The configuration window
Open the configuration window by double-clicking the tray icon, or by choosing Open from the tray menu. Only one configuration window runs at a time; opening it again brings the open one to the front.
The parts of the window
- Title bar. The Simple | Advanced switch ①, the theme switch ② (System, Light, Dark), and the More button (⋯), whose menu ③ holds Import…, Import from StrokesPlus.net…, Export… and Show welcome…. See Import and export.
- The list of pages, in three sections: Automation, Engine and Setup. A number beside a page counts what it holds, such as actions or app groups; it is hidden at zero. Drag the divider beside the list to make it wider or narrower. Help, above About, isn't a page: it opens the help window.
- Quick create… ④, under the list of pages, opens the wizard described in Quick create.
- At the foot of the list of pages, the active profile's name and how many profiles there are.
- The page header shows the page's name and a one-line summary, such as how many items it holds. The ? button at its end (or F1) opens this help on the page that describes it.
- The page body. Many pages have a list on one side and an editor for the selected item beside it. On Actions, Text expansion, Snippets, Recorder, App groups and Ignore groups, drag the gap between the list and the editor to make the list wider or narrower; those pages share one list width.
- The save bar ⑤ appears at the bottom while anything is unsaved. See Saving.
- The status bar along the bottom edge. See The status bar.
The window remembers its size and position, the width of the list of pages and of the item lists, the mode, the page you were on, and the item you had selected on each page. It doesn't remember filters or search text.
The pages
| Section | Page | Shown in Simple mode | Help |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automation | Actions | Yes | The Actions page |
| Automation | Text expansion | Yes | Text expansion |
| Automation | Snippets | Yes | Snippets |
| Automation | Recorder | No | Macro recorder |
| Automation | Sandbox | Yes | Sandbox |
| Automation | App groups | Yes | App groups |
| Automation | Ignore groups | Yes | Ignore groups |
| Automation | Gestures | Yes | The gesture library |
| Engine | Global events | No | Global events |
| Engine | Exclusion zones | No | Exclusion zones |
| Engine | Scripts | No | Script settings |
| Engine | Plugins | No | Plugins |
| Setup | General | Yes | General settings |
| Setup | Appearance | Yes | Appearance |
| Setup | Profiles | No | Profiles |
| Setup | Console | No | Console |
| Setup | Security | Yes | Security |
| Setup | About | Yes | About and license |
Lists and editors
Pages that hold many items show them in a list:
- Filter… at the top narrows the list to the items that match what you type, and the count then reads as shown out of the total, for example 3/24. The X at the end of the box clears it.
- + New at the bottom adds an item. The button beside it duplicates the selected item.
- Hovering over a row shows a delete button. Deleting asks first, and says what else is affected.
- A turned-off item is grayed and its name ends in · disabled.
- A row with a conflict icon has a problem; open it to see the details.
- Select a row to edit it beside the list.
On the Actions and Text expansion pages, an App group box above the list chooses which group's items are listed, or All. A new item always belongs to one app group, so + New needs a group selected. Where order decides which item runs, the list order is that order, and Move up and Move down change it.
Saving and applying
Nothing you change takes effect until you apply it. While anything is unsaved, the save bar at the bottom shows how many changes are waiting, and three buttons:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Discard | Asks first, then undoes every change made since the window opened, including ones already applied, and closes the window. |
| Apply (Ctrl+S) | Saves every change, and the engine starts using them at once. The window stays open. |
| Save and close | Saves whatever is left, then closes the window. |
After Apply, the bar reads Changes applied until you close the window, so that Discard can still undo them.
When the engine applies changes, actions that are still running are stopped, and the Config loaded global event runs again.
Some changes don't wait for Apply:
- the Plugins and Security pages, which act at once and say so;
- choosing what draws the trail, the hints and the messages on the Appearance page;
- the theme, which is saved on its own.
Closing with unsaved changes
Esc closes the window, like its close button, unless the control you're in uses it first (an open list, menu or pop-up, a find bar, or a name you're editing). In a text box or the script editor, the first Esc only leaves the box, keeping what you typed; the next one closes the window. With nothing unsaved, the window closes at once.
Closing the window with unsaved changes asks Save changes before closing? with Save, Discard changes and Keep editing. While the engine can't be reached, Save to file… takes the place of Save: it writes your unsaved changes to a file so they aren't lost, but that file can't be imported back.
If you exit Input.Observer from the tray while the window has unsaved changes, the window asks Input.Observer is closing with Save and Discard changes. The engine exits either way.
When the file changed on disk
If the configuration file was changed outside the window after you opened it — edited by hand, or restored from a backup — saving asks The configuration changed on disk:
- Reload throws away your unsaved changes and reads the file again.
- Overwrite replaces the file with the window's version.
- Keep editing does neither.
Notes from the engine
When the engine had to repair something in the configuration while reading it — a value out of range, an entry it couldn't use — or has advice about it, such as two triggers that tie, a bar above the save bar says how many notes there are. Show lists them. Repairs are also shown when the window opens and right after a save that needed them. A note disappears once you delete the item it is about.
The status bar
The bar along the bottom edge shows, from left to right:
- Engine connected, or Engine not reachable — retrying in red. While the engine can't be reached you can keep editing, but you can't apply; the window keeps trying every 3 seconds and reconnects on its own.
- The active profile, or No profile. See Profiles.
- Saved, or Unsaved changes with the number of changes.
Theme and language
The theme switch in the title bar chooses System (follow Windows), Light or Dark. The same choice is the Theme row on the Appearance page. The engine's own windows, its splash screen and its dialogs follow it too. Changing it never counts as an unsaved change.
The language is the Language row on the Appearance page. Windows default follows the Windows display language. The configuration window shows a new language after you close and reopen it. See Appearance.
Simple and Advanced
The Simple | Advanced switch in the title bar changes what the window shows:
- Simple hides the Recorder, Global events, Exclusion zones, Scripts, Plugins, Profiles and Console pages, and hides advanced settings on the other pages.
- Advanced shows everything.
Simple mode only hides things. It never changes, clears or resets a setting, so a setting you changed in Advanced mode keeps working in Simple mode. A page that hides settings shows a banner at the bottom saying how many, for example 3 advanced settings are hidden in Simple mode. When a hidden setting has a value other than its default, the banner says it is still in effect. Show advanced on the banner switches the window to Advanced mode.
If one of those Advanced-only pages is open when you switch to Simple, the window moves to the first page, Actions. The mode is remembered for the next time you open the window, and so is the open page, except that the window never reopens on an Advanced-only page in Simple mode: it opens on Actions instead. The tray's Profile > Manage... switches the window to Advanced mode and opens Profiles.
Quick create
Quick create… (or Ctrl+N) asks one question at a time and makes one of four things:
| Choice | What it makes |
|---|---|
| Do something when I draw a shape | An action with a gesture trigger. |
| Do something when I press keys | An action with a hotkey trigger. The hotkey is reserved with Windows. |
| Replace something I type | A text expansion replacement. |
| Leave a program alone | An ignore group for one program. |
The pages ask what to make, where it should work, the trigger, what it does and a name; an ignore group skips the trigger and what it does. Your answers so far are shown under the heading. A red notice explains anything that stops you going on; other notices are advice.
- Where it goes. In every program uses the Global group. For one program, the wizard uses the app group that already covers that program, or makes a new one with a rule for the program file. A program that an ignore group leaves alone can't be chosen.
- Turned-off groups. If the group it uses is turned off, or has gestures or hotkeys turned off, the wizard offers to turn them back on, so the new action can run.
- Nothing changes until you click Create. Create and apply also applies every other unsaved change; Create, apply later leaves everything waiting for Apply. Either way, the page that shows the new item opens with it selected, and Discard on the save bar can still undo it.
The walk-throughs are in the Quick start: a gesture, one program and leaving a program alone.
The help window
This help opens in a window of its own, in the language Input.Observer uses (or English when there is no help in that language). It opens from:
- the ? button in a page's header, or F1: the help for that page;
- Help in the list of pages: the help's first page;
- Help on the tray menu, even when the configuration window isn't open (The tray icon);
- Script Help in the diagnostic console: the script language reference (Console).
There is only ever one help window: opening the help again shows the new page in the open window and brings it to the front. It has its own taskbar button and stays open when you close the configuration window. It remembers its size and position, and follows the theme until you choose one with the page's own theme button.
- Open in browser shows the current page in your default web browser.
- Copy link copies the current page's address to the clipboard. It is a
file:///address, so it works on this computer only.
A link to a website opens in your default browser. If Windows is missing the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime that the help window needs, the help opens in your default browser instead.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Keys | What they do |
|---|---|
| F1 | Open the help for the current page. |
| Ctrl+N | Open Quick create. |
| Ctrl+S | Apply all changes. |
| Escape | In a key-combination box that is waiting for keys, stop waiting without changing it. |