Whether you’re playing your favorite games or just using the computer sometimes, macros can save you minutes or even hours of time. Let’s look at some of the most useful macros you ought to employ. find below 5 Convenient Macros to Assign to Your Keyboard.
Table of Contents
What Are Macros?
An application like iCUE can record a key combination and then play it back as a keyboard macro. Additionally, some programs might merely open applications or mute your audio. While not all software will have the same functionality, they can all be quite helpful in different contexts.
Either an individual key on your keyboard or a key combination, such as Ctrl+F1, can be designated as a macro. If you’ve ever noticed an additional row of keys on a keyboard, those are typically macro keys. Scriptable macro keys are another name for these. The extra keys are useful since you can use them exclusively for macros without replacing your regular keys.
A stream deck, also known as a macro pad, can be purchased if your keyboard lacks macro keys or if you prefer not to replace your current ones. An example of one is the Elgato Stream Deck MK.2. One-handed keyboards, which you can also utilize to assign macros, are different from these. AutoHotKey, a free open-source scripting language that enables you to simply design your own macros, is an additional option.
Stream decks are advised because of their ease of use and lack of need for programming skills or additional training. The use of broadcast decks is fairly common among streamers. The macros can be set up to perform a variety of tasks, such as creating keyboard shortcuts, beginning timers, launching media, altering music, launching applications, and much more! It is possible to construct profiles that employ several macros, enhancing functionality and ease.
1. Common Text Commands
How many times a day do you type your username or email address? You can give text instructions that you use regularly, such as your email address, or a macro. Now you can easily press the macro key each time you need to sign up for or log into a frequently used website or program, and it will rapidly input the required text for you.
You might also find your phone number, a website URL, an IP address, a greeting, or a signature to be handy text instructions. However, keep in mind that for security reasons, we do not advise saving your password as a macro; use a password manager instead.
Consider any text instructions that could increase your efficiency as well. If you’re a computer programmer, for instance, you might have a section of code you frequently use but don’t want to have to type out every time or copy and paste from another file. You could even make a text macro to shout out the name of your guild or an item you’re selling in your preferred video game for something a little more entertaining. Get creative with it—the options are unlimited!
2. Launch Programs And Open Files
Use the same apps or open the same files frequently? Making macros to launch them will greatly simplify your life. For instance, you could program macros to launch your text editor, browser, and local server if you’re a web developer who frequently has several browser tabs open. By doing so, you’ll be able to begin working with just a few button presses.
Additionally, you may utilize macros to open commonly used files like your calendar, to-do list, or notes. If you need to keep a lot of files organized, this is extremely helpful. Even though finding and opening those files using your taskbar may only take a few seconds on one occasion, those few seconds might mount up to minutes or hours in long run.
3. Mute and Unmute
It’s not difficult to understand the advantages of being able to instantly mute or unmute your computer’s volume as well as your microphone. These macros are ideal for times when you need to sneeze or receive a call. Share this with your friend who never turns off their microphone even when there’s a party going on in the background!
Even though your microphone has a mute button, you can still toggle it using a macro. It’s helpful to have a visual indicator because it’s simple to forget whether you’re muted or not. To make sure your audio is completely muted, you can also repeatedly use your mute macro. That assurance is necessary before beginning a private practice with some Friends.
4. Repeat Actions
Macros can automate monotonous tasks like repeatedly pressing the same button. When you have a tedious or time-consuming task to complete, this is ideal.
Let’s say you’re playing a video game and you need to repeatedly press the spacebar to unlock 100 treasure chests. While you sit back and watch your chests open, you can switch your macro so that it will automatically push the space bar for you. If you have 1,000 chests to open, you’ll appreciate this much more!
Keep in mind that you can also record a series of occurrences. This might be demonstrated by adding a filter to an image in Adobe Photoshop or formatting text in Microsoft Word. A recorded macro will save you a tonne of time if each of these requires multiple steps.
5. Control Your Music
You may simulate the experience of being in a car by controlling your music using macros. To play, pause, stop, skip, rewind, or fast-forward music, you can construct macros. You should also think about setting macros to increase, decrease, or mute the music player’s volume. So, without having to adjust the volume on your computer, you can immediately lower the music when someone enters the room or when you need to concentrate.
Create macros that alter the balance, treble, or bass of your audio if at all possible. This is ideal if you want to enhance the bass in certain songs or put the vocals in the center of a song.
Conclusion
You can create and assign an infinite number of macros to your keyboard. Consider the daily tasks that take the most time and try to turn them into macros.