Make Your Mac Dance.
Keyboard Maestro is the most powerful automation tool on the Mac. This Field Guide teaches you to bend it to your will, one trigger and one action at a time. No programming required.
Your Mac could do the boring parts. You just have to ask it.
You do the same little things on your Mac over and over. Renaming files. Resizing windows. Pasting the same boilerplate. Opening the same five apps to start your day. None of it is hard. All of it is a tax on your attention.
Keyboard Maestro can take that tax away. The catch is that the app looks intimidating the first time you open it. Triggers, actions, tokens, palettes. It’s a lot, and most people install it, poke around, and quietly give up.
That’s the gap this Field Guide closes.
Keyboard Maestro doesn’t lean on scripting languages. It runs on a common-sense idea: a trigger, then an action. You plug in your scanner, your Mac hides everything and opens your scanning workflow. You join the coffee shop Wi-Fi, your Mac logs out of social media and drops the volume. Once you see how the pieces fit, you’ll start spotting automations everywhere.
I built this guide to get you from intimidated to dangerous, fast.
Triggers and actions. That’s the whole idea.
Every Keyboard Maestro automation is built from two halves. Something kicks it off. Something then happens. Learn those two halves and you can automate almost anything on your Mac.
A trigger can be a keystroke, a time of day, a folder change, a USB device plugging in, a Wi-Fi network, even a note on a MIDI keyboard. An action can type text, move files, resize windows, control apps, run a script, click the mouse, or chain a hundred steps together.
This guide walks every trigger and every action, then shows you real macros that put them to work. You watch how it’s built, download the macro, and make it your own.
No scripting. No programming. Just your Mac, finally doing what you tell it.
Watch a sample of the course
Want to see the teaching style before you commit? Here you go. A free sample lesson, the same clear, walk-a-friend-through-it pace as the rest of the course.
If it clicks, the other 89 videos will too. If it doesn’t, no hard feelings.
Real automations, ready to steal
This isn’t theory. The course is packed with working macros you can download and run today, or pull apart and rebuild your way. Here are a few of the favorites.
Coffee Shop Automation
Join the café Wi-Fi and your Mac logs out of social media, drops the volume, and opens your work apps. You just sit down and start.
Scanner Setup
Plug in your scanner and your Mac hides every open app, opens your scanning software, and points the Finder at the right folder. Walk-through and macro included.
Meeting Notes
One keystroke spins up a formatted meeting-notes document, dated and titled, ready to type into before the call even starts.
Text Transformations
Clean up, reformat, and fix text anywhere you type. Strip formatting, fix smart quotes, change case, all from a single shortcut.
The Sparky Shutdown
My end-of-day macro that closes the loops, quits the noise, and gets the Mac ready for tomorrow so you can actually log off.
Document Templates
Build Pages and Word templates that ask you a few questions, then generate finished documents. Great for anything you write on repeat.
From intimidated to dangerous
By the end you won’t just understand Keyboard Maestro. You’ll see your own Mac differently, spotting the repetitive bits and reaching for a macro instead of doing them by hand.
- A working grasp of every Keyboard Maestro trigger and action.
- A library of downloadable macros you can run on day one.
- Palettes that keep your growing collection of macros organized and findable.
- The confidence to build your own automations from scratch.
- A Mac that handles the donkey work so you can do the real work.
- Hours back every week, the kind that quietly add up.
“Make my Mac dance”
“In just two weeks, I was able to automate so much repetitive manual work making me way more productive. This Field Guide is broken down into easy-to-digest nuggets of wisdom. I literally can make my Mac dance.”
“Keyboard Maestro is one of those apps that highlights what makes the Mac the Mac. The MacSparky Field Guide breaks it down into easy-to-understand chunks, slowly revealing the true power waiting for you in macOS.”
“As a Mac nerd, Keyboard Maestro is an indispensable app. There are so many helpful, powerful, and fun things you can do with it. David, as usual, does an excellent job at showing you how to use this app to change your life.”
“The Keyboard Maestro Field Guide is an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to take their Mac productivity up a notch. David does a fantastic job of making Keyboard Maestro highly accessible to new users while also providing clever use cases to delight even the most experienced users.”
“As always, David’s field guides are well crafted and organized, stepping a user from the simple to complex. His ease of presence makes learning a smooth process. The Keyboard Maestro guide has me learning and experimenting with neat new tricks.”
“The Keyboard Maestro tutorials got me from feeling overwhelmed by a complex piece of software, to feeling professional with it. A great set of videos that have changed how I use my Mac.”
More from people who took the course. Hover any card to pause.
“If you’re looking to get deeper into automation and explore one of the greatest Mac utilities out there, check out the Keyboard Maestro Field Guide.”
“It takes a simple approach based on triggers and actions, which means you don’t need any scripting or programming knowledge to use it. The Field Guide is designed to help you master the app.”
“The helpful videos showed how even a non-techie like myself could quickly and easily create macros that automate the mundane tasks that come with computing. It actually brings me real joy.”
“Being able to type a single command and instantly add a grammar comment into a new Word comment easily shaves an hour off my class grading every week. Thanks David!”
“I’ve had this app for a few years but never worked out how to get very far. I’ve automated so much and improved my working on and enjoyment of the Mac. I just had to say thank you.”
“I made the great decision to download MacSparky’s Keyboard Maestro Field Guide. It brings me real joy to press a button and have magic happen, all in less time than the snap of a finger.”
“Half the battle had been what to do with Keyboard Maestro, so to see your ideas of how you use it started me exploring ways to adapt and come up with my own solutions.”
Who this is for, and who it is not
This is for you if
You’re ready to stop doing the same things by hand.
- You use a Mac and keep catching yourself repeating the same little tasks.
- You’ve heard Keyboard Maestro is powerful but bounced off it the first time.
- You’d rather learn by watching real examples than reading a manual.
- You want downloadable macros you can run now and customize later.
- You don’t write code, and you don’t want to start.
This is not for you if
Be honest with yourself on these.
- You’re on Windows or a PC. Keyboard Maestro is Mac only.
- You want a one-click app that needs zero setup. Macros take a little building.
- You’re already a Keyboard Maestro expert with hundreds of macros dialed in.
- You’re not willing to spend a few evenings learning a genuinely deep tool.
Eight sections, ninety videos
A clear path from your first macro to a Mac that runs itself. Every lesson includes a full transcript and closed captioning, and many come with a downloadable macro you can install and run alongside the video.
Getting Started & Triggers
Install the app, learn the interface, and build your first macro. Then work through every way to kick one off.
- Concepts, groups, and your first script
- Keyboard, time, Wi-Fi, folder, and USB triggers
- Stream Deck support and the new version 11 triggers
Actions & Palettes
Now make your Mac dance. Control apps, sort windows, type text, run scripts, and keep it all organized.
- Text, clipboard, file, and application actions
- Interface control, the mouse, and recording quick macros
- Palettes to sort, find, and trigger your growing collection
Power Tools & the Script Library
Go deeper with programming and debugging, then raid a library of ready-to-run macros built from years of real use.
- Programming, debugging, and canceling runaway macros
- Window management, setups, text transforms, and more
- Downloadable macros you can install and customize
Settings, Syncing & Webinars
Tune the app, sync your macros between Macs, and finish with two full-length bonus webinars.
- Settings, the app switcher, and syncing across two Macs
- Bonus: Contextual Computing with Keyboard Maestro
- Bonus: Apple Mail automation
Updated March 2024 with 16 new videos covering Keyboard Maestro version 11, added throughout the relevant sections and gathered into their own update section too.
One price. Everything included.
No subscription. No upsells. No tiers. One purchase, and the whole guide is yours.
Everything, $49
- 90 video lessons, 5.5+ hours of streaming or downloadable instruction
- A library of downloadable Keyboard Maestro macros
- Two full-length bonus webinars
- Full transcripts and closed captioning on every lesson
- The version 11 update, with 16 new videos
- Lifetime access, on any device you own
Check out with Stripe
Secure checkout, taxes handled, receipt in your inbox.
Your invite arrives
A second email lands moments later with your personal access link.
Start automating
Everything is waiting in the MacSparky community, macros ready to download.
David Sparks
David started MacSparky in 2007 and has spent the years since teaching people to get more out of their technology and their time. He programmed his first computer in 1980 and has been on a quest to be more productive with Apple gear ever since.
He publishes the MacSparky blog, cohosts the Mac Power Users and Focused podcasts, and runs the MacSparky Labs, where he goes deep on workflows every week. He’s a past speaker at Macworld and the ABA TechShow, and he automated his way through nearly 30 years of practicing law.
Keyboard Maestro has been a part of David’s daily Mac life for as long as he’s been making Field Guides. This one passes that hard-won knowledge straight to you.
Frequently asked
Do I need to know how to code? +
No. That’s the whole point of Keyboard Maestro. It runs on triggers and actions instead of scripting, so you build automations by choosing from menus, not by writing code. The course never assumes any programming background.
Do I need to own Keyboard Maestro first? +
Yes, Keyboard Maestro is a separate app from Stairways Software, and it offers a free trial. The very first lessons cover purchase and installation, so you can follow along from day one.
Will this work on my version of macOS? +
The course was last updated in March 2024 to cover Keyboard Maestro version 11, with 16 new videos. The triggers-and-actions foundation has stayed consistent across versions, so the core lessons hold up well even as the app evolves.
How is the course delivered? +
The Field Guide lives in the MacSparky community on Circle. After you buy, you get two emails: a receipt from the payment processor, then an invitation with your access link. Click it, set up your account, and every video and macro is waiting for you.
Can I download the videos and macros? +
Yes. The videos are available to stream or download, and many lessons include a downloadable Keyboard Maestro macro you can install and run right alongside the video, then customize for your own Mac.
I’m brand new to automation. Is this too advanced? +
Not at all. The course starts at the very beginning and steps you from your first simple macro up to the complex stuff. Plenty of students arrive having never automated anything and leave building macros of their own.
What’s the refund policy? +
14-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked. If the course isn’t for you, write in within the first 14 days and you get a full refund.
Make your Mac dance
Every repetitive task you do by hand is a macro you haven’t built yet. Learn the two halves, triggers and actions, and your Mac starts working for you instead of the other way around.