Expedite your Workflow with Macros
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Expedite your Workflow with Macros

on Dec 27th 2010 with 49 comments

I’m a productivity tool freak. As I see it, if a short-cut saves me a few moments over the course of the day, then it has the potential to save roughly twenty hours worth of work each year! As such, I religiously use tools like TextExpander, Snippets, Coda, Structurer, LaunchBar, etc. But today, I want to show you how to use a macro program, like Keyboard Maestro or AutoHotKey, to expedite repetitive tasks. You’ll love it!

Conclusion

I’ve preached the wonders of macros in the past, but was often asked about how I specifically use them. Hopefully, this video will provide you with some inspiration and ideas. Let me know what you come up with!

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I'm the editor of Nettuts+, and love making the process of building for the web as easy as possible. Also, I'm finishing up my latest book on Laravel Testing! If you want be friends, say hi on Twitter.  

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  • http://www.hassanc.co.uk/ Hassan Chughtai

    AutoHotKey is one of my personal favourites. The amount of scripts I’ve wrote with it that I use on a daily basis I just can’t count. A real timesaver. I must try some of the others here, too. Great article. You should all use macros :D

  • http://nveselinov.com nveselinov

    Thank you! very useful screencast. :)

  • Luke

    Awesome stuff! Would you happen to have an export of your current macros used in the screencast?

  • http://none Jonas

    Very usefull stuff. thx for sharing.

  • http://www.danharper.me Dan Harper

    Good tips! Personally I prefer using plugins/snippets in my editor for code shortcuts, and simple bash/ruby scripts for working with files (like setting up a new CI or WP site).

    Also, instead of using wget on Mac, use cURL. For example, I use the following to download the latest CodeIgniter:

    curl -L http://codeigniter.com/download.php -d ci.zip

    (As the download.php file is a HTTP redirect to the latest CI release, the -L option tells curl to follow the redirects).

  • http://grazdesigns.com Sebastian

    Sure time-saving applications are in most cases handy, but in my opinion having too many applications will just clutter up the workflow. I tend to stick to just TEA for coda (zen coding) and snippets.

    I mean, how will a normal mortal be able to remember all those shortcuts from like 3-6 different expanders/macros-application.

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      That’s the whole point of the palette.

  • Joe

    Thank you Jeffery for that nice screencast. Since a couple of days i thinking a lot about workflow optimisation. So i started to learn bourne shellscript to do some Stuff on the Mac like go and create an new Project with Contao, kohana, zendframework or whatever.

    I think Sebastians doubt`s are definitely true and i see same problems but i will try it out. Many thanks.

  • http://janschlie.de Jan

    Hey Jeffrey, very nice and useful application! You started Coda a few times in this tutorial… which application do you use for launching programms quickly?

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      LaunchBar.

      • Jan

        Thanks! I try namely… its free ;)

  • http://www.twosocks.com.au Carl Crowther

    Hey Jeff nice article,

    Can you (or anyone else) suggest anything that works remotely the same as the ‘Keyboard Maestro’ for the PC?

    I did download and install and try the other 2 programs suggested in the video but they don’t run anywhere near as well or nicely as the afore mentioned MAC program. Having a simple ‘Record’ button, rather then a shell etc. would be alot easier to learn. I am happy to pay for it so it need not be free.

  • Michal

    Is there a similar program for Linux(Ubuntu)?

  • tawfekov

    it worth mentioning about ubuntu , it has same app called “autokey”
    you can install it using “sudo apt-get install autokey-gtk” or “sudo apt-get install autokey” for qt based (KDE)

    thanks :)

  • http://slcoding.com Lucas Rolff

    I would really like a zipped file with all your stuff! Keyboard Maestro is a huge timesaver! Really.. And that with wordpress and that stuff you have would be kinda awesome to get!

  • http://www.google.at Gerhard

    This is awesome!!!1

  • http://www.rebatesense.com RebateSense

    Very helpful screencast Jeffrey. Just wanted to ask your honest opinion on the best IDE/Code Editor for Mac. I know the shrink-wrapped answer “it depends on your personal preference, it depends on what you are looking for” etc. but what I’m looking for is a honest opinion of yours since you must have tried pretty much all the IDE/Code Editors on your Mac.

    I don’t want to learn all the commands for Vim, Emacs etc. but mostly getting confused between Coda, TextMate and Espresso. Each of them have features the other one is missing (mostly). Would certainly take TextMate if it has a nice Intellisense type code completion popup and a snapshot view of the functions of the file (similar to what Coda, Espresso has). Every time I use one of these I feel good about the tool but then over a period of time been losing interest and trying to find the next best and in that process circling around between these tools and losing the flow.

    I don’t want to pay for all 3 of these (that’s the bottomline) but wanted to see which one makes you more productive in terms of getting things done and keep you still interested in using them?

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      If you do a lot of server-side work, I’d look into an IDE — like Eclipse or Netbeans, etc.

      Now, if you do mostly front-end work, Coda, Espresso, and TextMate are all great. It really does come down to personal preference. I’ve been enjoying Coda a lot lately though.

      • http://www.rebatesense.com RebateSense

        Thanks for the quick reply Jeff. I’ve been leaning towards Coda as well but the “code folding” is a big thing that’s missing with Coda. Do you feel the same as well? Have you found any workarounds for it? I’m willing to plunge my $$$ to Coda if this can be some how worked around. Please let me know.

      • http://www.meditationsonlife.com John

        @RebateSense, I have used TextWrangler, TextMate, Eclipse, Zend Studio, NetBeans, XCode, Aptana and Coda. Since I started using Coda, I have not even considered opening a different code editor. I mainly code in HTML/CSS/JavaScript/PHP/Python/Perl/Ruby…

        I got use to the no code folding thing pretty quick. It would be a nice feature, but you can very easily get use to not having it. Coda has split screen of the same document, so if you need code folding to see an up part of the page, and lower part, you can split screen. If its just to make things neat, I have found I don’t really miss it.

        Just my 2 cents. Hope that helps. Download the trial, and use it for the trial period on a project. watch the tutorials, it really makes things nice.

      • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
        Author

        And I’d imagine that cold folding will be added to Coda 2.

      • http://www.rebatesense.com RebateSense

        Thanks @John and @Jeff for your response. I hope Coda 2 would fulfill these void and I hope it comes out soon.

      • Matthias Krok

        If Coda had code folding, I probably wouldn’t try out a bunch of other editors every few months. I really REALLY hope they include this soon. Coda 2 with code folding would have been a GREAT christmas present for many of us ;-) (and I won’t mind paying for the upgrade – it would be much less than all the “wasted” hours I spent trying out all the editors out there.)

        The split screen view might come in handy sometimes, but I mostly miss code folding because of the really nice bracket matching feature of Coda. When the matching bracket is way down the page it’s not possible to see both matching brackets at the same time. One click to fold the code between and I could use the bracket matching feature even with very long methods or loops.

        BTW after some getting used to it, I really like the way Espresso manages open files (list instead of tabs). I think, every other editor should implement an option to have this kind of “open files view”.

        So right now I actually use Espresso – I decided to spent some “free time” to get myself used to it. With all the hype around Espresso, one probably should at least have a look… but while some features are really innovative, other “features” render some parts of Espresso practically useless. For example when editing php files with a lot of html markup in it, the “Navigator” (right sidebar) outlines every html tag and mixes them up with the php structure. That might be ok if you are using some kind of MVC framework – but it’s really confusing when editing “normal” php code like some wordpress plugin!

        just my 2cents…

    • Rick Yentzer

      I wouldn’t leave out BBEDIT. I have used it for years. I keep trying different editors, all of the ones you’ve mentioned, and none of them have a must-have-feature that draws me away. The clippings feature is really nice and a huge time-saver.

  • http://jeremyhixon.com Jeremy Hixon

    Thanks Jeffrey,
    I became obsessed with keyboard shortcuts when I started using Photoshop years ago. It’s stuck with me through the transition to web development as well. I am convinced that it’s the reason things seem to flow so well for me at work. Keyboard Maestro looks like a terrific application and one that I’ll, most likely, be adding to my collection as well. I really like Coda’s snippets but having one place for all my shortcuts is ideal.

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      I like Coda snippets too. You can keep those, and use Keyboard Maestro for actions.

  • Gummiost

    For more advanced stuff, there is Project SIKULI.
    Sikuli is a visual technology to automate and test graphical user interfaces (GUI) using images (screenshots).

    http://sikuli.org/

  • http://apermanentwreck.com Chris Newton

    Hey @JeffreyWay, would you mind pointing me to a place to download all of your Macros?

  • KLaci

    Could somebody suggest me an alternative program which is similar to the Keyboard Maestro, but i can use it on windows 7? I like function of “record macro” of the Keyboard Maestro and i should like to have a similar function.
    Thank you in advance

  • Martin

    Hi Jeff

    Thanks for the crash course! :)

    If you could make a zipfile with some snippets, I would be very thankful!

    Btw, is it the same program you use for the “beginhtml” snippet, I often see you use in quicktips?

  • Edwin

    @KLaci

    Cannot find the Keyboard Maestro equivalent for Windows but found another nice and free program called PhraseExpress from http://www.phraseexpress.com.

    • Klaci

      Thank you!

  • http://dangermoose.co.uk flashmac

    Can anyone tell me if the KeyboardMaestro can be sync’d over multiple computers?

    If it cant, I’d spend more time syncing it manually than the time I’d ever save.

    Thanks

  • Tim

    Would love to get all zip file with all the macros.

  • Trevor Jeffs

    Hey Jeffery,
    I was just over at your TUT+ on porting Vim shortcuts to Espresso with macros and I went to your Github Site and downloaded the Macro file and there are only two Macros in it? Could you send me a link to yours or Update the one on Github?
    Thanx

  • http://www.iamiivo.com Iivo

    Can someone tell me what is wrong here?

    I tried the wordpress example that Jeffrey showed on the video, but I can’t get it to work. A strange error occurs when I execute the macro and it goes to the terminal.

    Example of wget command:
    SHOULD HAPPEN = wget htttp://wordpress.ress.org/latest.zip
    HAPPENS = wget htttp://wordpress.ress.org/latest.zip

    Or then in somewhere else the macro executes wrong with same way by repeating random parts of command from here and there. Any idea what is going on? :S

  • http://StartupSuccessPodcast.com Bob Walsh

    Great eye-opening productivity demo Jeffery – I too would really like to get a copy of your keyboard maestro actions – just bought NetTuts+ Premium, but there’s no sign of them there…

  • Alex

    The problem that I keep running into when I record I macro involving using wget, the macro will not wait for the action to complete. I noticed that there is a “pause” action to add in here, but you didn’t have to add that in the video. What did I do wrong?

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      Yeah, it just depends on the computer. When I run Macros that access web pages, I add in a pause of 2 seconds to make sure that those pages fully load. You might add something like that to yours too.

      • Alex

        Ah, I see. Thanks Jeffrey.

  • http://BrentAlexander Brent Alexander

    Just downloaded this app. I’m impressed! I would love an archive of actions you typically use. I have a feeling I would use a lot of the same ones. It would really save me some time, so I wouldn’t have to create them all! :)

  • http://www.artana.pl Venge4nce

    The best video tutorial i’ve seen from months! Maestro Keyboard is a killer timesaver.
    I dont even must opens dozens of programs on startup my macbook, just type one short line and booom! Everythings opens in a flash.

    Big thanks!

  • http://beedragon.com Lori

    That was awesome. If are still sending out zips with the macros, I would love to have a copy. Thanks!

  • Simon

    Anyone else have problems using Keyboard Maestro with Netbeans 6.9.1 ?

    Executing a macro causes the clipboard to be pasted rather than executing a macro.

  • http://www.irisdesign.gr Ziogas Chris

    Very nice tutorial.
    I start using Keyboard Maestro and it saves me a lot of time.

    Can you please share the .zip with macros with us?

    Thanks

  • http://slcoding.com Lucas Rolff

    Hello Jeffrey Way – Are you still planning to “release” the maestro macros in a zip? because There’s lots of fun I could use there!

    And nice vid btw!

  • Alex Devine

    Really nice tut, i was not aware of programs like these.Thanks loads :)

  • http://www.rickgrossman-blog.com Allan Steinberg

    Boy these programs sure save a lot of time.