What’s New

Keyboard Maestro 3 adds new ways to create macros, including recording, new ways to trigger macros, including using an iPhone or iPod touch or via the web, new actions, simplifications and an improved user interface.

New in 3.5

Keyboard Maestro Control for iPhone or iPod touch (available from the App Store).
Shiny new Macro Palette window.
New Preferences Window (based on Matt Ball’s MBPreferencesController).
New About window.
Actions for Set/Increase/Decrease the iTunes Rating of the current song.
Actions for Set Volume and Set iTunes Volume.
Tweaked the look of the vertical list (Window/Program Switcher).
Only Quit the engine and relaunch if it is not in the right location with the right version.
Fixed a crashing bug in the Press Button action.
Report the new version on a manual check even if the current new version was previously ignored.
Preserve the display/hide state for Excluded & Always Shown applications in Program Switcher.
Fixed FireFox issue with the web server drop down menus.
Fixed default nudge macros to be relative to Mouse and not Front Windows.
Dragging a folder or bundle document to the Action list now creates an Open File action.
Updated John Gruber’s Title Case to Aristotle Pagaltzis refactored version.

New in 3.4

Typed String trigger - fire off macros when you type a matching string.
Shiny New Program and Window switcher windows.
Save Clipboard To Named Clipboard et al save a redundant Clipboard Name for export.
Display only active macros in Macro Group Palettes.
Tweaked simulate keystroke action sheet to make it clearer you can type a key.
Fixed bug where Web Server was not starting at Engine launch.
Fixed some bugs in the Manipulate Window action editor.
Fixed some bugs in the Scroll Wheel action editor.
Fixed a crash displaying help for clipboard data.
Removed PreserveOldClipboard hidden pref.

New in 3.3

Status Menu & Status Menu triggered macros.
Add “Add to Status Menu” option for Record Quick Macro and Macro Groups.
Added enable/disable for actions in action lists.
Added an action to Fast User Switch.
Added Cut/Copy/Paste/Duplicate for macros, triggers and actions.
Cut/Copy of macros, triggers and actions also copies as text.
Added preference to Save & Restore Clipboard History.
Badge the Folder icon for triggered macro groups.
Enable/Disable Macros/Macro Groups via AppleScript (setMacroEnable).
Added Title for Alert action.
Added Comment (does nothing) action.
Remove restriction on option-dragging macros within a macro group
Sort window names in the Window Switcher case insensitively.
Allow Set Clipboard to Text "" (empty).
Correct title for Clipboard History Switcher window.
New Trigger/New Action focuses the trigger/action browser.
Remember the position of the update progress windows.
Remember the position of the Alert windows.
Add hidden preference for delay between actions (InterActionDelay),
Fixed a crash when Execute AppleScript referred to a missing file.
Window switcher only lists normal windows (not palettes).
Updated version 1 prefs files incorrectly switched Insert Text to By Typing instead of By Pasting.
Allow zoom on main editor window.
unsetenv SHLVL in Keyboard Maestro and Keyboard Maestro Engine.
Use AppleScript to open Universal Access System Preference pane.
Use AppleScript to configure Engine login item.
Use AppleScript to launch Screen Saver in 10.5.
Stopped Copy Switcher from reselecting Create New Named Clipboard each time.

New in 3.2

Macro Group options including:
- Enable contained Macros only immediately after a Hot Key press.
- Toggle contained Macros with a Hot Key press.
- Display a floating palette of contained Macros only after a Hot Key press.
- Toggle display of a floating palette of contained Macros with a Hot Key press.
- Display a floating palette of contained Macros.
Added extensive Help to Macro Group Editor
Added Quick Start help to Macros Pane
Try Now button tries only selected actions.
Script pseudo-trigger.
Wake trigger.
Login trigger.
Added Alert action with Stop/Continue dialog.
Support Delete key in Clipboard History Switcher.
Allow Macros without any direct triggers.
Move Clipboard -> Insert Text action menu item to Text -> Insert Text
Disable editing for Global Macro Group.
Save & Restore Unix/AppleScript Results Window Size & Position.
Save Log files in ~/Library/Log/Keyboard Maestro folder.
Remove Macro Group “Never” - replace with Disabled.

New Clipboard Features in 3.1

Clipboard History Switcher - never lose your clipboard again.
Added actions for setting the system clipboard to:
- specific text including tokens like current date.
- Named Clipboard.
- past clipboards from the Clipboard History.
Added an action to save the system clipboard to a Named Clipboard.
Added clipboard filters:
- Remove Styles.
- Set line endings to Mac, Unix or Windows/DOS.
- Change case (Uppercase, Lowercase, Capitalize and John Gruber’s Title Case).
- Trim Whitespace or Wrap or Unwrap text.
- Change quotes to Smart, Dumb or French.
- Encode and decode HTML entities.
- Zap control characters.
- Count characters, words or lines.
Added an action for applying BBEdit Text Factories to the current clipboard.
Clipboard Switcher windows can be moved and resized and can stay open if desired.

Other New Action in 3.1

Manipulate Window can now center the window on its current screen.
Pause can now pause for fractional seconds (eg 0.75).
Insert Text can now insert via typing simulated keystrokes.

New Scripting Support in 3.1:

Keyboard Maestro Engine’s do script now supports executing any action based on its XML code.
do script now waits for the action to finish before completing.
You can ask Keyboard Maestro Engine if it is currently executing any macro.

Changes in 3.1:

The system clipboard is no longer restored after actions that set it (such as Insert Text via Paste or Use Named Clipboard). This avoids race conditions related to when the system clipboard is restored. However, you can restore the system clipboard with the Set Clipboard To Past Clipboard action or use the Clipboard History Switcher to choose any past clipboard.

Fixes in 3.1:

Fixed crash with %CurrentClipboard% token.
Disabled macros no longer conflict with new macro hot keys.
Fixed a bug where the recorded click could be relative to the wrong sheet.
Move "Check For Updates" to Keyboard Maestro menu.
You can set the Macro Palette icon size with defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine macroPalette IconSize -int N
Open Third Party Licenses folder from Help menu.
Fixed bug in Time Trigger minute display.
Defer Clipboard Switcher Copy/Cut until clipboard selection is made.
Clicking on the paste clipboard window will re-focus it.
Delete excluded application did not save change.
AppleScript result display was not Unicode-savvy.
Fixed a potetial crash in with Execute AppleScript.
Fixed an issue with time triggers and sleep.

New integration with KeyCue 4.2

Without even having to upgrade Keyboard Maestro, you can now use the recently released KeyCue 4.2 to display Keyboard Maestro hot key triggered macros at any time by simply holding down the control key.

New in 3.0.1

Floating palette could disappear off the screen.
Launch/Quit macro triggers were not working.
Launch application action could fail in some cases.
Quit All Applications was not quiting the current application.
You can now add custom styles to the web server.
Repeating hot key triggers continue to repeat with simulated keystrokes.
Fixed 10.4 displaying all hot keys as ?
Fixed 10.4 issue with quit/launch/close keys in Program Switcher.
Fixed name display of unlaunched applications in Program Switcher
Fixed some cases where excessive CPU usage could occur.
Fixed some Macro Palette location issues related to multiple screens.

New ways to create and work with macros

Recording - create macros by recording what you do.
Record Quick Macros - record and replay without changing applications.
Enable and disable macros and macro groups.
Try macros and individual actions as you create them.
New PC Switcher Pack from Rakesh Kumar.

New ways to trigger macros

Via AppleScript do script.
Via built in web server.
Using any hot key (eg unmodified A).

New and improved actions

Execute inline Unix script text.
Execute inline AppleScript text.
Unix and AppleScripts can display their results briefly.
Execute Automator Workflows.
Log Out action.
Activate the Program, Window or Clipboard switchers.
Record Quick Macros.
Direct support for inserting extended (ICU) date formats.
Horizontal Scroll Wheel support.
Manipulate Window resize smaller or to a specific size .

Improved user interface

Streamlined main window.
Streamlined macro editor window.
Automatic (sparklish) updating.
Exported macros include group information.
Cleaned up and/or simplified pretty much every action and trigger editor.
Running Applications are shown in popup menus rather than requiring disk navigation.
Display an approximation of the time saved.
Spruced up the switcher windows, including adding program switcher icon grid view.
Cute little square buttons.
Added rename buttons for those who can’t figure out how to rename.
Added video tutorials to the documentation.
All HIView goodness.

Simplified

Dropped support for PowerMate.
Dropped support for version 1 preference files.
Dropped support for Classic processes.
Dropped support for 10.3.
Window/Program/Clipboard Switchers are now activated as any other macro.

And in detail

Hot keys shown without the dash (ie, ^J not ^-J).
Improved display of hot keys with longer and more key names.
Fixed up keyboard focus.
gethotkeys AppleEvent to return current active hot key macros.
Move preferences to a subfolder.
Switched to extensible property lists for preference and macro files.
Improved some icons (thanks Opacity!).
Remove and reduce many artificial delays.
Add extra default macros for Quick Macro support.
Add Check for Update in Help menu.
New clipboards created with good default name.
Macro Palette displays in all spaces.
Add actions after selection.
Improve macro deletion messages.
Set default clipboard text.
Window switcher no longer brings window to the front just to close it.
Double click, return, and button to rename.
Display Number Pad hot keys.
Display stderr from executed shell scripts.
Support all AppleScript formats.
Disable Hot Keys before simulating keys.
Improved Press Button ability to find buttons.
Warn about missing access for assistive devices.

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If you have seen enough to convince you, Download Keyboard Maestro Now, otherwise continue on to Features or ask us whether Keyboard Maestro can solve your automation needs.

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