How to create macros on your steelseries keyboard 【step by step】 ⭐️

Why create macros

Crushing staff in a CS: GO game feels great, but that's not the only use we can make of macros. Video games may be its most well-known facet, but designers, artists and animators can extract from its use equally useful functions in a work environment:

Add the opening of a program to a button or buttons (Discord, for example). Facilitate additional editing shortcuts in programs like Photoshop. Programmed multimedia commands or timers (radio, Spotify). Create macros for games (obviously).

Programs to create macros

SteelSeries is one of so many brands that it is no stranger to us when it comes to offering us peripherals accompanied by software to delve into its configuration. This trend has not stopped growing and its absence is inadmissible in models of the highest range.

Before we launch to explain how to create macros as possessed there are a couple of questions that you should look at:

Model of your keyboard See if it has software Check if it allows recording macros

In SteelSeries models intended for general office use , they probably do not have software, especially if they are membrane. On the other hand, mechanical keyboards are very common.

SteelSeries software

SteelSeries Engine 1.0 was the brand's first configuration software. It is currently in its third version and we can find that it receives regular updates whose installation is more than recommended.

The SteelSeries Engine 3, currently in force, is a program with a simple interface that immediately shows us all the active peripherals it recognizes and here, in its main menu, it offers us to directly switch between its profiles from its Configuration drop-down. This is a question that obviously depends on how current the connected model is and its availability of profiles, whether local or via software.

How to create macros

We get here to the heart of the matter. Creating macros is much easier than the inexperienced user may seem at first glance as long as we have in mind the existence of two alternative ways:

Create macros with the software. Record macros On the Fly .

Generally, if your keyboard has both options, we would recommend creating macros using software because it can visually facilitate the process. It is also possible that the most basic models do not have dedicated software with which to program commands, which is why there is only the possibility of recording them on the fly.

A small additional detail is the question of profiles. If your keyboard has several memory profiles, you can also include different macros in each one.

Create macros using software

In our opinion, it is the most reliable method given that each of the keystrokes and even their duration will be shown on the screen. Control over macros made with the SteelSeries Engine can be much more comprehensive and is our recommended alternative.

Once we enter the specific panel of our SteelSeries keyboard, in our case the SteelSeries Apex Pro, we will be interested in staying in the Key assignment tab.

It is here where we can interact on each of the keyboard buttons, causing the opening of a drop-down menu on the selected character. Firstly, the list of options that will be shown to us will be Keyboard buttons, but if we click on its dropdown, the following categories will appear :

Default Keyboard buttons Macros Multimedia buttons Mouse buttons Deactivate Launch application Launch configuration Run applications Engine OS Shortcuts Macro recording

Of all of them we are specifically interested in the Macros and Macro Recording sections here.

Once in Macros you must click on Macros Editor. This will take us to a more comfortable and detailed size creation panel to work with.

In the left panel we can see the default name of the macro that we are going to create as well as the window where the keys that we press will be shown once we press the Start button. We for the present tutorial create two macros. One call copy (Ctrl + C) and the other paste (Ctrl + V).

When recording the macros you can see that the SteelSeries Engine shows you by default not only the buttons pressed but also the duration. This time characteristic can be modified in the nut that we can see next to the Delete button. The alternatives that are offered to us are that the macros are replicated with a duration identical to that recorded, a fixed delay of 15 milliseconds or no delay.

We personally recommend setting macros without delay, especially if you are creating them for games since every second counts.

Having done all of the above, the only thing left to do is assign our macros to any button. For this we will return to the main menu and click on the desired key in the diorama of the application. The pop-up window that will appear by default will be the Keyboard buttons, but we will open the drop-down to select Macros. Here you can now see the macros currently created and saved in the software. We click on the desired one and, voila!

Record macros On the Fly

This is a more rudimentary method and is generally used well because the keyboard in question does not have software or because the user is already familiar with these paths and prefers to save the installation of a specific program.

The method to follow may vary depending on the keyboard, but the basic steps are usually the same:

Press or hold the Fn button on our keyboard (Functions).At the same time we press the macro recording key (F10) for three seconds to start recording. Type the key combination of your choice. Press the Function key (Fn) together with the macro recording key (F10) to end the recording. If we want to cancel this macro during the process, we must press the OLED menu button.

Game-based macro packages

Something that may interest many of you is the existence within the SteelSeries Engine software of two categories: Applications and Library.

Applications gives us access to software or game add-ons that can optimize our experience, such as Counter Strike: Global Offense, Dota 2 or Minecraft. It is also possible for the most enthusiastic to establish their own applications using the tools available on the SteelSeries Technology Blog, which we provide the link for here.

It is also possible to store in our Digital Library the games that we currently have installed on the computer and establish specific macros and commands with a specific profile for each device. The great advantage of this is that they will remain stored in local memory and can be detected again when we reconnect our keyboard to a different computer. The role of the library here is complementary to the default keyboard profile and can be alternated between them according to the occasion.

Final words on creating macros

Macros are a world of possibilities. Here obviously we have focused the tutorial mainly for games but you know that the way in which each user takes advantage of its usefulness has no limits other than the needs that are presented to it. For those of you who have come this far again, we hope that the tutorial has been as simple and enlightening as possible. Remember that the SteelSeries Engine is regularly updated to new versions and it is possible that some of the routes to follow explained here will present a different structure in the future.

We recommend reading the best keyboards

We say goodbye recommending that if you can, create macros always from the software to be available since the options to configure and control their characteristics are more specific. Remember that when you have any questions, you can always leave us a message on the forums and we will try to give you a cable. Until next time!