A new feature in Macro Scheduler 12 is the ability to easily share macros with other people on your network, or between desktops.
It has long been possible to work outside of the Macro Scheduler interface and indeed many people already do this. You can use the standalone editor and run or edit macro script files (.scp) directly from Windows Explorer. So to share script files you can store them in a network folder which each person in your team can access.
But until now that had some limitations. Firstly you would have to work outside of the Macro Scheduler interface and secondly, until version 12, scripts weren’t opened exclusively. So if two people were working on a script at the same time the last person to save would overwrite the changes made by the first. Until now Macro Scheduler was not built with network sharing in mind. And of course if you wanted to apply a schedule, trigger, or hot key to a shared macro you would need the Macro Scheduler interface. So would need to import it. Therefore any time it was changed you’d have to re-import it again.
Linked Groups and Exclusive Opens
With Macro Scheduler 12 you can now create “Linked” macro groups. Version 12 also makes sure that when you open a script for editing it is opened exclusively. This means the file is locked and no one else can open it until you’re done.
To create a Linked Group, create a new macro group as you would normally, set the path of the group to point to a network share, and check the “Create Linked Group” box. Give it a name and click OK.
Any macros already in the folder will show up immediately. And if you create a new macro in that group (or move a macro to it) other people with a group linked to the same folder will see those macros too.
So Linked Groups are useful where you want to easily share macros between members of your team or between two desktops – e.g. your desktop and your laptop.
You could also share macros between a developer and several users and prevent the user from being able to edit them by using a network share that you can write to but they only have read only access to. The users would be able to run the macros but not edit them or create new ones in that group.
Note that at present to delete a macro from a Linked Group the file needs to be deleted from the folder using Windows Explorer. This is partly to avoid accidental deletes and to prevent people from moving linked macros. We are considering ways of improving on this in future so that linked groups can be administered more easily within Macro Scheduler. It’s early days for Linked Groups and I’m sure as more people start to use them ideas will start flowing in. So if this is something that becomes popular expect improvements over time.
