I’m often teaching a workshop or class about using the Mac or some software on the Mac. And when I’m teaching, I like to use an app called Mousepose which allows me to show my students where I am clicking, highlight parts of the screen, and display keyboard shortcuts I’m using.
To activate Mousepose, there are three main Keyboard Keys that activate the features:
- F1- Highlights part of the Screen
- F2- Turns on the Mouse click highlighting
- F5- Turns on the Key Display
Because these are Function Keys, they require you to press the Fn plus one of the keys that are used for Apple functions like dimming the screen brightness.
I’m lazy so I use a second App that does one thing, it toggles the top row of keys between Apple Functions and F1-F12. That app is called Palua.
So where does Keyboard Maestro come into play? I use it to launch these two Apps and set them up according to how I want them.
- Basically with one Keyboard Shortcut (Ctrl-Opt-Cmd + D) I have Keyboard Maestro do all of the following:
- Launch Palua
- Set the keys to Function Key mode
- Launch Mousepose
- Start the Mouse Click highlighting
If you want own those apps and want to download my Keyboard Maestro Workflow, here it is. I also have a second workflow that restores the Apple Function Keys and quits the Applications.