The tray icon
The engine shows one icon in the notification area of the taskbar while it runs. If Windows hides it, click the Show hidden icons arrow on the taskbar and drag the icon onto the taskbar. If Windows Explorer restarts, the icon comes back on its own.
Clicking the icon
| Do this | What happens |
|---|---|
| Click once | Turns Enabled on or off (see Enabled). It takes effect after your double-click time has passed, so a double-click doesn't also toggle it. |
| Double-click | Opens the configuration window, or brings it to the front. |
| Right-click | Opens the tray menu. |
What the icon and tooltip say
Hover over the icon to see its tooltip. When more than one state applies, the first one in this table is shown.
| Icon | Tooltip | When |
|---|---|---|
| Gray | i.o - Safe Mode (restart to resume normal operation) | Input.Observer was started in Safe Mode. See Safe Mode. |
| Gray | i.o - disabled | You turned Enabled off. |
| Gray | i.o - auto-disabled (Games), where Games is a group's name | The window in front belongs to that group, and the group has Pause everything while focused on. It ends when another window comes to the front. |
| Green | i.o - recording macro | A macro is being recorded. See Macro recorder. |
| Red | i.o - training mode | The Gestures page's training window is open. See The gesture library. |
| Red | i.o - Global Actions disabled | Global Actions is off: the Global group is turned off. |
| Red | i.o - no Global Actions for Notepad, where Notepad is a group's name | The window in front belongs to an app group whose Fall back to Global is off, so Global's actions don't run there. This only reports it; nothing is wrong. |
| Standard | i.o - active | Everything else: Input.Observer is working normally. |
Two tooltips appear for a few moments while something is being saved, whatever the state: i.o - applying password... while a password is set or changed, and i.o - saving license... while a license key is saved.
The tray menu
① Enabled
Checked while Input.Observer is working. Choose it to pause everything: the engine stops watching the mouse and the keyboard, so gestures, text expansion and hotkeys that aren't reserved with Windows stop, and the right mouse button and your typing go straight to programs. Hotkeys that are reserved with Windows still take their keys, but do nothing. A gesture you are drawing at that moment ends without running anything. Choose Enabled again to switch back on.
A pause you set here is never undone by Pause everything while focused: only you can switch it back on. Choosing Enabled while an automatic pause is in effect switches Input.Observer on until the next time a window with that setting comes to the front. Enabled is not remembered: Input.Observer is always on when it starts.
② Global Actions
Shown only when your configuration has a Global group. Checked while that group is turned on. Choose it to turn the whole Global group off or on: with it off, no Global action runs anywhere, and no app group falls back to Global. This is the same switch as Enabled on the Global group in the App groups page, and it is saved in your configuration.
While the configuration window is open, the item is grayed and reads Global Actions (configuration window open): change it on the App groups page instead, so that saving the window doesn't undo it. If your configuration is protected with a password and the password is no longer remembered, you are asked for it; if you cancel, the change lasts only until Input.Observer exits.
③ Open
Opens the configuration window, or brings it to the front. Same as double-clicking the icon.
④ Show Console
Opens the diagnostic console, where the engine and your scripts write messages and where you can run a script directly. See Console.
⑤ Show Hidden Windows
Shown only while a script has hidden one or more windows. Shows them all again. Exiting Input.Observer also shows them. A window that a script or its program shows again by itself leaves the list.
⑥ Profile
Switches the active profile. The submenu lists No profile, then every profile in the order the Profiles page lists them, up to 64, with a check mark beside the active one. Manage... opens the configuration window on the Profiles page, switching it to Advanced mode if it is in Simple mode. With no profiles yet, the submenu holds only Manage.... See Profiles.
⑦ Reload Config
Reads the configuration file again and starts using it, for example after you edited it by hand. Running actions are stopped first. Also use it to switch everything back on after the stop-all-actions hotkey.
- If the file can't be used, the running configuration stays in effect and a Configuration Not
Reloaded message says why:
- The file has a mistake. The message names the line and column, and the reason in English as the file reader reports it. Fix the file, then choose Reload Config again.
- The file can't be opened. Another program may have it locked, or you may not have permission to read it.
- The file is protected with a password. Reload Config can't read a protected file; the configuration window's Apply works for it.
- The file points to another file that doesn't exist. See Keeping the configuration somewhere else.
- If the file is missing, Reload Config starts over with the built-in defaults and writes a new file, without the starter set. Earlier versions of the file, saved when Input.Observer exited, are in the Backup folder beside it.
⑧ Open Config Folder
Opens the folder that holds the configuration file in use, in File Explorer.
⑨ Set Password... / Change Password...
Set Password... when the configuration file isn't protected, Change Password... when it is. It is grayed while a password change is being applied. See Security.
⑩ Apply License Key...
Enter or replace your license key without restarting. Grayed while a license key is being saved. See About and license.
⑪ Help
Opens this help in the help window, on its first page, or brings an open help window to the front. The configuration window doesn't have to be open. See The help window.
⑫ Exit
Closes Input.Observer. If the configuration window has unsaved changes, it asks you to save or discard them first. Exiting also closes the configuration window, stops plugins, shows windows a script hid, and puts back windows a script minimized to the tray.
In Safe Mode
In Safe Mode the icon is gray, Enabled and Global Actions are grayed, and clicking the icon once does nothing. Every other item works.
Icons for minimized windows
A script can minimize a window to the tray. Each such window gets its own icon, showing that window's icon and title. Click it once to bring the window back. Exiting Input.Observer brings them all back.