Macro recorder
The Recorder page captures what you do with the mouse and keyboard once and turns it into steps. It is a capture tool, not an archive: you copy a recording into a snippet or an action, and that is where it runs.
Advanced mode. The Recorder page is in the navigation only in Advanced mode.
Recording
- Click Start recording ①.
- A Recording started message says to press Ctrl+Break to stop. Click OK. The configuration window minimizes, and after a short pause (300 ms by default) recording starts. With Recording start confirmation turned off (Settings), the window minimizes and recording starts at once.
- Do what you want to record.
- Press Ctrl+Break, or bring the configuration window back and click Stop recording. While recording, the page shows the elapsed time.
The new recording is saved and selected. If nothing was recorded, no file is saved and a message says so. What you do in the configuration window at the end of a recording, such as clicking Stop recording, is left out.
If a script is making a recording of its own at the time, Start recording is unavailable until it stops.
Every key is recorded, including passwords typed into password boxes. A recording stores them as plain keystrokes and types them again when it runs. Stop recording before you type a password.
What is recorded
A recording is a list of steps, one per thing you did, in the order you did it:
- mouse movement, kept at most every 15 ms or every 4 pixels, whichever comes first;
- each mouse button press and release, and each wheel turn;
- each key press and release;
- the pauses between them, as Wait steps.
It also adds a window check wherever the window you click in, scroll over or type into changes. When the recording runs, a window check waits until the right program's window is there: it must have the same program file name and the same window class (upper and lower case don't matter; the window title is never recorded or compared). If the window doesn't appear in time, a notification says so and the recording stops, so its clicks and keys never land in the wrong window.
The recordings list
The Recordings tab lists your recordings, newest first, with the number of events, the length and when it was made. Recordings are files in a Recordings folder next to your configuration file; Open Recordings folder opens it.
- A new recording is named
macro_followed by the date and time. Type a new Name to rename it; if the name is taken,-1,-2and so on are added. - The delete button on a row deletes the recording after a confirmation.
Using a recording
The selected recording opens as Steps ②. Switch to Script to see it translated to the script language.
- Copy ③ copies the steps (or the script, while Script is selected) to the clipboard, to paste into the code view of an action's steps or into a script.
- Create Snippet makes a new snippet from the recording, as Steps or as Script, whichever is showing, and opens it on the Snippets page (Snippets).
Edits you make to a recording on this page are not saved to the recording; they only change what Copy and Create Snippet take.
A recording runs wherever you put it: call the snippet from an action, or paste the steps into an action (Calling a snippet).
Settings
The Settings tab holds two cards.
Capture settings:
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Recordings retention | 50 | How many recordings to keep. After each new recording, the oldest beyond this number are deleted. 0 keeps them all. |
| Recording start confirmation | On, 300 ms | Shows the "press Ctrl+Break to stop" message before recording starts, then waits this long (0–10000 ms) before capturing. |
| Recording stop notice | On | Shows a notification when Ctrl+Break ends a recording that a script started. |
Retention counts only recordings that still have their macro_ name. A recording you rename is
yours to keep and is never deleted automatically. When you are within five recordings of the limit,
the five oldest are marked in the list. Starting a recording at the limit asks Delete the oldest
recording? first; Delete oldest and start deletes it and starts.
Replay settings:
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Replay speed | 100 % | Speed of the recorded pauses, 1–1000 %: 200 % plays twice as fast. Hand-written actions aren't affected. |
| Replay mouse path detail | 1 of every 1 | Replays 1 of every N recorded mouse movements, N from 1 to 1000. Clicks and wheel turns always land where they were recorded. |
| Replay window wait | 2000 ms | How long a window check waits for the recorded window, up to 60000 ms. 0 checks once without waiting. |
Replay speed and Replay mouse path detail apply only to a recording kept as Steps. A recording translated to Script plays its pauses at recorded speed and replays every recorded mouse movement. When you switch a recording's steps to Script, on this page or in any other Steps editor, the Convert steps to a script? dialog says so before you convert.
Advanced mode. All the capture settings, Replay mouse path detail and Replay window wait are Advanced settings.