These actions allow you to activate and quit applications.
Activate
App name or path
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Specifies the application that will be activated. This can be the full path of the application, or simply its name ending with its extension, .app for macOS and .exe for Windows. Click the "Browse..." button to pick an application using a file dialog. |
| Activate application, launching if not running |
Makes the application frontmost. If the application is not running it will be launched. |
| Activate application if already running |
Makes the application frontmost only if it is already running, otherwise does nothing. |
| Launch application if not running |
Launches the application if it is not running, otherwise does nothing. |
| Pause until application has activated |
Pause macro until application is deemed to be active. If the action does not launch or activate the application, then it does not pause. |
It can sometimes be tricky to make a macro that works in all situations when launching an application. For example, if an app is running and its main window is either closed or minimized to the dock, activating it isn't enough to get it in the required state. What if often needed is for the app to be running with its main window open and visible.
A belt and braces approach may be to add "Pick Menu Item" action after activating the application and selecting an appropriate item from the menu to ensure the required dialog is foremost. E.g if launching Calendar then pick the "Calendar" menu item from the "Window" menu. That will unminimize the main window if it's minimized, or open it if it's closed. If the window is already open it doesn't do anything.
Its important to create a macro that gets the application into the state needed. Usually this isn't too difficult. Sometimes simply launching or activating the application will do it, and other times (such as with the Calendar example) you just need to pick a menu item to make sure the required window is open. Usually there's a menu item for that in the "Window" menu, if the app follows standard macOS UI conventions.
Quit
App name or path
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Specifies the application to quit. This can be the full path of the application, or simply its name ending with its extension, .app for macOS and .exe for Windows.
Click the "Browse..." button to pick an application using a file dialog. |
| Pause until application quits for |
Specifies the amount of time to wait for the application to quit. |
| If the application does not quit |
Indicates what to do if application has not quit within the time threshold; continue macro, force quit application or stop the macro as specified in the fail action setting.
It was reported that some applications did not quit using the standard request to quit, even when expected to do so, hence these options were introduced. Care should be taken using the 'Force quit option' as there could be valid reasons why an application is not quitting, such as unsaved changes that need manual intervention to allow the application to quit.
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