When running ME cannot stop process with ctrl-alt-shift-U

The Suspend/Resume Macro Express system macro will not work when a macro is running. This is because Macro Express 3 will only run one macro at a time. This macro is meant to suspend Macro Express which prevents any macros from starting.

There are two ways to stop a macro. One is with the Keyboard and the other with the mouse.

To halt a macro from the keyboard you press the ‘Abort Macro HotKey’. By default this is Scroll Lock+Pause but you can select one of 4 different HotKey sequences. Click Options, Preferences, Playback to check the ‘Abort Macro HotKey’ setting. Right-click on the Macro Express ‘running’ icon in the system tray to halt a macro using your mouse.

Many times, the reason you want to stop a macro is because programs or Windows itself are locked up. When this occurs, Windows may be too busy to send keystrokes or mouse clicks to Macro Express. So, if one of these methods fails to abort a running macro you should try the other method.

Macros that consist of a lot of keystrokes can send the keystrokes rather quickly and Windows will buffer up the keystrokes. Once such commands have been buffered up in Windows, aborting a macro will not cancel them. In these cases, it may appear that the abort command did not work when in reality the macro has already finished issuing its commands and Windows is now processing them.

If you need to pause a macro, try the ‘Pause Macro HotKey’. By default, this is set to Win+` but you can select one of 4 different HotKey sequences. Click Options, Preferences, Playback and check the Pause Macro HotKey setting.