Browse the docs

You can't break anything

What keeps your Mac safe while you learn: Try It, Undo, the On switch, Pause, Recently Deleted and History.

Trying a macro is safe. Here is what protects you, in the order you're likely to need it.

Try before it runs #

In Switchboard's help, every macro shown as blocks has a Try It button. It runs the macro as a dry run: Switchboard goes through each step and shows what it would do, without clicking, typing or changing anything.

In the editor the same thing is Macro › Dry Run (⌥⌘R). A few harmless steps still happen for real, such as showing a message or reading the clipboard.

Copies come in turned off #

Add to Library on a help page puts a copy of the macro in your library, turned off, so it does nothing until you switch it on. The Examples that watch a folder or listen to the network also start off.

Undo #

Changes you make in the editor can be taken back with Edit › Undo (⌘Z): a step you added, a text you changed, a macro you added from a help page.

Turn a macro off #

Beside every macro's name is a switch. Off means its trigger is ignored, and the macro stays in your library exactly as it was. Macro › Disable Macro does the same from the menu.

Pause everything #

If something keeps happening and you're not sure which macro does it, click the switch icon in the menu bar and choose Pause: for 15 minutes, an hour, or until you resume. While paused, nothing starts a macro. Quit at the bottom of the same panel stops the engine, and with it every macro, until you start it again.

Get back what you deleted #

Deleting a macro moves it to Recently Deleted in the sidebar, where it waits for 30 days. Select it there and press Restore.

Switchboard also keeps a version of a macro each time it's saved. Macro › History (⌘Y) lists them with what changed; pick one and press Restore This Version.

A few more safeguards #

  • A snippet never expands in a password field.

  • The first time you run a macro that AI made or changed, Switchboard asks before it does anything for real.

  • It asks for a permission such as Screen Recording or Notifications only when a macro first needs it, and you can take any permission back in System Settings.

When you want a macro to stop you from a mistake, such as sending an email before you meant to, see Guardrails: check before it happens.