![]() ![]() But you probably want to make your very own custom shortcuts, so here's how to get started creating a very basic one. ![]() Once you've downloaded and installed Keyboard Maestro, open it up, and you'll be greeted with some pre-installed shortcuts and macros that you can try out. There's also FastKeys, but it's not quite as expansive as Keyboard Maestro. If you're looking for something on Windows, AutoIt and AutoHotkey are probably the closest alternatives, but they're kind of script-y and aren't as intuitive as setting up triggers and actions. None of these truly compare to Keyboard Maestro, in my opinion, so if you can shell out $36 for it, it's well worth it. And there's Apple's built-in Automator feature that will soon be discontinued in favor of Shortcuts. If you're looking for free options, Karabiner-Elements and Hammerspoon are decent open source alternatives. (It's already replaced TextExpander and Magnet for me.) Plus, it already does what a lot of other apps can do. It's not free, but at $36, it's frankly a steal for the capabilities it gives you. And that's really just scratching the surface. You can have stuff automatically happen when you quit a certain application, when a file is moved into a particular folder, or even when you draw a certain gesture with your mouse or trackpad. Open a website, copy files into a specific folder, or launch an application, all with keyboard shortcuts or other triggers. What is Keyboard Maestro?Īt its most basic, Keyboard Maestro is a tool for creating all sorts of shortcuts and macros for automating stuff on your Mac. But even then, why hit two keys when I could just hit one? And what other possibilities are there for one-key macros? This is where Keyboard Maestro and my keyboard's numpad make an epic duo. Granted, there are a lot of keyboard shortcuts that are dead easy- Command+C and Command+V are about as simple as it gets. But trying to hit that key combo with one hand-at least with my small hands-is like playing a game of Finger Twister. In Slack, Command+G brings up the search bar to find a past message, which I do often. Granted, you may not use these shortcuts very often, but four keys for a keyboard shortcut? Pfft.Įven some of the more practical keyboard shortcuts still require some dexterity. Or Option+Shift+Command+V to paste and match style in Safari. Take Option+Shift+Command+I, for example, which brings up a window for reporting a Google Chrome issue. Keyboard shortcuts should be easy to pull off and easy to remember, but that's not always the case. Which is why I heavily rely on an app called Keyboard Maestro. But there's one problem: just because they're shortcuts, doesn't necessarily make them better. And if you use them often, that's a lot of seconds saved. Using this you can view the Keyboard Maestro tutorial, view the Keyboard Maestro Quick Start Website, and get assistance and access to frequently asked questions.Keyboard shortcuts are great-they save you a few seconds each and every time you use them. The Keyboard Maestro Welcome Window is designed to give you a quick introduction to Keyboard Maestro. There are four things you should see when Keyboard Maestro first opens: We'll go into more detail in the next few articles, but let's take a quick look around. Put checks in the boxes for Keyboard Maestro and Keyboard Maestro Engine.Click the lock in the lower-left corner of System Preferences.To allow Keyboard Maestro the appropriate access: That will get you where you need to be for the next step. Open the Security & Privacy preference.NOTE: If this isn't what System Preferences looks like for you, you can: When System Preferences opens you should see something like this: When you see this, click the button that says, Open Preferences. ![]()
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