Learn how to download and install Keyboard Maestro.

Video Transcript

Let's take a minute to talk about some Keyboard Maestro concepts. When I told people I was about to make a Keyboard Maestro Field Guide, everybody was really happy, because everybody's confused by this app. But it's not as difficult as you may think. Keyboard Maestro runs on a simple principle. For every Keyboard Maestro script, there is a trigger and there is an action. For instance, if you throw a switch, it turns the lights on. Well, think about doing that on your Mac with just about anything on your Mac that can be controlled. For example, if I hold down the keyboard shortcut Command+Control+Right Arrow, then it moves the current window to the right side of the screen. In fact, that's one of the scripts I'm going to share with you in this field guide. 

Here it is right here in Keyboard Maestro language. First thing you've got is your trigger. And that's holding down Control+Command+Right Arrow. And then the next thing you have is your action. Move the current screen to the right side. And this may look a little confusing now, but trust me, by the time we get to the end of the screencast, this is going to be really easy for you. The thing about Keyboard Maestro that intimidates people, though, is the sheer number of triggers and actions. There are so many ways you can trigger a Keyboard Maestro script. And there are so many actions you can take, once you put it. It's like if you gave someone a box of Lego with instructions, it would be very easy to build that Lego. But if instead, you gave somebody all of the Lego in the Lego store in one big box, then they'd be a little confused. And sometimes I think this is what Keyboard Maestro feels like: it's giving you so many tools that you don't even know where to start. Well, that's the goal of this field guide, I'm going to show you how to get started and some of the cool things you can do. Not only can you download the scripts I'm going to share with you, with this you're going to know how to build your own. 

So how is this organized? There's several sections. The first is going to be all about triggers, what they are and how they work. The next section is going to break down all of the available actions, give you some descriptions and some samples. Then I've got a separate section on palettes because they're so useful. I thought they deserve their own section. And once you get through that, you're going to find one of the hidden features of Keyboard Maestro a lot of people don't understand. Then we're going to talk about debugging because there is a little bit of programming in here. But trust me, by the time we get there, this is not going to be too much for you. 

And then my favorite part of this entire Field Guide. It's basically all of my favorite scripts. I'm going to break them down for you, show you how I built them, give you download links, and teach you how they work. Hopefully, you'll be able to use all of mine and maybe make a few of your own. Then, we're going to go through the settings, and finally we'll get to the conclusion.

Right now you may feel like you've got a Lego all over your desk right now. But don't worry about it. We're going to put these things together and make something awesome. So what are we waiting for? Let's go.