Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
Keyboard Maestro , while not as powerful as QuicKeys , is an easy - to - use of goods and services , capable , and affordable macro utility .
Best Prices Today: Keyboard Maestro
Stairways Software ’s $ 36Keyboard Maestrois a Macintosh macro usefulness for automating boring job on your computer . It lack some of the in advance features incur in Startly Technologies ’ $ 60QuicKeys 4 , but it costs less and is easier to configure .
Like other macro tools , Keyboard Maestro presents the steps for make macro instruction in three stage : chemical group ( collections of macros that are uncommitted to all applications or just the program program you choose ) , macros ( the actions that make up a project ) , and triggers ( the shape — such as a key press , timed outcome , or script — that lead up a macro ) . Keyboard Maestro presents these elements in a columned window .
Editing a macro in Keyboard Maestro .
Editing a macro in Keyboard Maestro.
In the default layout , you choose or create a group of macro instruction within the first column , opt one of those macros within the 2nd newspaper column , and make triggers in the third pillar . If you want to create a new action , you click the New Action button in the third chromatography column : The first pillar then changes to incorporate family of actions ( Process Control , Interface Control , iTunes Control , Text , and Clipboard , among others ) ; pick out a category and the 2d column displays the action contained within that category .
When you click the Edit button in the third column — which is the first step in creating a new macro of your own — a Record button appears at the bottom of the window . Click this button and you’re able to enter your Mac ’s activeness . This is a useful feature for recording a complex series of actions , but it recordseverythingyou do — including errant clicks . It provides a undecomposed starting point , but you ’ll belike have to cut your work — substituting menu command for dog , for example . You ’ll also find a Try release next to the Record release . come home it and the macro you ’ve recorded runs .
Like QuicKeys , Keyboard Maestro includes a text elaboration feature similar to SmileOnMyMac’sTextExpander ( ) and Ettore Software’sTypeIt4Me ( ) . This feature lets you type an abbreviation to insert a clump of boilerplate school text . Keyboard Maestro also lets you trigger macro from a floating palette or a bill of fare . And you’re able to download a liberal Maestro iPhone app that lets you trigger macros on your Mac from your iPhone , iPod touch , or iPad . you could carry out AppleScripts , Automator workflow , other macros , and shell scripts .
Keyboard Maestro also provides an military action that plunk down a Google search field of force in the middle of your Mac ’s show . Enter your hunt terminus , wardrobe Return , and your web browser app launches and displays the results of your search . you’re able to also use action at law that exhibit a content using Growl . There ’s even an action for applying a BBEdit Text Factory to your files .
However , the programme miss some of the power of QuicKeys . For model , Keyboard Maestro does n’t provide a way to add a decision to a macro — if A happens , do vitamin B complex ; if atomic number 6 happens , do D. QuicKeys does , and QuicKeys admit Web action — a way to name and interact with elements you incur on Web pages . If you routinely mold with the same Web forms and want to automate the appendage , QuicKeys provides a result that Keyboard Maestro does n’t . But with QuicKeys ’ power comes complexness . Keyboard Maestro is a less complicated tool that provide the majority of QuicKeys ’ features .
Keyboard Maestro is a fine macro instruction public utility company offered at a sensible price . If you do n’t want the extra power offered by QuicKeys — specifically , decision actions and World Wide Web activity — and essay an easier - to - economic consumption tool , Keyboard Maestro is a solid option .
