I use KM for:
- automating tasks that require more than one keystroke, and that I do frequently;
- automating tasks that are more complex than simple AppleScripts, Automator workflows, and shell scripts, combined with the OS’s keystroke mapping, allows, to create long, complex workflows that combine the capabilities of other automation tools;
- accessing hooks that are difficult to access using other automation tools; and
- generally, fixing bothersome behavior and enhancing my control over my my Mac and apps.
Here are some examples of how I use KM every day.
Tasks that require more than one keystroke and that I do frequently;
- Open a Finder window from any app with a single keystroke
- Open specific file system locations in new Finder windows
- Apply text styles in Bean with a single keystroke
- Type my return address, email, phone number, and date in word processors when I type “takealetter”
- Prepare letters to various people (my return address etc., the date, the addressee’s address, and salutation)
- Remap shortcut keystrokes in apps for convenience and consistency (e.g., I have mapped Cmd-K to “Make link” in several apps that natively used different shortcuts)
- Present a list of options when I type Cmd-N in Devon Think to create a new object (i.e., New RTF document, New text document, new Group, etc.)
- Insert various snippets of text with a single keystroke or mnemonic (e.g., “-1d” for yesterday’s date)
- Insert various dates (e.g., today’s, yesterday’s, 2 days ago, etc.) in various formats (e.g., YYYY-MM-DD, “Thursday, July 12, 2018”, etc.)
- When saving a Nisus Writer Pro document or PDF from NWP, pre-fill the document name in the Save dialog with the date (or yesterday’s date, etc.) followed by the first line in the document that will serve as its title
- Log in to various (non-confidential) websites
- Present a list of email accounts to use to create a new email when I press Cmd-N in Apple Mail (which alleviates the problem that Mail never seems to select the account that I want)
Many of these tasks can be accomplished with AppleScripts and Automator workflows that are bound to keystrokes in System Preferences-Keyboard-Shortcuts, or by the native text substitution capability. But, my other use cases is where KM starts to get interesting.
Automating tasks that are more complex than simple AppleScripts, Automator workflows, and shell scripts, combined with the OS’s keystroke mapping, allows, to create long, complex workflows that combine the capabilities of other automation tools:
- Copy selected content from a page loaded in a web browser, and the URL, open a new Nisus Writer Pro document, paste the content and URL, call a NWP macro that formats the text and paragraph styles, searches for and deletes garbage text (this does 90% of the work needed to prepare a nice-looking document from web content that I can save as RTF or PDF; this long and complex macro also does similar steps with content selected in an email or in a Devon Think document or web page; the macro tests to see which app has focus and acts accordingly)
Accessing hooks that are difficult to access using other automation tools:
- Perform tasks when a computer wakes from sleep – I use this hook to run an AppleScript that closes and reopens Apple Mail (because it always stalls out before the computer establishes a network connection, which is hugely annoying), ejects my iPod which is charging (so that I don’t have to do it manually, which is a convenience), and calls a shell script to unload and reload a custom launch agent (to prevent multiple alarms that have stacked up while the computer has been sleeping from going off, another convenience)
Some other hooks that KM exposes are:
- Perform actions when a specific external USB drive is connected or specific volume is mounted
- Perform actions when a specific wireless network is connected to
- Perform actions when a specific application is launched
- Perform actions when a specific window appears
- Perform actions periodically or at specific times
- There’s even a new “gesture” trigger that can respond to gestures traced on a trackpad (which I haven’t yet explored)
Oh, and parse text files, perform regex, call macros from within macros, show the clipboard history, the list of features goes on and on.
The developer is responsive and there is a lively forum at https://forum.keyboardmaestro.com/
The main product page is at https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/
(No affiliation, just a very happy user who has been using KM every day for years.)