So, point one: Keyboard Maestro rocks, and if you’re not using it, I can guarantee you’re wasting time (Keyboard Maestro even estimates how much time you’re saving - I’m up to 880 hours since the calculation appeared in 2008). It’s just copying and pasting between two apps, but Keyboard Maestro turns an annoying and error-prone task into an entirely accurate set of steps that takes only seconds. Another macro juggles that copied text and pastes it into the associated fields in the iTunes Producer app for submission to the iBookstore. For instance, one macro expertly alternates between simulating Tab and Command-C in Firefox to copy specific fields from a Web page used to build pages on the Take Control site. Other macros do non-trivial bits of work for me and tie together multiple programs, often in ways that aren’t possible with AppleScript or Automator. Those infinitesimal bits of time are like the energy drain from glowing lights on otherwise inactive electronics - meaningless in the individual instance, but vast in their overall impact. Similarly, as much as I love LaunchBar, opening BBEdit with the F1 key triggering a Keyboard Maestro macro is a third of the work of LaunchBar’s Command-Space, B, Return. Just because I’m saving only a few seconds doesn’t mean that it’s not worthwhile, when added up over tens of thousands of messages. In fact, many of my macros are utterly simple and obvious - I could type “cheers… -Adam” at the end of every email message I send, or I could press Control-period. Don’t assume that such automation requires programming, though, at least beyond the most obvious of levels in which you tell the computer to perform Action A, followed by Action B, and so on. After all, computers excel at performing boring, repetitive, and tedious tasks perfectly each time, and do so far faster than we could do them ourselves manually. I’m always amazed when I see someone who considers themselves a Macintosh power user not using a macro utility like Keyboard Maestro. #1684: OS bug fix releases, Finder tag poll results, Messages identity verification, blocking spambots, which Apple services do you use?. ![]() ![]() #1685: Hidden secrets of the Fn key, Emergency SOS via satellite free access extended, RCS support in Messages, Rogue Amoeba icon evolution.#1686: Please support TidBITS, OS security updates, Apple services poll results, biking with an iPhone.#1687: Feature-rich OS updates, recovering from a crashing bug in Contacts, Zoom for Apple TV, how much do you use widgets?.#1688: Former Apple engineer on watchOS 10, Apple hardware testing tool, Stolen Device Protection, Apple Watch sales halted, smart TV privacy abuses.
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