Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
If you want to view or edit a macro that's already in the Macro menu, the easiest way to do
so is to hold down the Command key while choosing the macro from the menu—instead of
running,itopensinanewwindow.Youcanedititthere;afteryousaveit,choosingthemacro
name from the Macro menu in the normal way runs your updated version.
Tip:
You can, of course, assign keyboard shortcuts to macros too. I cover that just
ahead, in
Use Multi-Key Shortcuts in Nisus Writer Pro
.
I gave you a one-line example macro, but what else can you put in a macro? I'm glad you
asked. Let me begin with the easiest approach to writing your own macros.
Simple Macros
First, the bad news: unlike Microsoft Office, Nisus Writer Pro has no recording capability—it
can't watch what you do and make a macro out of that for you. But now, the good news: it's
way
easier to write macros for Nisus Writer Pro than for Word!
How easy? For the simplest things, like running menu commands, you just type a command
(as it appears on a menu) on a line by itself. If the command includes an ellipsis (…), you can
leave that off.
So, here's a macro that turns the selected text bold, makes it 18 points, and then copies it to
the clipboard:
bold
18
copy
And that's a
complete
macro, by the way—no brackets, declarations, funky names, or obscure
codes. Case doesn't matter. (Spelling
does
matter!) Great, right?
Tip:
When trying the macros from this topic in Nisus Writer Pro, either retype them
or paste them by choosing Edit > Paste > Paste Text Only (Command-Shift-V). If you
paste styled text into a macro, you might encounter inscrutable error messages.
A macro can do lots of things that aren't merely menu commands, too. Want it to type the
text “Hello, world!”? Do it like this:
type text "Hello world!"
Find all instances of the word Apple?
