Thread: Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard

WHETHER IT'S COPYING data from multiple work sheets to create a sales report, grabbing the same block of statistics from a Web site each morning and formatting its text to match your document, or just slaying an orc king so you can loot and sell his enchanted crown, you probably have repetitive tasks that could use a little automating. With a macro-enabled keyboard, you can take the drudgery out of these and other mundane computing tasks. While obviously designed with gamers in mind, macro enabled keyboards like the Logitech G 1 5 can give you a huge productivity boost at work. The keyboard power lies in its programmable keys, which can execute complex commands instantly with a single tap.



What makes these keyboards superior to the builtin macro features in Word, Excel, and other apps is hardware macros' ability to work across multiple programs at once, copying data from one app and pasting and formatting it in another. That way, in under a minute you can crank out boring jobs that might otherwise take up to half an hour. Macro keyboards come with their own key-profiling utilities, which control the behavior of their program mable keys. The utility for the Logitech G 15 is the Logitech G-series Keyboard Pro filer.

To start programming your keys, choose an application to use as your macro's start-
ing point. Microsoft Excel is the example here, but this method works with any application on your PC, and even with Web-based programs such as Google Calendar. Record a Macro In Keyboard Profiler, click Prtifile, and choose New. Give your profile a name and a description, and then switch to the program that you will use with the macros. Let's say that you need to copy data from one Excel worksheet over to another. Start by selecting the data you want to copy.

Now create a macro that will copy the selected block to an adjacent worksheet
you have open. Press the MR (for Macro Record) button on the keyboard, and then continue by using keyboard commands. Copy the selec¬tion of data «Ctrl>-C), switch over to the other worksheet «Ctrl>-<Tab», paste the data «Ctrl>-V), and then switch back to the first worksheet «Ctrl>-<Tab». You could also use <Alt>-<Tab> to switch to your Web browser or another application, grab data, and <Alt>-<Tab> your way back into Excel and paste the data in. When you're done, assign your macro to whichever programmable key you prefer, and then press the MR button again. From that point on, you won't have to drudge your way through that particular task anymore.