Tutorial - Quick Wizard Capture

Macros can be created using a Quick Wizard. This greatly simplifies the process of creating a macro as you are prompted (along with explanations) each step of the way when creating a macro. You can capture (record) a macro using a Quick Wizard. Our example recording will be in the Windows Paint program. Let's run the Windows Paint program. To do so, click on "Start | Run" from the bottom left of the computer screen and enter "mspaint" and click the OK button. Once Paint is running, we want to switch directly to Macro Express. If you are running Macro Express in the system tray, left click on the Macro Express icon in the system tray; otherwise, click on Macro Express in the taskbar.

Click on the "Quick Wizards" icon on the vertical tool bar. The Quick Wizard page will appear displaying categories of macros that can be created using Quick Wizards. Select the Macro category and click on the Next button.

For this example, select the Capture a Macro Option and click on the Next button. A new panel appears displaying some of the things that your macro can do using this wizard. Click Next.

A wizard window will appear asking if you wish to capture keystrokes. Answer "Yes" to this and then click on the "Next" button.

This will bring up a new wizard window asking if you wish to capture mouse movements and clicks. We want to do so, so let's click on "Yes". We are also prompted for a few more specifics on the mouse capture. Let's choose "Top Most Window" for the "Capture mouse movements Relative to" option. This will allow the Paint program to be positioned anywhere on the screen when we play back the macro. Under "Mouse Movement Frequency", choose the "Capture All Mouse Movements" option. Since we will be drawing an image in the Paint program, we want to make sure we capture all of our drawing (mouse) moves. However, in many programs, you may only be attempting to click on a button. In this case, you would not want to capture all the mouse movements, but only the position of the mouse where the button is located. In this case, capturing all the mouse movements would be unnecessary. We are finished with this screen, so let's click on the "Next" button.

This brings up a new wizard window that prompts for the recorded speed of the macro. For our example, let's choose "At the same speed as recorded". To move on, click the "Next" button.

A new wizard screen appears. It lists all the windows that are currently open on your computer. You should find an entry for the Paint program. Most likely this will show up as "untitled - Paint". Highlight this option. This instructs the program to switch directly to the paint program once the recording starts. Select the Make the Macro Specific to this window only and Minimize the Macro Explorer options. This will make the macro a Window Specific macro that will only work in Paint. The Macro Explorer will minimize when the wizard is complete, so you'll be ready to capture your macro in Paint. Click on the "Next" button.

This asks you to specify how you want to activate the macro after it has been created. For our example, select the Hot Key option and click Next.

A new wizard window appears asking for the hot key combination that will be used to activate the macro. The cursor should already be in the top field. If not, click on this field with the mouse. Next, hold down the CTRL and the SHIFT keys and then press the letter "Q". Release all the keys and Ctrl+Shift+Q should appear in the field and should be selected in the list of possible hot keys. We are now ready to proceed to the next screen. Click on "Next".

This is where we define the macro scope - what programs or windows we'll allow this macro to be played back in. For simplicity in this example, select the Play Back in all Programs option and click Next.

A new wizard screen will appear which asks for a nickname to give to the macro and also will give the option of choosing an icon to associate with the macro. Let's enter A Paint Drawing as the nickname. Click on the "Finish" button.

The above screen will appear, instructing you as to how you can terminate the macro capture when finished. You will note that you have two hot keys that you can use to terminate the capture. One of them is the same hot key that you have chosen to activate the macro after it is recorded. The other is the system hot key (user definable) built into Macro Express that starts and stops macro captures. Click OK. This should make Macro Express disappear from the screen and the Paint program should appear.

The macro is now recording. Let's do something fairly simple in the Paint program such as drawing a face. Draw a circle and place two eyes, a nose and mouth on it. Terminate the macro capture by pressing the same hot key we are capturing to, CTRL+SHIFT+Q. A message should appear indicating that the capture is complete.

Let's go back and play our recorded macro. First, bring paint to the front of the screen (click on it in the taskbar). We want to start with a clean screen in paint so choose "File | New" from the main menu in paint. After the screen is clear, press CTRL+SHIFT+Q. The face that you just drew should be redrawn complete with any hesitations that you may have made while doing so!