Remembering complex keystrokes in not my strong suit. This is where Keyboard Maestro comes in. I have just begun to work with Eagle Filer and was setting up a capture workflow with my trusty Keyboard Maestro rountines (have a simple macro that displays a palette that, when the option is clicked, plays a more complex keystroke to action Capture, Capture with options, Quick Entry etc. Unfortunately it was not to be. None of the options suggested in the error dialog really cut it, I want to be able to use the shortcut keys for the above, without having to remember something really complex.
Suggestions? Advice? Mild abuse for being such a finicky person?
EagleFiler’s capture key always tries to capture from the current application. If Keyboard Maestro is the current application, it’s not going to know which application you meant; it will try to capture from Keyboard Maestro itself, which is not what you want.
I think you would need to either:
Set up your palette in such a way that clicking on it doesn’t make Keyboard Maestro frontmost. Mac OS X supports windows and buttons that behave like this, but I’m not sure whether it’s possible for Keyboard Maestro to do this.
Have Keyboard Maestro switch to the previous application before it tells EagleFiler to capture.
Also, if you want to make your macro work even if the keyboard shortcut changes, you could use these AppleScripts:
tell application "EagleFiler"
capture
end tell
tell application "EagleFiler"
capture with asking for options
end tell
Thanks for replying Michael. I have realized I need to just work with Eagle Filer a little bit and use some of the other built-in ways to get information into libraries. Eventually, exploring the AppleScript route may be the way to go.
My compliments on being finicky. (Takes one to know one).
I, too, use Keyboard Maestro (KM), and don’t like to remember complex keystrokes, either.
I suggest using KM “Pallets” which “float” on top of any application showing shortcuts just for that application.
KM shortcuts can be “triggered” with just one or two keys. Complex keystrokes not required.
Here is an example (albeit not from EagleFiler - see disclosure below.)
The floating pallet is in orange.
(The underlying application in this example is Firefox Bamboo RSS reader.)
The trigger keystrokes are just single letters (although in some situations two characters might be needed to avoid confusing the underlying app.
Thanks @Mark Thanks I use Keyboard pallets as my main means of avoiding complex shortcut keystrokes. I had never considered changing the pallet colour to something more striking. It makes it easier to see.
