If you’re stuck doing something repetitive that involves a series of keypresses, clicks or just about any action, you can save a lot of time by simply recording a macro and playing it back instead.
A macro is essentially a recording of a sequence of events needed to complete a particular task. As you can guess, if you need to repeat something multiple times, having a macro is the way to go.
If you’re using a gaming or professional keyboard and mouse, chances are the software that comes with your device allows you to record macros and play them back at the press of a button.
However, if you’re using regular peripherals, you can still record Macros easily on Windows 10. We’ll be talking about two different approaches here.
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How to record Macros in Windows 10 with Microsoft peripherals?
Recording Macros, in this case, is surprisingly easy. Microsoft has a utility called Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Centre that you can download and set up to record macros and then assign them to a particular button to playback at will.
However, before you proceed, make sure your device is compatible with the utility by going through the list of compatible devices.
These macros use a .mhm extension and are saved as separate files under the Macros folder under Documents/Microsoft Hardware. This means we need to transfer these macros. You can simply copy them to another PC and put them in the right place.
Any macros that you record on your keyboard and mouse are also interchangeable. This means you can run or edit them for either the Mouse and Keyboard Centre or the peripheral’s software.
Now to record a macro, all you have to do is launch the Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Centre using the mouse or keyboard you want to configure.
Select the button you want to assign the macro to, click Record and start recording the sequence of okays. Once you’re done, click the Stop button and save the macro for later use.
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How to record macros in Windows 10 using third-party software?
If none of your peripherals come with software that you can use to record or configure macros, you can choose from the plethora of third-party options available such as Macro Recorder and Macro Scheduler.
For this article, we’re going to be using Macro Record. Once you’ve downloaded and installed the software, follow along with these steps to record your macros in no time.
Note that while the exact steps or shortcuts might be different for different recording software, the basic concept remains the same. All you have to do is press the record button, perform the action and stop the recording.
Step 1: Launch the software and head over to the Record and Edit tab.
Step 2: Click the Record button and start recording your action. You have the option to record mouse moves and wait times as well.
Step 3: Once you’re done recording, click the Stop button to complete your recording.
Step 4: Press Ctrl + S to save the recording. Once done, you can load the file back again anytime you want and click the Play button to play the macro back.
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How to edit an existing Macro?
If you’re looking to edit an existing Macro, either after a recording or in a loaded file, select the action you want to edit and click the Edit button at the top.
You can even use the Delete or Search and replace buttons to either remove a step or search for a particular step in a complicated macro and replace it with something else.
How to enable Macro repeat?
If you want your macro to run in a loop a certain number of times, head over to the Playback tab and set the Repeat field to however many times you want the macro to repeat.
The default value is one as the macro has to run at least once after pressing the Play button. You can even control the playback speed and mouse movement inside the macro.
How to record multiple events at once?
Macros are meant to be a sequence, so if you want to record multiple events at once, you’re going to have to queue them one after another.
If your macro recording software allows you to record the wait in between two separate keypresses, you can use that to add a big enough gap between the two events that you want to record and play them back in one macro.
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