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Can I Use Automator To Record Then Play Back a Series Of Keystrokes?

One of many examples: When in Numbers, I want to edit a cell, decrease indent level on the contents of the cell, then press Enter, then the Down Arrow to move to the next cell. Can I use Automator to record this keystroke series?

By the way, this example is fictitious. My question is really about whether Automator can be used to record / playback keystrokes, not about how to remove indents in cells.

Thanks.
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PJ

Comments: 3 Responses to “Can I Use Automator To Record Then Play Back a Series Of Keystrokes?”

    5 years ago

    Yes. You can use the Record controls at the top right corner of the Automator window to do it. I have a very old video on the subject. https://macmost.com/using-automator-to-playback-actions.html

    Warning: It is very frustrating to use. I would suggest sticking to keyboard commands when possible instead of cursor clicks. And you sometimes need to adjust the wait times between commands when you are done recording.

    I wish I knew what you were really trying to do, as maybe I could suggest an alternative. But play around with recording in Automator to see if it works for your task.

    PJ
    5 years ago

    Thank you Gary. It's hard for me to be more specific. I do a lot of editing (for other people) in Pages, Numbers and other, non-Apple applications. From time to time, I find myself doing repetitive tasks where keystroke macros would be helpful. Each case is different, so I'm looking for something that makes it easy to create macros, run them a number of times, then discard them. I'll give Automator a try. Any suggestions on third-party apps that might do a better job?

    5 years ago

    PJ: https://www.keyboardmaestro.com is the one that comes to mind. I don't use it myself, but I see it mentioned a lot.

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