3.3 Macro record

The Tracker records what you do — keys, mouse, and if you want the screen just before every press — and turns it into steps you can edit and save as a macro. It is the fastest way to get a long sequence in, and the easiest way to get a screenshot of exactly the moment you care about.

Before you record

The Tracker before a recording: the Keyboard, Mouse and Screen chips, the hotkey, and Start recording
What to record, and the button that starts it. Click a highlighted control to see what it does.
  • Keyboard — records key presses.
  • Mouse — records clicks, and where on the screen they landed.
  • Screen — keeps three frames for every press: two seconds before, one second before, and the moment itself.
  • Hotkey — starts and stops a recording while another program has focus, which is the only way to record something full-screen.
  • Start recording — starts the recording; while it runs the same button is Stop recording. The chips are read once when it starts, so they lock until it stops.

After a recording

A finished recording: the counts, Clear, New or Existing macro, the macro name, Create action flow, a step, a wait, and on one step the merge, screens and delete buttons
A recording, already readable. A quick press is a click, a long one a hold and a release, a run of typing one Type step, and every gap a wait. Click a highlighted control to see what it does.
  • Counts — how long the recording ran, and how many events and frames it holds.
  • Clear — drops the recording, edits and all. There is no undo; the next recording starts from scratch.
  • Build into — where the steps go: a New macro, which runs them Once, or a new flow in an Existing macro.
  • Name — of the new macro, or the macro and stage to add the flow to.
  • Create action flow — writes it.
  • Step — click to edit it. A mouse click shows as one row — Click left · at 41% · 37% — and becomes a move and a click when the flow is created.
  • Wait — the pause before the next step. Type in it to change it.
  • Merge — on a row that can fold into its neighbour, such as a hold with its release or a modifier held around a press. It lights the partner and makes one step of the two; Split takes it back apart.
  • Screens — the three frames recorded with that press. When you later open the step to make an object, these are offered first.
  • Delete — removes the step.