To edit your macros, launch the Keyboard Maestro application. It will display one or more Editor Windows. If you close the last editor window, the Keyboard Maestro application will quit, but the Keyboard Maestro Engine will continue running to perform your macros. Normally you only launch the Keyboard Maestro editor application when you want to change your macros, and leave only the Keyboard Maestro Engine running normally.
You can create a new editor window by choosing the File ➤ New Editor Window menu.
Along the top of the window is the toolbar. From left to right the buttons let you:
Edit mode may be toggled on/off by clicking the Edit button on the Bottom Toolbar, or by selecting the menu View > Stop/Start Editing Macros. Note that macros are saved immediately after every change (there is a small “dirty” marker in the bottom right corner of the editor window that shows when the save occurs). There is no need to ever turn off Edit mode, or do anything else to have your macro changes be recognised by the Keyboard Maestro Engine.
You can add a new action by any of the following:
When you are in Edit Mode and you select a Macro, you can edit its behaviour.
You can adjust the name of the Macro 3️⃣, and whether it is enabled 3️⃣ (a macro must be enabled for it to be available to be triggered (executed) - its parent macro group must also be enabled and active).
A macro consists of a set of triggers 3️⃣. When it is active, if any of these triggers happen, then the macro executes the actions.
You can add a trigger by clicking and holding on the green + button and selecting the kind of trigger you would like to use.
Some triggers, like the Status Menu trigger, do not have any additional configuration. Simply adding them to the macro will have macro triggered when the event happens (in this case, the macro will be listed in the Keyboard Maestro status menu, and will be triggered if you choose it from that menu).
Other triggers, like the Typed String trigger, require you to configure more details about when the trigger should happen, such as the specific string you have to type to trigger the macro. For the macro shown, the macro will be triggered when you type the string “=-=”.
When a macro is triggered, it will execute the actions you have entered in the Details Column 3️⃣.
When you are in Edit Mode, and you select a Macro Group, you can edit its configuration.
You can adjust the name of the Macro Group (1).
For a Macro to be available to trigger, it must be enabled and its parent Macro Group must be enabled, and active. The configurations for the Macro Group control when it will be active, and thus when the macros it contains will be active (available to be triggered and executed).
You can adjust whether the macro group is enabled 2️⃣, whether it is only active in some specific applications 3️⃣ (ie, when they are at the front, and their menu bar is showing), whether it is only active in specific windows (4), whether it is only active when you explicitly toggle it on or off, and whether and how it shows a palette containing its macros (5).
When you are in Edit Mode, and you select a Smart Group, you can edit its search settings.
You can adjust the name of the Smart Group 1️⃣, and adjust its Search Strings 2️⃣.
You can add another Search String by clicking the green + button.