Summary

• Setting up macros on your keyboard may take time, but is worthwhile and enhances productivity.
• Keyboard macros help save time and make tasks easier in both gaming and professional settings.
• Most people already utilize macros daily through common keyboard shortcuts on Windows PCs and laptops.

A keyboard macro is a sequence of recordable actions usually set to be completed by a single key press. They are generally used as a shortcut when performing the same action repeatedly. This can come in handy for everyone from office professionals to gamers and can save you time and effort. Mapping a macro to a single key can sometimes be done on the keyboard without software, but many keyboard manufacturers have also added this function to their software.

Some keyboards even come with dedicated macro keys. Depending on the keyboard, sometimes you may find an extra row spanning the top of the keyboard, or there may be a few keys down the left-hand side. If your keyboard doesn't have dedicated macro keys, you can always use a Loupedeck, Stream Deck, G.SKILL's new WigiDash command panel, or the Xencelabs Quick Keys. All of these devices offer extra buttons on them that can be used for setting up macros.

Setting up macros on your keyboard

Not always the easiest task, but well worth it

It can take some time to get used to setting up macros on your keyboard. The first thing you need to figure out is what macro you want to record - and how to do it. A lot of keyboards with macro support may come with a program that will make this a bit easier. If not, there is generally a combination of keystrokes you can hit to enter the recording mode instead.

Depending on how you are saving your macros, you may need to set a hotkey or a key sequence to access your macro. From here you can record your macro and set it up to do almost any task you want. You can have it open certain programs or files, or you can set it up to register a certain string of keystrokes for repetitive tasks.

Why you should use keyboard macros

Saving you from drudgery and making you more productive

It will save you time and make some of what you do much easier if you use keyboard macros. Macros can be used to enhance productivity both when gaming and in your professional life. Gamers who find themselves doing very repetitive tasks can set a macro to do these jobs for them. Say, for instance, you're playing a game, and you need to go fishing. You can set a macro to cast your line and reel it in. You can also set it to do this for you many times or indefinitely, until you tell it to stop.

If you use the same programs every day for work, but don't want them to start up when you turn the PC on, macros will be a big help. You can set a macro to open multiple programs and even navigate to certain pages or files as well. If you are using Microsoft Excel, you can set a macro to open it, navigate to a certain spreadsheet, change tabs, and even have it input a formula into a certain cell if you so want to.

You can even set keyboard macros to control music and videos on your PC or laptop. You can have them stop, play, fast-forward, and even control the volume output, all right from your keyboard. A lot of keyboards already have these dedicated macro keys on them, but if they don't, you can set them up yourself as well.

Macros you use and you don't even know it

Keyboard shortcuts are essentially macros

Aside from using the volume keys as we just mentioned, there are some other macros that most Windows PCs and laptops already have and that you will already use. You can also use macros on Apple Mac devices, but for now, we are going to look at using them based on Windows. For example, you probably know you can highlight text and hit Ctrl-C to copy it to your clipboard. This is a macro, and it saves you from having to figure out how to use the copy function in whatever program you are using. Once you had the text in your clipboard, you can use another macro, Ctrl-V, to copy this text somewhere else.

Copy and paste are likely some of the more common macros people use daily, but Windows has quite a few more built into its operating system that you may not know about. Microsoft likes to use the term keyboard shortcuts for these, and you would be surprised at just how many are already available on Windows.

Making macros your new favorite trick

Becoming more efficient and productive can be fun

Let's be honest, most of us are always looking for a shortcut of some sort. Macros are a great example of this and have many benefits and uses in both our professional and personal lives.

Whether you are looking to save time at work and have your macro open up a load of spreadsheets, or you want one to complete a repetitive task while gaming, macros are your friend. They will have you doing things you didn't know were possible and, the best part of all, the options are pretty much limitless - if you can think about it, you can most likely find a way to set up a macro to accomplish it.