Getting started

Switchboard does things on your Mac for you when something happens: you press a key, type a short word, open an app or plug in a drive. Each of those jobs is a macro, and you can build one in a couple of minutes without writing any code.

Install and open it #

Drag Switchboard to Applications and open it. Switchboard is two programs that work together:

• Switchboard is the editor. You open it to build and read macros.

• Switchboard Engine is the part that listens and runs macros. It lives in the menu bar and has no windows.

Opening the editor starts the engine, and the engine also starts when you log in. Closing the editor does not stop your macros.

The Welcome sheet #

The first time you open the editor, a Welcome sheet appears. You can skip any part of it, and Done closes it. The part that matters most is Let it work: one row per permission, each with an Allow… button.

The two permissions #

macOS makes every app ask before it can watch the keyboard or press buttons in other apps. Switchboard asks for two permissions up front.

Click Allow… and System Settings opens on the right page, with Switchboard Engine already in the list. Turn its switch on. The row in the Welcome sheet then reads Allowed.

The permissions belong to Switchboard Engine, not to the editor, because the engine is the program that listens and clicks. Other permissions, such as Screen Recording or Notifications, are asked for only when a macro first needs them.

The menu bar item #

While the engine runs, a small switch icon sits in the menu bar. Click it for your favourite and recent macros, a search box, and Pause, which stops every macro for 15 minutes, an hour, or until you resume. Quit at the bottom stops the engine.

Where to go next #

1. Your first macro: type ;addr anywhere and get your full address. About two minutes.

2. You can't break anything: what keeps your Mac safe while you try things.

3. Glossary: the words these pages use, one or two sentences each.

4. The Recipes in the sidebar: ready-made macros to copy, such as typing your email address.

5. A macro that works something out: hotkeys, conditions and dry runs, once you want more.

Coming from another app? Start with Coming from Keyboard Maestro or Coming from BetterTouchTool. Around the app describes every part of the window, the palette and the menu bar panel. Fn and Hyper covers two modifier keys worth knowing before you pick hotkeys, and Uninstalling says how to remove Switchboard completely.