Karabiner Elements – Macinations

August 5, 2020

Setting up a secondary macro keyboard with Karabiner-Elements

I previously wrote that I bought a gamepad keyboard, hooked it up to my Mac and configured it with Karabiner-Elements. On my work machine I’ve taken that idea one step further. I’ve hooked up a full sized keyboard and programmed all the keys to be shortcuts. Using the Karabiner Complex Modification website, I put together a couple of key combinations. Then using Groovy, I wrote a small piece of code to write out the statements for the rest of the keyboard. With that done, I have assigned keys to different functions I find myself repeating. For example, S is to capture a screenshot using SnagIt. J is to capture the number and title of a Jira ticket using TextSoap. That text is then pasted into TaskPaper where I keep my test plan notes. The numbers 1 and 2 are to remove or add carriage returns within my text using TextSoap. I’m now watching how I work to see what steps […]

July 11, 2020

Setting up hot keys on the gamepad

Now that I have the gamepad hooked into Karabiner-Elements, it’s time to start putting it to work. Hotkeys aren’t exclusive to tools like Alfred and Keyboard Maestro. Plenty of apps, and even macOS itself, supports setting up hotkey shortcuts. One of the tools I use all the time is TextSoap. I use the cleaners to format text for blog articles. Articles are written in Scrivener, then pasted into WordPress. I use “1 Return to 2 Returns” to add line breaks to the text. I also use the opposite filter a ton, “Multiple Returns to 1 Return”. This is to remove empty lines from text and bring it all together. A third is, “Remove Duplicate Lines”. I previously selected these using the Text Palette, which is pretty awesome, but it does require me to find each one separately when I want to use them. However, under Preferences, TextSoap can assign a cleaner to a shortcut key. I now have those same […]

July 6, 2020

More fun, and a gamepad, with Karabiner-Elements

After the initial success of using Karabiner-Elements with a keyboard I had laying around, I decided to move a step further by adding a gamepad to the mix and programming it with hotkeys. And it worked with great success. The gamepad of choice, or rather, the gamepad on sale, is the BlueFinger Gaming Keyboard, which is in essence the left side of a regular keyboard. Now, it's no Logitech or Razer, but I'm not going to use it that way. It's standard plastic all round, but it's got a decent size, feels sturdy enough and shows up as a generic keyboard. It was also $30, so many boxes checked there. Next, with the help of a very cool website-Karabiner Complex Modification, I was able to create a list of my own custom rules, which are loaded under the Complex Rules tab. Instead of pressing CAPS LOCK and then another key, I wanted one-click action. So, if I press A, I […]

June 24, 2020

Setting up a secondary keyboard for macros

After setting up several keyboard shortcuts within Alfred and Keyboard Maestro, it became clear that I was putting together some bizarre key combinations and odd hand gestures to make sure I wasn’t interfering with other applications. Then it occurred to me, don’t video and audio editors have dedicated keyboards for shortcuts? Can the same thing be done for keyboard macros? The answer is, yes it can. And rather easily too, using a standard keyboard and Karabiner Elements. You don’t have to buy a specialty keyboard or programmable keypad or anything else. You can use any USB keyboard you have lying around. I have dozens from all the Windows machines I’ve ordered throughout the years. This also works for a Bluetooth keyboard, so it doesn’t have to be wired. The easiest way to configure this is install Karabiner Elements and go to the devices tab. Turn off all the other keyboard except the secondary one you plan to use for macros. Then […]

Setting up a secondary macro keyboard with Karabiner-Elements

Setting up hot keys on the gamepad

More fun, and a gamepad, with Karabiner-Elements

Setting up a secondary keyboard for macros

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