Keyboard Express allows for the playback of rich text - such as different colors of fonts, different font sizes and types, etc. It will also play back most Unicode text. This tutorial walks through the steps of creating a rich text macro.

 

Setting up the Shortkey Activation Options

1.Run Keyboard Express. (If running in hidden mode press the Activation Key sequence. By default, hold down the CTRL key and the Up arrow key).

2.From the Keyboard Express - Explorer window click on Options > Preferences > Shortkeys.

3.Select the Use Prefix Keys option.

4.Insert // in the Keys edit box. The prefix key requires that “//” is typed in addition to the shortkey in order for the macro to run. This is an extra precaution to not accidentally run a macro during everyday typing.

5.Leave other settings as they are and click OK to save the changes and return to the Keyboard Express - Explorer window.

 

Assign the Macro Activation

1.Click on the Macro > New Macro menu item to open the Create New Macro window.

2.Select the Shortkey activation option.

3.Enter addr1 in the Original Shortkey field.

4.Enter "My Address", without the quotes, in the Macro Nickname field.

5.Click OK to open the Keyboard Express - Editor window to start creating the macro.

 

Create the Macro

1.In the blank Edit Keystrokes edit field, enter the following address:

 

Fred B. Smith

123 Applewood Lane

Anywhere, CA 82113

 

2.Locate the Simulate Keystrokes drop down list near the bottom of the window and select the Paste Rich Text item.

3.This action displays a number of rich text options.

4.Highlight the name and address information that was entered into the edit field.

5.From the rich text edit options, click on the B button to bold the text.

6.Click on U button to underline the text.

7.Click on the drop down menu button next to clWindowText and scroll up to select the Green color.

8.Select the down menu button next to the font type and choose Bookman Old Style.

9.Click on the drop down menu button next to the font size and select 16 as the size.

10.Click on the Center Justify button to center the text on the page.

11.Click on Save and Close to save the changes.

 

 

Run the macro

1.First run the Windows Wordpad program. (Click on the desktop Start button, choose Run and enter wordpad. Or enter wordpad in the Search box and select wordpad when found.)

2.Type the prefix and the shortkey into Wordpad - //addr1.

3.The text pastes into Wordpad with all of the rich text edits that we made in Keyboard Express.

 

 

Notes:           

1. The playback of rich text is done through the clipboard. The rich text is pasted into the receiving application.

2. If the receiving application, such as notepad, does not accept rich text, then the contents are pasted in as plain text.

3. The rich text option is only available when using the Shortkey activation method.