https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/ 2026-05-02T10:58:30+00:00 https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/ https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/_media/wiki/logo.png text/html 2021-10-12T05:51:10+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Appearance_Changed?rev=1634017870&do=diff Appearance Changed Trigger The Appearance Changed trigger (v10.0+) executes the macro when your Mac changes system appearance. See Also Triggers * See all Triggers Actions * Set System to Dark Mode action * Set Keyboard Maestro to Dark Mode action * See all Actions Functions * DARKMODE function * KMDARKMODE function * See all Functions text/html 2020-11-02T02:25:41+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Application?rev=1604283941&do=diff Application Trigger The Application trigger allows you to execute a macro when an specified application (or any application) does any of the following: * Launches. * Quits. * Is Running (and periodically while it remains running). * Activates. text/html 2021-11-24T06:43:38+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Audio_Output_Changed?rev=1637736218&do=diff Audio Output Changed The Audio Output Changed trigger (v8+) lets you execute a macro whenever the audio output device changes, typically when you plug headphones in. The %TriggerValue% token will hold the name of the selected audio output device. See Also Actions text/html 2021-11-24T06:44:03+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Clipboard_Changed?rev=1637736243&do=diff Clipboard Changed Trigger The Clipboard Changed trigger executes the macro whenever the clipboard changes (v7.0+). See Also Actions * See all Actions Tokens * %Trigger% * %TriggerBase% * %TriggerValue% * See all Tokens Triggers * See all Triggers text/html 2024-09-28T07:00:48+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Clipboard_Filter?rev=1727506848&do=diff Clipboard Filter Trigger The Clipboard Filter trigger (v8+) lets you add your macro to the action menu in the Clipboard History Switcher user manual section. For example: The macro will appear in the action menu in the Clipboard Switcher, and can reference the Trigger Clipboard to operate on the selected clipboard. text/html 2025-03-27T05:08:56+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Cron?rev=1743052136&do=diff Cron Trigger The Cron trigger (v8+) lets you execute a macro periodically while you are logged in. The Cron format lets you specify when a trigger will fire based on the time of day and and day of month and week. The times are set using 5 (or 6) space separated fields, representing the text/html 2023-09-13T04:07:29+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Display_Layout_Changed?rev=1694578049&do=diff Display Layout Changed Trigger The Display Layout Changed trigger (v9.0+) executes when the display layout changes, for example when you rearrange your monitors, add or remove a monitor, or change screen resolutions. The TriggerValue token will contain a comma separated lists of the kinds of changes made: text/html 2021-11-24T06:48:36+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Dragged_File?rev=1637736516&do=diff Dragged File Trigger The Dragged File trigger executes when a file or folder is dragged on to a macro in a macro palette. The path of the dragged file is available via the TriggerValue token. You could use this trigger to perform actions on files or folders, or you can use it in combination with the text/html 2021-11-24T06:48:24+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Engine_Launch?rev=1637736504&do=diff Engine Launch Trigger The Engine Launch trigger executes the macro when the Keyboard Maestro Engine launches. You can use this to set up Keyboard Maestro variables or enable or disable macros or otherwise configure your Keyboard Maestro state. You can also use this similarly to the text/html 2022-12-03T16:19:42+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Focused_Window?rev=1670084382&do=diff Focused Window Trigger The Focused Window trigger (v7.0+) executes the macro when the selected option occurs. The Options are: * The focused window changes. * The focused window title changes. * Occurs when either: * The front window text/html 2021-11-24T06:50:13+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Folder?rev=1637736613&do=diff Folder Trigger The Folder trigger (v7.0+) executes the macro when a specified folder on your Mac: * adds an item. * removes an item. * adds or removes an item. The item must be directly in the folder - changes in a subfolder will not be noticed. text/html 2021-11-24T06:50:41+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Gesture?rev=1637736641&do=diff Gesture Trigger The Gesture trigger (v8+) lets you execute a macro when you draw a shape using the mouse. The gesture consists of any sequence of one or more directional movements (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally). The gesture can require a set of modifiers to be pressed, or a specific mouse button to be pressed, and you can optionally make the gesture reversible (so, for example, text/html 2021-11-24T06:51:54+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Global_Macro_Palette?rev=1637736714&do=diff Global Macro Palette Trigger The Global Macro Palette trigger lets you add your macro to a floating palette, so you can trigger it by clicking on the macro name in the palette. Keyboard Maestro will only display the palette when there are active Macros, so if your Macros are restricted to particular applications, then the text/html 2021-11-03T09:38:48+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Group_Status_Menu?rev=1635932328&do=diff Group Status Menu Trigger The Group Status Menu trigger lets you include your macro in the parent macro group Group Status Menu. The parent Macro Group must be configured to display in the menu bar, and when it is active, this macro will be included in that group status menu. text/html 2025-11-18T04:13:02+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Hot_Key?rev=1763439182&do=diff Hot Key Trigger The Hot Key trigger is perhaps the most common and most basic of all triggers. When you press the configured keyboard key, the system swallows the keystroke, and Keyboard Maestro executes the macro. The Key The key can be a letter, number, symbol or function key, often in combination with one or more modifiers (Shift, Control, Option and/or Command). Almost any key can be a trigger, and keep in mind the number pad counts as different keys to the numeric keys on the main keyb… text/html 2017-09-11T02:17:37+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Idle?rev=1505096257&do=diff The Idle trigger (v8+) lets you execute a macro while you are logged in after the Mac has been idle (no user action like typing or trackpad or mouse) for a specified amount of time. You can configure the period in minutes, and the trigger can then optionally fire every minute thereafter if the Mac remains idle. text/html 2023-10-24T05:28:36+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/keyboardmaestro?rev=1698125316&do=diff keyboardmaestro CLI Tool You can use the keyboardmaestro CLI Tool to trigger or edit macros. The keyboardmaestro command line tool is included within the Keyboard Maestro.app package, in the Contents/MacOS folder, so if the Keyboard Maestro.app package is installed in the normal location in the /Applications folder, the path to the command will be: text/html 2015-07-03T07:55:05+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Login?rev=1435910105&do=diff The Login trigger executes the macro when the Keyboard Maestro Engine launches as part of the Mac login sequence. Typically this is because you have enabled the Launch Engine at Login preference in Keyboard Maestro which adds the Keyboard Maestro Engine to the Login Items list. text/html 2025-03-01T02:53:28+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/MIDI?rev=1740797608&do=diff The MIDI trigger lets you execute a macro when a MIDI packet is received. You can trigger on specific notes, specific controller changes (v8+), or on any raw MIDI packet (v8+). If the Allow Recording (MIDI Learn) checkbox is on, and the note field has the text focus, and you press a MIDI note, then Keyboard Maestro will set the fields to the correct value for you; similarly for the controller field or the raw packet fields. text/html 2019-12-17T02:03:22+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Mounted_Volume?rev=1576548202&do=diff The Mounted Volume trigger executes when a volume (disk) is mounted or unmounted. It can be a specific volume or any volume. To specify the volume, you can choose to do it with the exact name of the volume, or a value with a name containing a specific string or a name matching (regular expression) a specific string. text/html 2025-03-27T05:11:20+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Periodic?rev=1743052280&do=diff Periodic Trigger The Periodic trigger lets you execute a macro at specified intervals while you are logged in. The Period of the trigger can be set as follows: * Interval of seconds, minutes or hours. * Limit to a certain portion of the day, or on particular days of the week. text/html 2021-10-12T05:51:22+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Power_Status_Changed?rev=1634017882&do=diff Power Status Changed Trigger The Power Status Changed trigger (v10.0+) executes the macro when your Mac connects or disconnects from a power supply. See Also Triggers * See all Triggers Functions * BATTERY function * See all Functions text/html 2018-07-17T02:49:32+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Public_Web?rev=1531795772&do=diff Public Web Trigger The Public Web trigger makes a macro available without further authentication via the Keyboard Maestro web server. See Set Setup and Use of Web Server. The Public Web Trigger is one of several triggers that use a URL. See Macro Triggers that Use a URL, 2018-07-15, peternlewis Any macro with the text/html 2019-09-22T19:26:10+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Remote?rev=1569180370&do=diff Remote Trigger The Remote trigger (v8+) lets you trigger selected macros from any device on the Internet, without authentication, via a Stairways Software web server. Of course, you have to have set this trigger on the Macro first. For a good discussion, see: text/html 2023-09-21T08:07:18+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Script?rev=1695283638&do=diff Any active macro can be triggered via AppleScript request to the Keyboard Maestro Engine. Keyboard Maestro includes a menu at the bottom of the trigger section showing example code to execute the macro by script in a variety of languages (although all variations break down to AppleScript requests, however that is done within the language, usually by using the text/html 2021-10-12T05:42:28+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Sleep?rev=1634017348&do=diff Sleep Trigger The Sleep trigger executes the macro when your Mac goes to sleep (v7.0+). Sleep may be deferred up to 30 seconds and Keyboard Maestro will endeavour to do this as long as this particular macro is running. See Also Triggers * Wake trigger * text/html 2023-09-13T04:07:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Space_Changed?rev=1694578028&do=diff Space Changed Trigger The Space Changed trigger (v11.0+) executes when you change Space. See Also Triggers * Display Layout Changed * See all Triggers text/html 2024-09-28T07:01:01+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Status_Menu?rev=1727506861&do=diff Status Menu Trigger The Status Menu trigger lets you add your macro to the Keyboard Maestro status menu so you can trigger it by selecting the macro name from the status menu. Keyboard Maestro displays a status menu in the right hand side of the menu bar, and it includes any active macros with the Status Menu trigger. Keyboard_Maestro will only display the Status Menu triggered macros that are active, so if your Macro is restricted to particular applications, then it will only appear in in th… text/html 2021-10-08T05:55:35+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Subroutine?rev=1633672535&do=diff Subroutine Trigger The Subroutine trigger (v10+) lets you execute a macro using the Execute a Subroutine action. This trigger defines the parameters that can be passed to the macro, and the variables they are stored in, as well as whether the macro returns a result. See Also text/html 2026-02-07T07:29:50+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Time_of_Day?rev=1770449390&do=diff Time of Day Trigger The Time of Day trigger lets you execute a Macro at a certain time of day on certain days of the week. You could use a trigger like this to set up your Mac environment before arriving at work, run periodic maintenance or backup scripts late on the weekend, or launch iChat for your weekly video conference. text/html 2023-09-21T08:08:02+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Trigger_File?rev=1695283682&do=diff Trigger File Any active macro can be triggered by opening a Trigger File (v8+) which you can create by choosing Export as Trigger File from the File menu. Note that a macro must be active (that is, it must be enabled, and the macro group that contains it must be enabled and active) in order for the macro to be triggered by any means including via a Trigger File. text/html 2025-10-28T02:40:57+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Typed_String?rev=1761619257&do=diff Typed String Trigger The Typed String trigger lets you execute a macro in response to a sequence of keys. Typed String triggers allow you to use more verbose (and hence descriptive) sequences of keys to trigger a macro. Because the keys first go through to the current application, the keys are usually deleted prior to executing the macro, although with this disabled you can use it in an application that largely ignores keys. Triggers can include non- text/html 2021-10-12T05:51:33+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Unlock?rev=1634017893&do=diff Unlock Trigger The Unlock trigger (v10.0+) executes the macro when your Mac unlocks the screen. See Also Triggers * Sleep trigger * Wake trigger * See all Triggers text/html 2025-03-07T08:06:17+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/URL?rev=1741334777&do=diff URL Trigger Any active macro can be triggered using the kmtrigger: scheme with a URL like this: kmtrigger://macro=<MacroNameOrUUID>[&value=<TriggerValue>] where "<MacroNameOrUUID>" is either the URL encoded Macro Name, or the Macro UUID "[&value=<TriggerValue>]" is the option to pass "<TriggerValue>" as the Macro %TriggerValue% • Do not include the square brackets [ ] in the actual URL. • Do not include the "&value=" without a value. text/html 2021-03-30T08:29:26+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/USB_Device?rev=1617092966&do=diff The USB Device trigger executes a macro when a USB Device is attached or detached. Since USB Device names may be quite arbitrary, and may not match your expectations for the name of the device, if your text insertion point is in the name field of this trigger and you connect (or turn on) the device, Keyboard Maestro will fill the name in for you. text/html 2025-06-19T05:49:15+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/USB_Device_Key?rev=1750312155&do=diff USB Device Key Trigger This is an advanced trigger — generally you should use a Hot Key Trigger if possible. The USB Device Key trigger executes a macro when any device key is pressed — this includes modifier keys, mouse buttons, many programmable keyboards, and even the brightness buttons on USB connected monitors. text/html 2021-10-12T05:43:20+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Wake?rev=1634017400&do=diff Wake Trigger The Wake trigger executes the macro when your Mac wakes from sleep. You could use a trigger like this to set up your Mac environment, first determining your location and then taking appropriate action. See Also Triggers * Sleep trigger * See all Triggers text/html 2018-07-21T00:48:15+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Web_Server?rev=1532134095&do=diff Web Server Overview If the Keyboard Maestro web server is enabled, then you can connect to it using your web browser. :!: Note: A HTTP Port of 4490 or 4491 is used in all examples on this page. But it can be set to any port you prefer. To Display the Web Server User Interface text/html 2025-07-09T09:11:31+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/trigger/Wireless_Network?rev=1752052291&do=diff The Wireless Network trigger executes when a wireless network is connected to or disconnected from. You can trigger on any wireless network connection, or only with wireless networks with matching names, or better yet BSSID (which is a more unique ID — lots of people have wireless networks named