Use Keyboard Maestro (KM) to Automate BBEdit Menu Steps

[Mark Mayberry]

I am attempting to set up create a macro that would automate the process of cleaning up a block of text as I import it into BBEdit. I have successfully created a macro that selects the Text Menu in BBEdit to (1) Straighten Quotes, (2) Strip Trailing Whitespace, and (3) Normalize Line Endings. These steps are easy.

However, I cannot get KM to complete the following step:

BBEdit Master Menu: Select "Text"
BBEdit Text Menu: Select "Canonize"

"Canonize" performs changes on a document using a list of transformations from a file, which in my case is named, "~/Documents/BBEdit/BBEdit-Canonize-Bible-Misc.txt". The sub-menu says, "Use transformations from file:" and shows a windows containing a highlighted link to the following file: "~/Documents/BBEdit/BBEdit-Canonize-Bible-Misc.txt". The "Apply" Button is also highlighted in Blue, meaning that if I performed this step manually, hitting "Apply" would run the canonization process.

KM stops processing the macro at this point. If I highlight this specific step in the macro, right click and choose "Try Action," it executes properly. However, my question is "How can I get KM to perform this step automatically?"

Thanks for any guidance you can offer!

Yours,  Mark

[Rich Siegel]

On 22 May 2023, at 10:04, Mark Mayberry wrote:

> I am attempting to set up create a macro that would automate the process of
> cleaning up a block of text as I import it into BBEdit. I have successfully
> created a macro that selects the Text Menu in BBEdit to (1) Straighten
> Quotes, (2) Strip Trailing Whitespace, and (3) Normalize Line Endings.
> These steps are easy.

> [...]

I don't know anything about Keyboard Maestro, but have you considered using a Text Factory for this?

Start with File => New => Text Factory and go from there.

R.

[Mark Mayberry]

Dear Rich,

Thanks! I have not yet explored “Text Factory” but will give it a whirl. Since we are talking about an internal BBEdit set of keystrokes, it might be better to stay “in house.”

Yours,

Mark

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[Kaveh Bazargan]

Hi Mark

I think Text Factory is indeed what you need. it is not based on keystrokes, but BBEdit actions that are carried out one after another. Here is a glimpse of one I made to convert VCF to CSV. I am using just regular expressions, but you can use any BBEdit command.

Regards
Kaveh

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Kaveh Bazargan PhD

Director

River Valley Technologies ● Twitter ● LinkedIn ● ORCID ● @kave...@mastodon.social

Accelerating the Communication of Research

  

[Mark Mayberry]

Dear Kaveh,

YES! Thank you! I tried the same procedure in Text Factory and it worked PERFECTLY! Quick question: Is it possible to set up a shortcut keystroke in BBEdit that (when pressed) will run my newly created TextFactory?

Yours,

Mark

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[Kaveh Bazargan]

Should be easy to do as it is just one keystroke, but don't know off hand. Sure others will suggest something!

Regards
Kaveh

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[Fletcher Sandbeck]

If you add the text factory as a Text Filter then you can assign it a keyboard shortcut. Put it in ~/Library/Application Support/BBEdit/Text Filters/ and then you can run it from the Text > Text Filters menu or assign a keyboard shortcut in Settings... on the Menus & Shortcuts tab.

h/t Christopher Stone.

[fletcher]

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[Mark Mayberry]

Dear Christopher,

Thank you! I followed your instructions and it works like a charm!

Yours,

Mark

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