But wait, you’re saying. I don’t want to have to open a recording program every time I have an idea either. That is just as clumsy as writing a new email for the idea. Well, have no fear. You won’t be opening a program to get what you want. You will be using the ease of a keyboard shortcut. How is this possible? With the help of a little known program called Automator. For those of you not familiar with it, this tool is designed to make customized tasks on your Mac easy by automating them. Let’s get started.

Setting Up The Recording Capability

  1. Launch Automator by double clicking on the icon in your Applications folder.

  2. Click on Workflow and then on Choose.

  3. Using the search field in the left of the window, add the following actions: New Audio Capture, Start Capture, and Stop Capture. You can simply search for the names of the actions you want and then click on them to add them to your work flow. In the start and stop actions, you will see check boxes. Click them. They should read, “Wait For Capture To Complete” and “Close Movie After Stopping”. Configure the top of the window to read Service Receives No Input in Any Application and then save your application with a name that you will remember, such as Voice Reminders or Remotely Nagging Kenny. It is your choice depending on your needs.

  4. Close and re-open Automator. Choose “Open existing workflow”, then navigate to and open your file. You should see the same elements in your workflow as before.

  5. Click on “Workflow” and then on “Run”.

  6. When a recording window appears, begin speaking. When you are done, tap on the space bar to end and save the recording of the file. The file will be saved with the name Audio Recording.mov.

Now that you can record whenever you want, let’s attach your memos to a keyboard shortcut. That way you can make a new memo on the fly.

Adding a Keyboard Shortcut to Record Anytime

  1. Open your System Preferences, and choose the Keyboard preferences.
  2. Click the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. Click on “Services” on the left hand side of the pane. Then on the right choose the “General” heading. You should see your workflow at the bottom of the list. Click to the right of it and a text field will appear. Choose a set of keys for your shortcut and press on them now. Just be sure not to duplicate any existing shortcuts in the process.

Done.