To configure Keyboard Maestro, first launch Keyboard Maestro and choose Preferences from the Keyboard Maestro menu.
The preferences are divided into sections.
In the General preference pane you can:
In the Palettes preference pane you can adjust the style of the default palette, the Global Macro Palette, and the Conflict Palette.
You can also configure the Conflict Palette to be placed under the mouse or to have it remain where you place it.
In the Web Server preference pane you can:
The web server is disabled by default.
If the web server and web browsing are enabled, then anyone who can connect to your Mac can execute any macro that has a Public Web trigger.
If the web server and web browsing are enabled, and if you have configured a username and password, then anyone who can connect to your Mac and login with the specified username and password can execute any of your macros.
If the web server and iPhone access are enabled, and if you have configured a username and password, then anyone who can connect to your Mac from an iPhone and login with the specified username and password can execute any of your macros.
If the web server and receiving clipboard are enabled, then anyone can send you clipboards which will appear in your clipboard history. By default they do not overwrite the current clipboard, but you can enable that to allow the current clipboard to be directly written remotely.
Macros are still only available when they are enabled and their containing macro group is enabled and active.
You can configure custom styles using the defaults write command to add a custom style, for example:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.editor WebServerCustomStyles -string 'body { background: green; }'
This might be useful if you are controlling multiple Macs and want to differentiate them more clearly.
In the Clipboards preference pane you can add, remove and rename Named Clipboards and see and change their values.
Named Clipboards store snippets or text or images (or anything the clipboard can hold) and you can copy or paste from them using the Clipboard Switcher or using appropriate macro actions.
You can paste an image into a Named Clipboard by selecting it in the list and pasting an image (if you select part of the text, it will paste the image into the styled text, which works but is probably not what you want).
In the Variables preference pane you can add and remove variables and see and change their values.
In the Excluded preference pane you can add and remove applications from the global excluded applications list. Excluded applications will not be shown in the Application Switcher, and are (optionally) not hidden or quit by the Hide All Applications or Quit All Applications actions.
You can configure various preferences using defaults write from the Mac OS X Terminal. Some preferences will take effect immediately, but others may require the editor or engine to be relaunched.
You can set the maximum number of items in the clipboard history (default 200)
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine MaxClipboardHistory -int 200
You can set the maximum position of concealed (password) items in the clipboard history (default 10)
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine MaxConcealedPosition -int 10
You can set the maximum clipboard flavor size (default 100MB)
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine ClipboardFlavorMaximumSize -int 100000000
You can set a regular expression which matches text you think should or should not be concealed as passwords.
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine LooksLikePassword "^[a-zA-Z0-9]+$" defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine LooksLikeNotPassword "^[a-zA-Z0-9]+$"
You can set the command line tool that is used to execute AppleScripts
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine OSAScriptCommand "/usr/bin/arch -i386 /usr/bin/osascript"
You can set the AppleScript name of the Safari application, as well as the name of the Safari browser shown in applications:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine AppleScriptSafariName "Safari Technology Preview" defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine BrowserSafariName "Safari Tech"
or
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine AppleScriptSafariName "/Applications/Safari.app"
Similarly for Google Chrome:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine AppleScriptGoogleChromeName "Google Chrome Canary" defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine BrowserGoogleChromeName "Chrome Canary"
The AppleScript name is used in AppleScript's which control the respective browser in the form of tell app “<browser name>”. Note that the Safari browser must still behave like Safari, and the Chrome browser must behave like Chrome, or the actions will not work. Do not bother trying to set them to Firefox or something like that as it will not work. All this allows you to do is select a specific version of Safari or Chrome respectively.
You can disable Shift-Space from clearing the Typed String buffer
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine TypedStringResetWithShiftSpace -bool NO
and you can disable clicks from clearing the Typed String buffer
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine TypedStringClearWithMouse -bool NO
and you can set the idle time for clearing the Typed String buffer (default 5 seconds)
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine TypedStringClearTime -float 5.0
You can disable all animation in the editor with:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.editor DisableAnimation -bool YES
or the engine with:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine DisableAnimation -bool YES
You can silence the clipboard transfer sounds with:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine SilenceClipboardSounds -bool YES
And you can silence the recording sounds with:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine SilenceRecordingSounds -bool YES
You can adjust the recording delay with:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine RecordingCountDown -int 5
Note: you can option click the Record button to avoid the delay.
You can adjust the get mouse location delay with:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.editor MouseGetCountdown -int 5
You can have the conflict palette use sequential hot keys from the first letter with:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine SequentialConflictPalette -bool YES
You can configure the timing of a “tap” (Hot Key and USB Device Key triggers) with:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine MaxTapDownTime -float 1.0 defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine MaxTapUpTime -float 1.0
The default allowable down time is the double click interval, and the default allowable up time is twice the double click interval.
You can set configure whether the Status Menu includes the Paste submenu and how many items it includes with:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine StatusMenuIncludePaste -bool NO defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine StatusMenuPasteCount -int 20
You can set configure Display Large text color and display period with:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine DisplayLargeTextColor -string "502033" defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine DisplayLargeTextDisplayPeriod -float 5.0
You can configure a custom palette theme color style with:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine CustomPaletteTheme "0,90,74, 110,90,74, 256,90,74"
The style includes 3 or 6 HSB colors (being background, text, highlighted letter, selected background, selected text, selected highlight letter) each specified as hue,saturation,brightness. The background brightness is dropped by 33%, but if there are only three colors, then the selected background color is the background without the 33% drop. You can select the Custom style in the Theme Editor.
By default recorded clicks do not restore the mouse location, but you can change that with:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine RecordedClickRestoresMouseLocation -bool NO
You can control which notifications are displayed with:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine "Notification-Information" -bool NO defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine "Notification-Macro Execution" -bool NO defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine "Notification-Macro Cancelled" -bool YES defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine "Notification-Action Failed" -bool YES defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine "Notification-Received Clipboard" -bool YES
You can have new versions reported only when the editor activates with:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine ReportUpdatesWhenEditorActivates -bool YES
You can adjust the spelling of Favorites with:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.editor FavoritesDisplayName "Favourites"
You can turn off automatic completion with:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.editor AutomaticCompletion -bool NO
You can limit the maximum undo stack size in the editor with (default 200MB):
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.editor MaximumUndoSize -int 200000000
You can add some custom styling to the detail view displays with:
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.editor DetailDisplayExtraStyle -string 'div.ActionComment div.UserText { font-family:"Monaco"; }'
You can set your preferred first day of the week (1=Sunday, 7=Saturday):
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.editor FirstDayOfWeek -int 2