Transition From QuicKeys

A lot of users are moving from QuicKeys to Keyboard Maestro in the wake of the Lion upgrade which left many QuicKeys users stranded without a macro solution.

Keyboard Maestro strives to ensure it always uses legitimate Mac OS X APIs so that old versions typically work with little or no disruption on newer versions of Mac OS X. We believe versions 2, 3, and 4 continue to work on Mac OS X Lion even though it was released long after their last version was released.

This page aims to ease the transition for people converting from QuicKeys. Unfortunately, there is no way to automatically convert your macros from QuicKeys to Keyboard Maestro, so it is going to be a fairly manual process of recreating your macros.

Quick Start

Like all new users to Keyboard Maestro, you should have a look at the Quick Start (Help -> Quick Start) which explains how the components of Keyboard Maestro (the editor and engine, macro groups and macros, triggers and actions) work together.

Importing Manually

Unfortunately, it's not possible to import the Quickeys macros directly into Keyboard Maestro. The only way is to manually recreate each macro.

However, if you have multiple macros that are similar, you can create the first macro and then duplicate it multiple times, changing only the parts that are different in each macro.

Toolbars

One thing QuicKeys users often ask is how to get Toolbars in Keyboard Maestro. Keyboard Maestro allows you to configure any Macro Group to appear as a palette. The palette can be available in all applications, or restricted to certain applications, and the palette can be displayed always, or you can toggle it open and closed using a hot key. See Frequently_Asked_Questions#How_do_I_get_more_than_one_macro_palette.3F for more information about macro palettes.

Groups

In QuicKeys, macros are grouped automatically by the application they are assigned to/active in.

In Keyboard Maestro, macro groups are more flexible and less automatic.

• macro groups are created manually.
• macros are added to a group manually.
• you can set conditions for a macro group: a group can be active in one or more applications, and it can be activated/deactivated by a hotkey or other trigger.
• a group can be activated/deactivated by another macro.

Macro Availability

A common question for QuickKeys users trying out Keyboard Maestro is "How do I control which applications a macro is available it?". In Keyboard Maestro, Macro Groups control when a macro is active, so typically you create a macro group named after the application, configured to be active in just that application, and then place your application-specific macros in that macro group.