https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/ 2026-04-12T05:47:21+00:00 https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/ https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/_media/wiki/logo.png text/html 2022-11-10T08:29:42+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/Regular_Expressions?rev=1668068982&do=diff Regular Expressions (RegEx) Keyboard Maestro uses ICU Regular Expressions (aka RegEx or RegExp) which is very similar to PCRE (Perl Compatible Regular Expressions), and you can read their documentation by choosing ICU Regular Expression Reference from the Help menu in Keyboard Maestro. text/html 2025-10-03T09:53:10+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/Frequently_Asked_Questions?rev=1759485190&do=diff How do I get started? * Read the Quick Start (Help ➤ Quick Start) which will get you familiar with Keyboard Maestro terminology. * Do the Tutorial (Help ➤ Tutorial). Now you know the basics of creating a macro. * When Keyboard Maestro asks, sign up for the Getting Started email series. text/html 2022-04-17T21:37:54+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/action/Search_using_Regular_Expression?rev=1650231474&do=diff Search using Regular Expression Action The Search using Regular Expression action allows you to search a clipboard, variable, a file (v8+) or some text (v8+) for a regular expression and capture what you find to one or more variables. This can be very useful for splitting apart the contents of a variable. text/html 2023-09-12T09:30:34+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/action/Search_and_Replace?rev=1694511034&do=diff The Search and Replace action allows you to search and replace the System Clipboard, a Named Clipboard, the Trigger Clipboard (v8+), a variable, some tokenised text (v8+), or a file (v8+). Prior to v8.0 there were separate Search and Replace Variable and Search and Replace Clipboard actions and the results always went back to the source variable or clipboard. text/html 2023-10-16T07:18:45+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/manual/Menus?rev=1697440725&do=diff Menus Below is a complete list of all menus. Note that in some cases you must hold down the Option Key (or or ) to see the menu item. For example, the “Expand All Actions” item in the Actions menu. Keyboard Maestro The Keyboard Maestro menu contains menu items relating to the Keyboard text/html 2025-02-26T02:04:22+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/manual/Calculations?rev=1740535462&do=diff Calculations Overview Keyboard Maestro supports calculations in almost any numeric text fields. For example you can Pause for “60*Time in Minutes”. Calculations can also use comma separated lists of numbers as arrays, and can return such arrays, so you can operate on rectangle frames and points. Numeric fields often start small with up/down step arrows, but if you type anything other than a number they will expand to allow a more complex expression to be entered. You can tell that a field … text/html 2019-01-12T17:43:46+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/JavaScript_for_Automation?rev=1547315026&do=diff JavaScript for Automation (JXA) Discussion Scope and Summary This Wiki article is a broad topic, which covers these major areas: * Introduction to JXA * Using JXA with Keyboard Maestro * JXA Background * Comparison with AppleScript Introduction 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 2017-10-04T06:56:01+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/action/Split_Path?rev=1507100161&do=diff Split Path The Split Path action (v8+) action splits a specified path into its component parts. It is basically just a simplified version of the Search using Regular Expression action specifically to split the path into the component parts. The path is split in to: * Parent path text/html 2023-06-20T04:42:38+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/condition/Action_Result?rev=1687236158&do=diff The Action Result condition (v8+) tests the %ActionResult% token containing the results of the last action to complete. This token contains either OK for a successful completion of the action, or an error message of some sort. Keep in mind the Action Result will be cleared at the end of any successful action, so if you want to know why the actions failed you will need to handle the Action Result immediately, or alternatively save the %ActionResult% in a variable and use the text/html 2017-09-06T04:54:19+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/condition/Any_Window?rev=1504673659&do=diff The Any Window condition searches a specified application (or the front application) for a window with a title that: * is (case insensitively) exactly a specified string. * is not (case insensitively) exactly a specified string. * contains (case insensitively) a specified string. text/html 2017-11-14T05:32:03+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/condition/Environment_Variable?rev=1510637523&do=diff The Environment Variable condition looks at the system environment variables that make up Keyboard Maestro Engine's environment and determines if the specified environment variable: * exists. * does not exist. * is empty. * is not empty. * is exactly (case insensitively) a specified string. text/html 2023-09-18T08:22:48+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/condition/File_Attribute?rev=1695025368&do=diff File Attribute condition The File Attribute condition (v11.0+) checks a file attribute to see if it has a specified value. File Attributes Available * file type (Directory, Package, File, Symlink, Socket, Character Special, Block Special, or Unknown). text/html 2017-11-14T05:33:13+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/condition/Location?rev=1510637593&do=diff The Network Location condition determines if the current network location name: * is exactly (case insensitively) a specified string. * is not exactly (case insensitively) a specified string. * contains (case insensitively) a specified string. * text/html 2021-10-18T08:52:24+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/condition/Script?rev=1634547144&do=diff The Script condition executes a script and checks the result. The script can be in a file or text within the application, and can be: * an AppleScript. * a Shell script. * a Swift script. * a JavaScript for Automation (JXA) script. * a JavaScript in Front Browser script (v9.0+). text/html 2017-11-14T05:31:53+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/condition/Text?rev=1510637513&do=diff The Text condition evaluates a text token string and then checks if it: * is empty. * is not empty. * is exactly (case insensitively) a specified string. * is not exactly (case insensitively) a specified string. * contains (case insensitively) a specified string. text/html 2024-05-21T06:28:05+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/condition/Variable?rev=1716272885&do=diff Variable condition The Variable condition looks at a Keyboard Maestro variables and determines if the variable: * exists. (deprecated and removed in v11.0.3+) * does not exist. (deprecated and removed in v11.0.3+) * is empty. * is not empty. * text/html 2022-12-03T18:23:21+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/condition/Front_Window?rev=1670091801&do=diff The Front Window condition looks at the front window of a specified application (or the front application) to determine if: * It exists. * It does not exist. * The title is (case insensitively) exactly a specified string. * The title is not (case insensitively) exactly a specified string. text/html 2025-12-24T02:04:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/manual/Glossary?rev=1766541848&do=diff Glossary Active/Deactivated A Macro Group is active only if the conditions of the macro group are satisfied (eg a specific application is frontmost). A macro is available to be triggered only if it is enabled, and it’s parent macro group is enabled and active. Active is a transient state and can change over time as the state of the system changes (eg as different applications are frontmost) text/html 2023-10-03T08:02:00+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/manual/Recording?rev=1696320120&do=diff Recording Keyboard~~Maestro has the ability to create macro action sequences by recording your actions. For example, to create a macro that simulates keystrokes, rather than create each macro action individually you can enable recording and then simply type the keystrokes. text/html 2023-10-02T04:10:22+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/manual/Tokens?rev=1696219822&do=diff Tokens Keyboard Maestro provides two means to get information about objects (like web pages and windows) in the user's environment: * Tokens (returns text, used in text token fields) * Functions (returns numbers, used in numeric fields) You can enter a Token in any text field in an Action, and when the Macro is triggered and the Action is executed, the token will be replaced by the value that is returned at that time. This allows you to easily combine static text with dynamic data that is s… text/html 2023-09-13T02:44:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/Shortcut_Actions?rev=1694573048&do=diff Shortcut Actions Provided by Keyboard Maestro Apple introduced Shortcuts to macOS Monterey as an alternative way of automating tasks on macOS. Keyboard Maestro (v10.1+) allows you to execute Shortcuts with the Execute Shortcut action, and also provides a wealth of native macOS Shortcuts to add power to the Shortcuts application and any Shortcuts you write for macOS. text/html 2022-12-01T03:35:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/Text_Fields?rev=1669865758&do=diff Text and Numeric Fields Keyboard Maestro has two very distinct types of fields: text fields and numeric fields. * Most text fields allow the use of tokens. * Most numeric fields allow the use of Functions. Text Fields Text fields offer an area where the user can enter any text, including text/html 2024-11-22T07:50:45+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/action/For_Each?rev=1732261845&do=diff For Each Action The For Each action loops over a set of collections of items, setting a variable to each value and executing the contained actions. It is one of several Actions that loop through a set of other Actions until some criteria is met. Whenever you need to deal with a list of things (lines, files, volumes, numbers, etc), the For Each action is a good place to start. text/html 2022-09-18T02:49:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/action/Switch_or_Case?rev=1663469398&do=diff Switch/Case Action The Switch/Case action is used to perform different actions based on different values of a common parameter. It is very similar to the JavaScript Switch statement. The Switch Action is a good alternative to using multiple, nested, If/Then Actions. The actions in the first section that matches will be executed. If no section matches, then no actions will be executed and the execution will continue after the Switch/Case action. Under no circumstances will actions from more t… text/html 2024-01-25T03:06:57+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/actions/Execute_a_JavaScript_in_Browser?rev=1706152017&do=diff Execute JavaScript in Browser Actions There are several Execute a JavaScript in Browser actions that let you execute a JavaScript in a web browser page: * Execute a JavaScript in Front Browser * The “Front Browser” is whichever of the following is currently frontmost, or was the last web browser that was frontmost: text/html 2021-10-14T07:55:49+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/collection/Substrings_In?rev=1634198149&do=diff For Each Substrings In RegEx Match The Substrings In collection contains the matches in the specified source. You can look for matches in the System Clipboard, in a Named Clipboard, in a variable, or in a file. You can scan for exact string matches, case insensitive string matches, or regular expression matches, or (v10.0+) for strings separated by exact string matches, case insensitive string matches, or regular expression matches. text/html 2017-09-06T04:54:12+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/condition/Button?rev=1504673652&do=diff The Button condition looks for a standard Mac button in the front window. It can find a button with a name that is exactly a specified string, containing a specified string, or matching a specified regular expression. The condition can return true if: * a matching button exists. text/html 2019-07-15T04:03:35+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/condition/Clipboard?rev=1563163415&do=diff Clipboard Condition The Clipboard condition looks at the current system clipboard, or in v8+, the Trigger Clipboard or a Named Clipboard, and determines if it currently meets any one of several criteria. You select the comparison criteria in the PopUp list. For more information about text/html 2017-09-06T04:54:47+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/condition/Menu?rev=1504673687&do=diff The Menu condition looks for a matching menu in the system menu bar and tests its state. You can look for a menu with a name that: * exactly matches a specified string. * contains (case insensitively) a specified string. * matches a specified regular expression. text/html 2017-09-06T04:52:45+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/condition/Mounted_Volume?rev=1504673565&do=diff The Mounted Volume condition looks for a mounted volume with name that: * exactly matches a specified string. * contains (case insensitively) a specified string. * matches a specified regular expression. and then checks whether it: * is mounted. * is not mounted. text/html 2023-09-13T03:07:30+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/condition/OCR?rev=1694574450&do=diff OCR Condition The OCR condition (v9.0+) extracts the text from an image using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) (specifically using Apple Text Recognition (v11+ and macOS 10.15+) or the Tesseract OCR library) and determines if it currently meets the specified. [ OCR Condition ] The source image can be pasted into the action, or read from the System Clipboard, Trigger Clipboard, a Named Clipboard, or a file, or you can get the image from the screen. text/html 2017-11-14T05:33:39+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/condition/USB_Device?rev=1510637619&do=diff The USB Device condition looks for a USB Device with a name that: * is exactly (case insensitively) a specified string. * contains (case insensitively) a specified string. * matches a specified regular expression. and then checks whether it: * exists. * does not exist. text/html 2025-07-09T09:11:19+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/condition/Wireless_Network?rev=1752052279&do=diff The Wireless Network condition looks for a wireless network with: * a name that is exactly (case insensitively) a specified string. * a name that contains (case insensitively) a specified string. * a name that matches a specified regular expression. * a BSSID that exactly matches a specified string. text/html 2024-07-16T12:10:53+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/manual/Preferences?rev=1721131853&do=diff Preferences To configure Keyboard~~Maestro, first launch Keyboard~~Maestro and choose Preferences from the Keyboard Maestro menu. [ Preferences General Pane ] The preferences are divided into sections. General Preferences In the General preference pane you can: * enable or disable launching the Keyboard~~Maestro~~Engine at Login. text/html 2017-09-07T05:53:42+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/Conditions?rev=1504763622&do=diff Keyboard Maestro includes a variety of control flow actions which perform actions depending on a set of conditions. The condition clause of the flow control actions can be any of: * Any of the following are true – at least one condition must be true. text/html 2023-09-05T03:57:48+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/Getting_Help_in_the_Keyboard_Maestro_app?rev=1693886268&do=diff Getting Help in Keyboard Maestro App Purpose Provide a guide to the various means of getting help directly from the Keyboard Maestro app. Overview There is a great deal of help available to you directly within the Keyboard Maestro app. This includes: text/html 2024-07-16T01:58:13+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/manual/Filters?rev=1721095093&do=diff Filters Keyboard Maestro includes a variety of filters that can be applied to either the system clipboard, Named~~Clipboards, or variables. For clipboards, the filters preserve style information to whatever degree is possible. Use the Filter action to apply filters. text/html 2025-07-25T08:06:29+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/Fundamental_Concepts?rev=1753430789&do=diff Fundamental Concepts First, if you have not done so already, please read the Quick Start. That tells you all the things you need to know to get started using Keyboard Maestro, as well as getting a grounding the terminology used in Keyboard Maestro. This page is designed to document some of the fundamental concepts that are important for a deeper understanding of how things work in Keyboard Maestro, but which are so fundamental that there is not necessarily a specific place to document them els… text/html 2026-02-10T05:31:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/Home_Page?rev=1770701466&do=diff Official Keyboard Maestro Wiki Welcome to the Keyboard Maestro Wiki, a wiki designed for Keyboard Maestro users of all levels of expertise and experience. Keyboard Maestro is a powerful automation tool for macOS which uses Macros to automate your workflow. * text/html 2020-08-18T01:27:19+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/Tokens?rev=1597714039&do=diff Tokens Definition Tokens in Keyboard Maestro represent placeholders, that you enter during design time, for information that will be replaced in the text at run time. For example, you could enter the %SafariTitle% token in a Set Variable to Text Action, and when you trigger the macro it will be replaced with the title of the current Safari tab. So the value of the Token will be determined at execution time. All tokens return a text value, even if the source data was some other data type. text/html 2020-12-14T02:56:22+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/action/Display_Text?rev=1607914582&do=diff Display Text Action The Display Text Action provides two very different functions: * Display Text in a Popup Window * Insert Text in a Text Document or Text Field Action Screenshot When you initially insert this Action, it looks like this: text/html 2016-09-12T05:44:31+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/action/Insert_Text?rev=1473659071&do=diff The Insert Text actions can be very useful to insert standard text templates, such as your signature, address, copyright or other boilerplate text. There are three ways to type text in Keyboard Maestro: * Insert Text by Typing — type the plain text as a sequence of keystrokes. text/html 2021-10-12T05:10:03+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/action/Manipulate_a_Window?rev=1634015403&do=diff Manipulate a Window Action The Manipulate a Window action allows you to operate on a window, in a specified application, with a wide variety of actions like scale, move, resize, bring to front, etc. (see complete list below). :!: Note: All units are in text/html 2023-09-15T08:10:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/action/Press_a_Button?rev=1694765458&do=diff Press a Button Action The Press a Button action presses a named button in the front window. As well as pressing buttons, you can perform other actions (v11.0+) such as showing the menu for the button, or incrementing or decrementing a slider, or canceling the button.... text/html 2017-09-07T08:11:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/action/Search_Clipboard?rev=1504771866&do=diff text/html 2017-09-07T08:10:49+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/action/Search_Variable?rev=1504771849&do=diff text/html 2019-05-20T01:33:10+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/action/Select_or_Show_a_Menu_Item?rev=1558315990&do=diff The Select or Show a Menu Item action selects a menu item OR shows (opens) a menu in the main menubar. You can choose to execute a menu in the front application, or in a specific application (in which case the application is briefly brought to the front, the menu is selected, and then the front application is restored).... text/html 2018-12-30T14:58:21+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/action/Set_Clipboard_to_Text?rev=1546181901&do=diff The Set Clipboard to Text action allows you to set the system clipboard to plain or styled text. Select the clipboard to set from the Set pop-up. Choose from the to pop-up either: * plain text. * styled text. Enter the text to use in the text area. To set the clipboard to styled text paste already styled text from another source. text/html 2023-09-15T09:44:25+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/action/Set_Variable_to_Text?rev=1694771065&do=diff Set Variable to Text Action The Set Variable to Text action allows you to set a selected variable to plain text, by either typing in the text box, or selecting a Token. Alternatively (v9.0+), you can Prepend the text to the variable, or Append the text to the variable by selecting from the action (gear) ⚙ menu. text/html 2023-05-15T04:22:49+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/action/Write_to_a_File?rev=1684124569&do=diff Write To File Action The Write to a File and Append Text to a File actions allow you to write data from a variety of sources to a file on disk. Write or append the current system clipboard, a named clipboard, a variable, some text or some styled text (you can write but cannot append styled text). text/html 2025-04-28T03:41:19+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/manual/Administrative_Details?rev=1745811679&do=diff Administrative Details Requirements Keyboard~~Maestro~~11 requires macOS 10.13 or later. Distribution You may distribute this application in any way you wish as long as you only distribute the unmodified Keyboard~~Maestro package, as downloaded from text/html 2025-06-09T06:05:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/manual/Whats_New?rev=1749449155&do=diff What’s New? Keyboard~~Maestro~~11 expands on the powerful base of previous versions, improving the editor, adding many new actions and triggers, New Macro Wizard, a new Security preference pane, a keyboardmaestro command line tool, support for Apple Text Recognition, and more. Keyboard 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.