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manual:Whats_New

**This is an old revision of the document!**

What’s New?

Keyboard Maestro 8 expands on the powerful base of previous versions, enhancing the editor, expanded MIDI support, adding comprehensive AppleScript support, revamped clipboard switchers, lots of new actions and additions to the engine. Keyboard Maestro 8 requires OS X 10.10.0 Yosemite or later (10.10.3 or later recommended).

8.2

  • Added a new Applications Palette which displays running applications.
  • Added Apply Modifiers to a Specific Application action (mimics the behaviour of Applications Palette).
  • Added Dragged File trigger to support dragging files to macros in macro palettes.
  • Added a Macro Library entry for an Application Palette group (a set of fixed applications displayed as a palette).
  • Warn about translocated applications when setting them in the Application popup menus.
  • Fixed an issue with Prompt With List (and other By Name windows) (forum).
  • Fixed i_displayWhat != NamedClipboardPopupMenuControllerDisplay::kUnknown assertion.
  • Fixed i_displayAttributedString assertion.
  • Fixed issue with Set File Attribute field kind mark and token insertion. (forum).
  • Fixed an issue with AppleScript creation of actions.

8.1.1

  • Fixed Append to File action. (forum)
  • Fixed AppleScript for creating dictionaries and dictionary keys. (forum)
  • Fixed an issue with Trigger Macro by Name. (forum)

8.1

  • Added initial search string to Prompt With List action. (forum)
  • Added title to Prompt With List action. (forum)
  • Added configurable width to Prompt With List action. (forum)
  • Added automatic width to Prompt With List action.
  • Write File trashes any pre-existing target file/directory before writing (rather than overwriting directories!). (forum)
  • Highlight undisclosed “(n actions)” when search matches within the actions. (forum)
  • Added parameter to Execute Macro action title (forum)
  • Added ApplicationBundleID token.
  • Changed “Assert unless” to “Assert that” which is more correct phrasing.
  • Fixed Prompt with List Prompt not being horizontally centered. (forum)
  • Fixed a possible crash with Custom HTML Prompt if JavaScript closes the window immediately. (forum).
  • Fixed bug with Find Image (et al) and local variables.
  • Fixed selecting New… in Named Clipboard popup menus. (forum)
  • Compiled with Xcode 9.2

8.0.5

  • Added support for frames in actions:Browser Form Actions.
  • Support local and instance variables in Calculate and ProcessTokens from Custom HTML Prompt actions.
  • Option-click the Favorites button in Clipboard History Switcher to toggle “Favorites Only”.
  • Fixed a problem with Clipboard History not showing after certain copied data.
  • Fixed the Switch action not processing text tokens.
  • Improved the unused variable warning for the For Each action.
  • Fixed MIDI trigger “increases” setting not sticking.
  • Fixed an issue with AppleScript editing a macro that was not visible to the current search filter.
  • Fixed an issue with latest version of Microsoft Word and restoring the clipboard.
  • Fixed a few typos.

8.0.4

  • Added “increases” and “decreases” options to MIDI controller change trigger (forum)
  • Support array index for many tokens (eg %TriggerValue[3]%).
    • FrontWindow*, Window*, Screen*.
    • SystemClipboard, PastClipboard, NamedClipboard, TriggerClipboard.
    • TriggerValue, CurrentMouse, FoundImage.
  • Added Search & Replace and Count/Find facility to Keyboard Maestro Engine AppleScript dictionary.
  • Added Report Updates Only When Editor Activates to General Preferences.
  • Added more clipboard flavor exclusions for Microsoft Word to yet again avoid the bookmark link issue.
  • Remember Clipboard Switcher Info button setting.
  • Worked around Chrome not liking certain characters in JavaScript strings (forum).
  • Detect case where either the Engine or editor is translocated (previously only detected case where both were).
  • Fixed an issue where you could not edit some fields in disabled actions (forum).
  • Fixed Dictionary Key condition field not saving when you typed in to it.
  • Fixed Command-K toggling the Action Selector.

8.0.3

  • Prompt For User Input supports Local/Instance variables (forum).
  • Custom HTML Prompt supports Local/Instance variables (forum).
  • Local/Instance varibles passed as environment variables to scripts (forum).
  • Allow reading and writing Local/Instance variables from AppleScripts (via KMINSTANCE environment variable).
  • Added KMWillCloseWindow() call when window will close in Custom HTML Prompt.
  • Added GetDictionary() and SetDictionary() in Custom HTML Prompt.
  • Corrected the spelling of “matches” in the Cron entry in the trigger menu.
  • Allow Split Path action to split just file names (parent path will be “/Nowhere”).
  • Added Edit ⇒ Automatic Completions toggle menu item.
  • Support Type Ahead in the Clipboard Switcher.
  • Fixed an issue with Search & Replace.
  • Added trigger to VoiceOver for macros.
  • Adjusted highlight color when Graphite highlight color is chosen.

8.0.2

  • Ensure changes are saved after selecting variable/function/tokens by name (forum).
  • Fixed the spelling of “Systen” in Write System Clipboard to File. (forum)
  • Set Clipboard to clipboard filters in the Clipboard Switcher were pasting. (forum)
  • Corrected the Tool Tip of the Action and Trigger warnings. (forum)
  • Avoid a crashing bug when renaming macros. (forum)
  • Forcibly remove any invalid variables from variable database. (forum)
  • Adjusted Play a Specific Tracklist to play more than the first track. (forum)
  • Fixed deactivating macro groups that are configured Always Activated. (forum)
  • Fixed issues with hot key errors.
  • Adjusted Local and Instance variables to not require the space (eg “LocalVar”).
  • Remove line endings from macro names.
  • Limit export file names to 200 characters.
  • Added more search keywords for Get File Action.
  • Reduced some debugging messages with Plug In Actions.
  • Removed some warnings related to unknown menus.
  • Reduced debugging related to invalid regular expressions.

8.0.1

  • Fixed a bug with non-matching capture groups in search & replace action.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause the engine crash when a palette closed.
  • Fixed an issue in 10.10 where “R” is removed from macro names!
  • Fixed a display issue with the Variable condition display.
  • Fixed the Run Macro menu always being disabled.
  • Fixed an issue with the Search & Replace action.
  • Fixed behaviour of “case must match” Typed String triggers.
  • Fixed Tool Tip of Info button in Clipboard Switcher
  • Possibly worked around High Sierra Color Picker crash when editor launches.
  • Removed double-struct L and I for Local and Instance variables.

8.0

Editor Improvements

  • Added new Assistance system to help novices trouble shoot any early issues.
  • Large Text size support in editor lists (Macros, Groups, Library, etc).
  • Added Machine Learning system to By Name selectors.
  • Support dragging macros and macro groups into the macro action list.
    • No modifiers: Execute the Macro / Show the Macro Group
    • Option: insert a copy of the macro’s actions
    • Command-Shift: Enable the Macro / Macro Group
    • Option-Shift: Mark the Macro
  • Added dragging of macros/macro groups to action macro selector popup menus.
  • Support dragging files in as macros or actions.
    • Applications as Activate Application action.
    • Scripts as the appropriate Execute Script action.
    • Other files as Open File actions.
  • Added basic Touch Bar support.
  • Added Actions menu.
  • Added Run Macro menu and toolbar item to run the currently selected macro.
  • Added Engroup Actions (into a new Group, Macro, For Each, While, etc) (forum).
  • Added Degroup Actions.
  • Added Paste Replacing for actions (forum).
  • Added Select Macro by Name.
  • Added Insert Function by Name.
  • Added Insert Token by Name.
  • Added Insert Variable by Name.
  • Added File ➤ Share menu.
  • Added Import Macros Disabled menu command.
  • Adjusted Import Macros menu command to require the Option key.
  • Added Edit ➤ Insert Token ➤ Named Clipboard hierarchical menu.
  • Added %Delete% to the Insert Token menu.
  • Show an indiciator of the kind (token, variable, calculation) of each field in the editor.
  • Support negation (-) in the search fields (forum).
  • Default to last used variable when creating new actions.
  • Support changing Safari actions to/from Google Chrome actions.
  • Support styled text in comments.
  • Added an option to hide disabled macro groups.
  • Added wiki search to Help menu.
  • Added Make Alias for macros (and command-option dragging macros to groups).
  • Play Sound supports sounds in ~/Library/Sounds and ~/Sounds.
  • Click on macro group label (top right) to select the enclosing macro group.
  • Adjusted the disclosure behaviour of Execute Macro action.
  • Added Space, Escape, and Help to the Hot Key selection menu.
  • Added a disabled color to the action color menu to indicate the color means a matched search.
  • Added Copy as XML to copy macro groups, macros or actions as XML (forum).
  • Added View ➤ Select Groups Column menu item.
  • Added View ➤ Select Macros Column menu item.
  • Added View ➤ Edit Name menu item.
  • Added View ➤ Reveal Parent Group menu item.
  • Added View ➤ Last Used, Last Edited, Previous Edited, Next Edited menu items (forum).
  • Added Select Macro option to macro selector popup menu.
  • Added Philippe Martin's Multiple Clipboards to the Macro Library.
  • Added Rename Finder Files to the Macro Library.
  • Show a warning on “Press and Hold” actions that are the last action of the macro.
  • Show a warning when using Open File to open applications with the Default Application.
  • Show a warning when an Application trigger cannot fire because of the macro group's settings.
  • Show a warning when a For Each action does not use its variable.
  • Show a warning when a string containing test looks like it should be a string matching test.
  • Support pasting XML actions (forum).
  • Changed to a patterned color for the search matching indicator (forum).
  • Color invalid Calculation conditions (forum).
  • Adjusted the appearance of disabled actions to make them more clearly disabled (forum).
  • Support quitting the editor by closing the editor window.
  • When showing a mapping from an empty variable show italic “empty”.
  • Show “No Forms Found” (etc) when Safari/Chrome popups cannot find any valid entries (forum).
  • Minor tweaks to the overall appearance.
  • Removed misleading “Matching” from Search & Replace “String” search.
  • Double clicking icon image wells opens and sets the Icon Chooser.
  • The Modifiers condition no longer allows setting a modifier to be both pressed and not pressed (forum).

Full AppleScript Support in the Editor

  • Macro Groups, Smart Groups, Macros, Triggers, Actions are all AppleScirpt OSA objects. Examples:
    • properties of smart group “Enabled”
    • make new smart group with properties {name:“Enabled”, search strings:{“enabled:yes”}}
    • set search strings of smart group “Test2” to {“ABC”, “DEF”}
    • set name of macro 1 to “Great!”
    • tell macro group “New Stuff” to make new macro
    • select action 1 through 3 of action 2 of macro “Working”
    • set enable of macro group “Turn Off” to false
    • set color of action 1 of macro “Bright” to “red”
    • set selection to global macro group
    • move first action of macro “Source Macro” to end of actions of macro “Dest Macro”
    • delete second action of macro “Target Macro”
    • duplicate every macro group whose name starts with “Test”
    • set m to duplicate action 1 of macro “Macro33” to after action 2 of macro “Macro32”
    • duplicate (selected macros) to macro group “Test4”

Revamp Clipboard History Switcher & Named Clipboard Switcher

  • New combined appearance.
  • Additional information (source, type, size, pixel size, time, index).
  • Drag Reordering.
  • Drag from the switcher to image or text fields.
  • Contextual menu to Paste, Paste Plain, or Paste Image, Duplicate.
  • Contextual menu to just set the current clipboard without pasting.
  • Large Text size support in Clipboard Switchers.
  • Support excluding applications from the clipboard history.

Expanded MIDI Support

  • Added MIDI Control Change trigger.
  • Added MIDI raw packet trigger (SysEx, HUI protocol, etc).
  • Support MIDI trigger recording when the text fields are focused in background.
  • Added Send MIDI raw packets so you can send any kind of MIDI packet.
  • Send MIDI action uses calculations so you can send varying notes and control changes.
  • Handle and split multiple MIDI packets received in a single system MIDI packet.

Added Local and Instance Variables

Added Dictionaries

  • Added the concept of dictionaries, mapping (case insensitively) a dictionary name and key name to a value.
  • Added Set Dictionary Value action.
  • Added %Dictionary[Dict,Key]% text token.
  • Added collection of Dictionaries and Keys in a Dictionary.
  • Added full AppleScript support for accessing Dictionaries.

New Triggers

  • Added Cron trigger.
  • Added Gesture triggers drawn with the trackpad or mouse.
  • Added Remote trigger via a Keyboard Maestro server.
  • Added Clipboard Filter trigger.
  • Added Idle trigger (trigger after the Mac is idle for N minutes).
  • Added Export Trigger File which lets you trigger a macro by opening a file.

New Actions

New Conditions

  • Added <, <=, =, >=, >, != numeric conditions.
  • Added “starts with” and “ends with” to string conditions.
  • Added “is before” and “is after” to string conditions that were missing them.
  • Added Action Result condition.
  • Added Mouse Button condition.
  • Added “is hidden” et al to the Application condition.
  • Added Trigger Clipboard and Named Clipboard options to the Clipboard condition.

New Collections

New Tokens

New Functions

Engine Improvements

  • Added preference to show Conflict Palettes in the Touch Bar.
  • Support text with percent characters in text functions in token fields.
  • Only require Shift-Option-Control click on status menu to cancel all macros.
  • Added Machine Learning system to Trigger Macro by Name selector.
  • Added options to macro groups to be always active and show a palette sometimes.
  • Variables used in calculations can themselves contain calculations that are implicitly evaluated.
  • Support == as a synonym for = in calculations.
  • Support negative array indices for access from end of an array (calculation or Variable token).
  • Support 0 array indices for count of the elements in an array (calculation or Variable token).
  • Support executing an array of actions from AppleScript “do script” commands.
  • Restore front application before executing kmtrigger: macros (forum).
  • Display Text window closes immediately if Return is hit once (forum).
  • Added an option to turn off notifications of macro groups being activated/deactivated (forum).
  • Adjusted Typed String triggers with “affects actions” option to only uppercase the first letter.
  • Added “Activate Clipboard Switcher” to the Paste status menu.
  • Periodically write the clipboard history to disk.

Minor Improvements and Changes

  • Removed or renamed confusing use of “Default Clipboard”.
  • Prefer %SystemClipboard% over the older %CurrentClipboard%.
  • Support Home/End in Trigger Macro By Name and Add Action windows.
  • Adjusted the Select Menu action to return a failed ActionResult if the menu item is disabled.
  • Turning on/off the iOS web server preference properly changes the Rendezvous publications.
  • Changing any web browser settings kills all existing connections.
  • Added “disabled” option to importMacros AppleScript command.
  • Default to importing macros disabled unless the Option key is held down.
  • Adjusted a case where a “for one action” palette opens a Conflict Palette.
  • Adjusted the iTunes Control AppleScripts.
  • Added “exit”, “break”, “loop” as search strings to various actions.
  • Added “ask”, “input”, “InputBox” as search strings to prompt actions.
  • Added the Keyboard Maestro version number to the Share text.
  • Resolved display of executing macros for asynchronously executed macros (forum).
  • Improved error message for File Action.
  • Fixed Fast User Switch action.
  • Disallow return characters in macro/group names.
  • Updated Share to Forum category names to match forum changes.
  • Removed Growl support.
  • Removed Always Hide Other Applications support.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed behaviour of Close After Action when you Command-V in the Clipboard Switcher.
  • Fixed Corsair K95 RGB Gaming Keyboard Device Key name display.
  • Fixed width issue with various scrolling lists.
  • Fixed a possible crash with Folder change triggers.
  • Fixed an issue compiling scripts that reference Keyboard Maestro itself.
  • Fixed an issue cropping images with non-nominal (72) DPIs (forum).
  • Fixed an issue composing on to images with non-nominal (72) DPIs (forum).
  • Fixed an issue if macros hold multiple semaphore locks.
  • Fixed an issue with Set Network Location and non-ASCII names.
  • Fixed a possible issue with columns resizing unexpectedly.
  • Fixed consistency of arrows for meaning left, right, width, height in actions (forum).
  • Fixed unlocalized display of Focused Window trigger in non-edit mode.
  • Fixed issue with number steppers and empty fields (forum).
  • Fixed inconsistent “Exit From Loop” menu name to “Break From Loop”.
  • Fixed icon centering in Icon Chooser.
  • Fixed double clicking macro names to select the title field.
  • Fixed some cases where popup menus occluded text fields.

Download

Download Keyboard Maestro now to try all these great capabilities. Or keep reading for even more details about the Features of Keyboard Maestro.

Alternatively, you can contact us if you have a question about whether Keyboard Maestro can solve your automation needs. We want all our customers to be satisfied, so we are happy to help you understand how Keyboard Maestro can achieve your automation goals.

manual/Whats_New.1521693885.txt.gz · Last modified: 2018/03/22 00:44 by peternlewis