To activate the Playback Hotkeys you have to press the Play Button (unless the Always Active option is on, which will activate all hotkeys when the program window is not active). Playback will not start immediately after pressing the Play Button, it will start when you press one of the Active Hotkeys. This behavior is intended to allow the user to select the desired starting window/control/mouse position before start playing.
You can also activate Playback Hotkeys by double-clicking the TrayIcon or right-clicking on it and selecting Play.
Unchecked rows will be ignored during playback.
The Play Current Macro button will run the active Macro immediately without activating Hotkeys.
Hotkeys are sometimes referred to as shortcut keys and are used to run/play the macros. Playback Hotkeys are set in the hotkey toolbars in the main window or in the Edit Macros window (Ctrl+Shift+M).
Use Backspace to clear the hotkeys. Press it twice to set Backspace as the hotkey.
Selects the Play Hotkey to execute the currently selected Macro.
You can make combinations with modifiers such as Ctrl + X.
Note: If you want to use a hotkey that's not supported by this control, you can go to Edit Macros window (Ctrl+Shift+M) and enter a valid hotkey manually. In there you can use any supported AHK hotkey, including mouse buttons and hotstrings.
Hotstrings: Hotstrings may be configured to be used for playback in the Edit Macros window (Ctrl+Shift+M). To define a hotstring, the triggering abbreviation must start pairs of colons as in this example:
::btw
The X option is necessary and will be inserted automatically if not present, so the resulting hotstring would be :X:btw in this case. You can add other options between the colons.
Windows Key: To make combination with the Windows key, check the option Add the Windows key to "Play" hotkey in the Options menu or in the Options toolbar.
Joystick Buttons: To use a Joystick button as the Play Hotkey, check the option Use a joystick button as hotkey in the Options menu or in the Options toolbar.
Selects the Manual Hotkey to execute the currently selected Macro step-by-step. This is usually used to debug the Macro. If Show Info option is on a tooltip show the last and next steps will be shown next to the mouse pointer. This hotkey cannot be a combination with modifiers.
Selects the Hotkey to stop execution and return it to start. You can also stop Playback by double-clicking the TrayIcon or right-clicking on it and selecting Stop. You can make combinations with modifiers such as Ctrl + X.
Selects the Hotkey to pause execution. Press the hotkey again to resume playback. You can also pause/unpause Playback by Middle-Clicking the TrayIcon. You can make combinations with modifiers such as Ctrl + X.
This small window allows you to control Playback and Recording using an interface in addition to the Hotkeys. It will be displayed when the Playback or Record button is pressed and the Show Controls option is checked or you can open it manually from the Macro Menu, Tray Menu and pressing Ctrl+B on the main window.
Macro Creator supports multiple Macros / Hotkeys. Each Macro will have its own Auto and Manual Hotkey that are shown when you add/select a Macro tab.
When you press the Play Button (or when the main window is not active if "Always Active" option is on) all valid Hotkeys will be activated for all non-empty Macros. A traytip will be displayed (if Show Info is on) showing how many Play Hotkeys were activated. If any duplicate is found NO Hotkey will be activated.
In addition to the Manual Hotkey you can select one of these options from the Macro menu:
If checked Playback will run each Macro from the first selected row in its list. Valid for all Playback commands.
If checked Playback will stop each Macro when the first selected row in its list is reached. Valid for all Playback commands.
If checked Playback will only execute selected rows in each Macro. Valid for all Playback commands.
You can also view the list of variables and contents from the File menu and Tray Icon menu.
Global option will makes all Hotkeys context-sensitive. It can also be set individually for each macro in the Edit Macros window. Macro context takes precedence.
Such hotkeys will only work depending on the type of window that is active or exists, or if an expression is evaluated to true.
Select the type of condition and enter the identification of the window, or use the "Get Window" button to retrieve it.
For the #If Expression option you can provide any valid expression.
#If MyVar ; Hotkeys will only work when MyVar evaluates to True
#If GetKeyState("ScrollLock", "T") ; Hotkeys will only work when the ScrollLock key is on
#If Var1 = "A" || Var1 = "B"
For an expression to be true it must be a number other than 0 or a non-empty string.
You can also use User-defined functions with the #If Expression option.
Global option affects ALL Play Hotkeys.
Both Global and Macro options are saved to the project file (.pmc).
There's a text tip at the bottom-left of the main window to show if it's active globally or for the current macro. To deactivate this option select None in the list.
For more information see AutoHotkey documentation: #IfWinActive and #If.
To change options click the Options button on the main window or select Options Menu > Settings. Some of the options can also be accessible from the Playback Options button on the Controls Toolbar.
Sets the matching behavior of the WinTitle parameter in commands such as WinWait.
1: A window's title must start with the specified WinTitle to be a match.
2: A window's title can contain WinTitle anywhere inside it to be a match.
3: A window's title must exactly match WinTitle to be a match.
RegEx: Changes WinTitle, WinText, ExcludeTitle, and ExcludeText to be regular expressions. Do not enclose such expressions in quotes when using them with commands. For example: WinActivate Untitled.*Notepad. RegEx also applies to ahk_class.
Fast: This is the default behavior. Performance may be substantially better than Slow, but certain WinText elements for some types of windows may not be "seen" by the various window commands.
Slow: Can be much slower, but all possible WinText is retrieved from every window as a windowing command searches through them for a match. Window Spy reveals which parts of a Window's text (if any) require the slow mode.
For more information see AutoHotkey documentation.
Determines whether invisible windows are "seen" by the program.
For more information see AutoHotkey documentation.
Determines whether invisible text in a window is "seen" for the purpose of finding the window. This affects commands such as IfWinExist and WinActivate.
For more information see AutoHotkey documentation.
Sets the default method for Keyboard and Mouse actions. You can change this mid-run using the SendMode command available in the Run command window (this will not change the default setting).
For more information see AutoHotkey documentation.
Sets the delay that will occur after each keystroke sent by Send and ControlSend. You can change this mid-run using the SetKeyDelay command available in the Run command window (this will not change the default setting).
For more information see AutoHotkey documentation.
Sets the delay that will occur after each mouse movement or click. You can change this mid-run using the SetMouseDelay command available in the Run command window (this will not change the default setting).
For more information see AutoHotkey documentation.
Sets the delay that will occur after each control-modifying command. You can change this mid-run using the SetControlDelay command available in the Run command window (this will not change the default setting).
For more information see AutoHotkey documentation.
Speed Up: Selects the hotkey to toggle playback speed Up/Normal. When this function is activated, delay values will be cut by value set. Does not work when Random Sleeps is activated.
Slow Down: Selects the hotkey to toggle playback speed Down/Normal. When this function is activated, delay values will be multiplied by value set. Does not work when Random Sleeps is activated.
Enables displaying of tooltips and traytips during Recording/Playback.
Hides error messages from commands, assignments, functions and expressions.
If checked will return the mouse to the initial position after each Macro Playback that uses mouse movement. This will not work for Manual Playback.
If checked the Controls Toolbar will be automatically shown when a Playback hotkey is pressed and hidden when execution finishes.
If checked all delays during playback will be a random value of more or less of the defined percentage, e.g.: if percentage is set to 50, a command with a delay of 300ms will be set to any value between 150ms and 450ms. Percentage can be set in the counter.