![]() ![]() ![]() (You can easily change the starting and ending times, as well as how often it runs, just by clicking up and down arrows in Keyboard Maestro.) The macro will run every minute that you are logged into your Mac, starting at 6:30 a.m. For example, if a screenshot was taken 7 seconds after 3:22 p.m. The filesystem does not like colons in filenames, so I use "." instead. That way you can easily sort an entire day's worth of screenshots in the Finder and retrace what you did. So, while you keep that core idea in mind, here are the details:Įach screenshot has a unique name, and that name starts with the current time, in 24-hour format. Then again, depending on who you ask, God, the devil, or delight is in the details, so they aren't to be overlooked. What it does and how it worksĪt its core, all this macro does is take a screenshot and save it. Once the file is properly named, double-click it and it will automatically import into Keyboard Maestro. Note that Safari may decide to name the file If so, just change the filename so that it ends with ".kmmacros" and if a dialogue appears asking you to confirm the change, select the "Use. Save the file as Screenshot-Journal.kmmacros Once you have it installed and running, simply download Screenshot-Journal.kmmacros by control+clicking on that link and choose "Download Linked File As." if you use Safari or "Save Link As." if you use Chrome (or whatever similar option your browser offers). It comes with a free 30-day trial period, so if you haven't bought it yet, you can try it out first. Obviously you need to have Keyboard Maestro installed and running on your Mac. How to install the Keyboard Maestro macroĪdding my new Keyboard Maestro macro to your computer is very easy. All you need to do is download the Keyboard Maestro macro and import it into Keyboard Maestro. Version 2 of screenshot journal is Keyboard Maestro-only, which means that not only do you get the original benefits, but it's now easier to install, configure, edit, change, and maintain. I suspect this will be fixed in a later version of OS X, but here's the good news: you don't need a separate shell script anymore.Īs I mentioned in the original article, Keyboard Maestro was always the best solution, but I added the launchd method as an alternative, even though it wasn't nearly as good. Unfortunately, as of OS X version 10.9.0, screencapture does not work if you use multiple monitors. That script was built around /usr/sbin/screencapture to take screenshots. My original solution was called screenshot journal, and it was built around a shell script which could be called either by Keyboard Maestro or by launchd. Mavericks broke the old version, but that's OK because this version is better anyway. If you want more detail, you can read the original post, or you can listen to Episode 71 of the "Home Work" podcast where I talked about it with my TUAW colleague (and "Home Work" co-host) Dave Caolo. Review the screenshots at the end of the day to see where I spent my time, and make sure I didn't forget anything important.īy subscribing, you are agreeing to Engadget's Terms and Privacy Policy. Then it hit me: a Keyboard Maestro macro which takes a screenshot every 30 seconds. I needed someone to walk around behind me taking notes of the things I was leaving behind, or some way to leave myself a trail of virtual breadcrumbs to retrace my steps. A more organized person would have kept notes or put things into OmniFocus, but I needed something that required no effort from me to maintain once I set it up. I knew I wasn't going to be able to remember everything I had worked on, and I was afraid I would forget to go back and finish something. It was a day like too many others: I was being pulled in a dozen directions and couldn't keep track of all my different projects. Now, as part of my quest to get people over the initial learning curve of Keyboard Maestro, I'm going to revisit Terminally Geeky Time Tracking via Screenshots and show you how I've made it much, much simpler. So you can get both apps for less than the cost of either – plus five other apps! Grab that bundle. For $30 you get seven apps, including Keyboard Maestro (normally $36) and another utility I highly recommend, DefaultFolderX which normally sells for $35. Before I get into today's main topic, I want to remind you that until November 18th, you can get Keyboard Maestro as part of the current Productive Macs bundle.
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