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Where actions apply

Every action belongs to one app group. An app group is a set of windows, described by rules such as "the program name is exactly chrome.exe". The reserved Global group holds the actions for every window.

When you draw a gesture, Input.Observer answers these questions in this order. The first "no" ends it.

  1. Does this press start a gesture at all? Not if the window is in an ignore group, a modifier key you set to be ignored is held, or the press is inside an exclusion zone.
  2. Which app group owns the window? The first group in the list whose rules match the window you pressed over. Only one group ever owns a window. See App groups.
  3. Does that group work here right now? Its Gestures work here switch and its profile restriction decide. If it doesn't, the Global group takes over, but only when Fall back to Global allows it.
  4. Which shape did you draw? The stroke is compared with the shapes that group (and Global, when it can fall back) uses. See How a stroke is matched.
  5. Which of the group's actions has a trigger for that shape that fits? Each trigger can also ask for modifier keys, a draw button, region cells and a profile. The first action in the list that fits runs.
  6. Nothing in the group? The Global group's actions are tried next, if Fall back to Global allows it.
  7. Run it, wrapped in any Before and After actions.

Scope and fallback rules states every one of these steps exactly, with worked examples. Hotkeys and typed text expansions follow the same group rules; the differences are listed there too.

  • App groups — Grouping programs and windows so actions apply only to them.
  • Scope and fallback rules — Exactly which action runs: the window that counts, which app groups apply, and every tie-break.
  • Ignore groups — Programs and windows where Input.Observer stays out of the way: what ignored means, fullscreen-only groups, pausing everything, and which group wins.
  • Regions — Splitting a window or screen into cells so the same gesture does different things in different places.
  • Modifiers and timing — Keys and mouse buttons held with a gesture, when they must be pressed, and how they decide which action runs.
  • Profiles — Switching between sets of actions with gesture profiles.
  • Before and after actions — Running an action before or after another one, and in what order everything runs.