keyboard shortcut to trigger that macro, but I simply don’t use it enough to warrant a keyboard shortcut. Instead, I created a droplet that I can simply click in my Dock. Here’s how you do it.

1. Select the macro in KM that you want to create a droplet for.

2. Under the triggering section of the macro, select “Or by script,” and then select “Or by Apple Script.”

3. Voila, KM makes an instant AppleScript script for your macro that you save as a droplet/application.

4. Unfortunately you can’t turn a KM macro into app inside of KM, as you can in QuicKeys. But that’s not a real big deal, because you probably won’t be using droplets a lot to launch your macros.

5. So what you do is copy the AppleScript script. Launch AppleScript Editor (located in your Utilities folder, which is located in your Applications folder) and paste the copied script in the new file.

6. You might want to click the Run button to test it out. Then save it as an Application. I would suggest putting your droplet/apps in one place, say a folder you create in your Applications folder so you can easily access them.

7. Now drag that droplet to your Dock and you can launch it from there.