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Back to business
With a hectic final two months of QuicKeys X3 development
wrapped up and a very successful trip to Macworld Expo SF behind us (thank
you to those who
stopped by the booth and wished us well), it's time to put our newsletter sights
back on QuicKeys usage.
This month we describe and link to Mac and Windows tutorials
on how to use QuicKeys as a basic file backup system. We also provide a peek
at
the
upcoming
changes in
both Mac and Windows versions of the product slated for February. Don't forget
to check the Support section for the latest on QKX3 and HID issues.
If you have any suggestions for this newsletter, topics you'd
like to see covered or changes to the format, don't hesitate to ask. Just e-mail
us at newsletter@startly.com 
On the slate for February
Version 3.0.1 update for X3 coming soon
We've identified and fixed a few bugs and quirks in version 3.0 and should have
this free update (for QuicKeys X3 owners only) available for download in early
February. Below is a list of changes which are slated for 3.0.1. These listed
items are
not yet set in stone and are subject to change as development
continues.
Partial/Planned changes in 3.0.1
- Addressed an issue with QK not handling keyboard modifiers correctly
in some shortcuts.
- Changed how devices are handled for triggers and recordings.
- Fixed issue with subscopes of All Applications not being recognized.
- Fixed a crash when closing shortcut window after editing shortcuts
with certain combinations of steps.
- Fixed problem doing division in equations that included the Clipboard
variable.
- Added option to not wait for Manage Files actions to complete.
- Added a Devices management window.
- Fixed an issue with AppleScript based app switches not being seen
by QuicKeys.
- Fixed an issue where QuicKeys menu could not be clicked.
- Fixed a crash when doing a Use Variable action and the variable
was missing.
- Fixed an issue where a Text Tools option was not being
saved.
 New
QuicKeys for Windows plugin on the way
Windows users who also dip into the world of iTunes will be getting a helpful
new plugin aimed squarely at that product next month. We can't say more than
that right now, stay tuned to our Wireservice for notification of its release.
Make a simple backup system with QuicKeys
Do you ever find yourself imagining what would happen if your
cat managed to select your Documents folder and hit Command+Delete and then
Command+Shift+Delete
while batting a rubber mouse around on your computer
desk? Or, less likely, your hard
drive failed or a hacker or virus wiped out a pile of important work files?
These very real possibilities keep me up some nights.
In lieu of unplugging
your network cable and banning your cat and kids from the home office,
a good data backup plan is essential. While QuicKeys was not created with the
intent of replacing dedicated backup software like Retrospect by Dantz, it
is fully capable of copying files and folders from one specified location
to another on a user-defined schedule.
Many people manually back up their files to a network
drive or a second drive/partition inside or attached to their computers.
That works just fine, but it requires daily attention from the user or it
doesn't get done. Utilizing QuicKeys to take over this action for you will
save you time and you'll sleep better at night knowing that your cat's late
night antics aren't likely to leave you without your 2004 tax documents.
The backup plan:
Before starting in on a QuicKeys solution for periodically backing up your
data, you need to figure out exactly what you want to back up, to what location(s),
and
how often. I typically do daily backups of my most important folders and weekly
backups of some larger archives and documents. This is the route we'll take
with the tutorials linked below.
Daily backups - For each day of the work
week I've created a backup folder on my file server. I backup each day to
a different folder and thus have 4 earlier backups available to me. This
way, if I happen to lose an important document but don't realize
it for a couple of days, I can still locate it in an earlier backup folder.
Weekly backups - Each week I create a larger
backup than what I make daily. I have 4 separate weekly backup folders for
the same reason I have unique daily backup folders.
On to the tutorial
Interested? Head on over to our web site for a detailed tutorial on how to
set up daily and weekly backup shortcuts with QuicKeys. Mac OS X users go here,
Windows users go here.
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Drop by the QuicKeys Community forum
and tell everyone your favorite QuicKeys tips & tricks or float a
question or two. A great resource for experts and novices alike!
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How are users tapping QuicKeys' potential?
The Cool Customer for this issue is Lew Buckley. Lew talks about using QuicKeys
to streamline his workflow in Finale 2005, a pro-level print music creator/editor:
"I publish printed music on a Macintosh using MakeMusic Inc.’s
Finale 2005. As a full-fledged professional level print music creator/editor,
Finale is a complex program with many functions buried two or three levels
deep in submenus. It also has a total of some 25 different tools I have to
select for different uses, and there are many functions, such as transposing
a selected passage up or down by any of 12 different intervals, that are multi-step
procedures involving my two least favorite activities: mousing and menus.
To take the hassle out of all that, I have some 200 QuicKeys Shortcuts set
up just for use in Finale alone. For me, QuicKeys is far more than a convenience,
it is part of the Finale application. I’ve forgotten where many of Finale’s
functions are located, because the shortcuts made possible by QuicKeys have
long since taken the place of burrowing among the submenus.
And that doesn’t even address the more than 100 Shortcuts I use in all
my other applications. I hate reaching for the mouse; I much prefer keeping
my hands on the keyboard. QuicKeys allows me to work the way I want to.
I can honestly say that QuicKeys cuts down significantly the time I “waste” doing
repetitive, multistep chores, allowing me to be more productive in the time
I spend at my computer. The few minutes it takes to set up and test a multistep
Shortcut is returned many times through the use of that Shortcut in my daily
work.
QuicKeys is my “desert island” utility; if I were stranded with
only one utility, QuicKeys would be it, because I use it more routinely than
any other utility I own.
Thanks for continuing to upgrade and improve it!"
Thank you Lew!
If you'd like a shot at 30 days of fame, send your Cool Customer submissions
to
coolcustomer@startly.com. If your
submission is chosen for a newsletter, we'll send you some free stuff! (such
as a T-shirt
or mug, not an iPod or 3 inch high Philadelphia Eagles novelty football helmet)
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We now offer a custom shortcut creation service to help you get QuicKeys shortcuts set up and tailored to your business needs. If you are interested in having us create a QuicKeys shortcut for you, head on over to our web site for details.
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HID
hoopla with QuicKeys
X3
There is an issue with some
USB devices and how they support a service called HID (Human Interface Device).
QuicKeys uses HID to watch for all sorts of activity on your system; it
automatically connects to all HID devices on launch, but some
devices aren't interested in talking to QuicKeys or are being interfered with
by system hacks you may have installed.
If you are experiencing odd system behavior or crashing when QuicKeys is running
and can't live without your system hacks,
the
solution
below
should
work
around
the problem until we get the 3.0.1 update posted.
This is rather technical and should only be attempted if you don't mind
modifying your copy of QuicKeys X3...
- First make a copy of the QuicKeys program in you Applications folder and
store the copy in a safe place. We're going to be modifying the guts of QuicKeys
so you'll want this backup.
- Control-click (or right-click) the QuicKeys application to
get a contextual menu. Select Show Package Contents from the contextual
menu.
- You will see a new window with a folder in it named Contents. Open the
Contents folder. In the Contents folder you will see several files and folders.
Find
the file named Info.plist.
- You need to open this file in TextEdit, so either drag and drop info.plist
onto your TextEdit application icon, or control-click (right-click) on
the Info.plist file and choose "Open with" from the contextual menu that
appears,
and navigate to TextEdit.
- Once you have the file open in TextEdit you will see a lot of eye-boggling
text. You need to find the word QKMonitorHIDAtAllTimes, it should be near
the very bottom of the file.
- In the line below "QKMonitorHIDAtAllTimes", change the word YES
to NO. Those two lines should end up looking like this:
<key>QKMonitorHIDAtAllTimes</key>
<string>NO</string>
- Ensuring that you've changed nothing except that single YES to a NO, save
the file and close it.
You should now be able to launch QuicKeys with no HID conflicts.
The
downside is that this will completely block our new Device triggers in QuicKeys
X3, as
well as the Recording feature.
We are taking steps in version 3.0.1 to rectify this problem; see the Product
News section for version 3.0.1's planned change history.
QuicKeys
for Windows and "Programmatic access" errors
If you have Microsoft Office installed, or any program that has macro capability,
it is possible that you may receive the following message while running QuicKeys:
"Programmatic access to Visual Basic is not trusted"
This is generally caused by a security setting within Microsoft Office, but
can also occur within other programs that can run macros.
To fix this in Word or Excel, do the following in each program:
- Go to the menu, Tools > Macros > Security **
- Switch to the Trusted
Sources tab
- Check the box named "Trust access to Visual Basic Project"
Other macro using programs may have similar problems, you'll need to explore
their security settings to find a similar solution.
** Note: Check with your network administrator before making security
settings changes.
The Stuff at the End of the Newsletter
We sincerely hope this newsletter has provided an item or two of interest
to everyone. As a monthly publication, we hope to incorporate suggestions from
the readership and iron out any problems uncovered along the way. If you have
any feedback regarding this newsletter, please send it to newsletter@startly.com.
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