Capture a Macro using the Capture Icon

This example shows how to record a macro. We'll capture the macro in the Windows Paint program.

Once Paint is running, we want to switch directly to Macro Express. Left click on the Macro Express icon in the notification area or if the window is minimized or hidden click on Macro Express icon in the taskbar.

Defining the Macro
 

1.From the Macro Express - Explorer window click on the Capture icon on the sidebar to open the Create New Macro window.

2.HotKey should be the default Initial Activation.

3.Click on the HotKey edit box to place the cursor there.

4.Next, hold down the SHIFT key, the CTRL key and the U key all at the same time. Release the keys to display CTRL+SHIFT+U in the edit box. This is the hot key assigned to the macro we record.

5.Make sure the box next to Wait for the Hot Key to be Released Before Activation is checked.

6.Enter My Paint Drawing as the nickname and click OK.

Defining the Capture Options

The Capture a Macro window opens so that the default capture options may be modified before capturing the macro. The default settings are defined from the Macro Explorer window in Options > Preferences > General - Capture tab.

Let's adjust the settings for this macro capture.

Set Scope

The first thing to do is to set the scope so that the macro only starts in the MS Paint program.
 

1.Click on the Set Scope button to open the Set Scope window.

2.Change the scope to Window/Program Specific if not already selected.

3.Click on the Add Program button to open the Select a Program Window.

4.Click on the Running Processes tab and highlight mspaint.exe.

5.Make sure that the "This program must have a window on top" option is checked.

6.Click OK and click OK again to save and return to the Capture a Macro window.

Other Capture Options
 

1.Check the Capture the Keystrokes option.

2.Check the Capture Mouse option and select the Relative to Window option from the drop down menu.

3.Make sure the Capture and Restore the Window Size option is checked.

4.Only Capture the Mouse Clicks should not be checked.

5.From the drop down menu select Capture the Macro Speed at Actual Speed .

6.Choose "untitled - Paint" from the drop down list of the Begin Capture in Window section.

Start Recording

Now we are ready to record the mouse movements, clicks and keystrokes.
 

1.Click on the Capture button. This closes the Capture a Macro window and opens the Paint window.

2.At this point the macro is now recording. We'll just draw a simple face in Paint.

3.Click on a color.

4.Draw a circle and place two eyes, a nose and mouth within the circle.

5.Terminate the capture by pressing the hot key we assigned to the capture - CTRL+SHIFT+U.

6.A message appears indicating that the capture is complete.

Play back the Macro

1.Open the Paint window. If it is not already the active window, click on the Paint entry in the task bar.

2.We need to start with a clean screen in Paint. So click on File > New in Paint and follow the prompts to have a fresh screen.

3.Press the hot key CTRL+SHIFT+U to start the macro playback.

4.The face just drawn will be redrawn complete with any hesitations made while capturing!