Reprogram / Remap a Button on Apple Keyboard to send a sequence of keystrokes [duplicate]

Question

I am seeking help with my iMac.

I am an independent Nasdaq day-trader using Trading View as an analytical platform on a daily basis. If it is possible, I would like to reprogram the Fn button (or any other button) on my Apple keyboard that when pressed, it’s initiates a string of letters.

In this example, I would like it to input the letters: ⌥ Option T as these (2) buttons are what’s required draw a “trend-line” on the platform. Instead of me manually having to click on the trend-line or pressing ⌥ Option and T simultaneously, is there any way I can reprogram the Fn button on my keyboard so it initiate’s these letters?

It’s predominately to save time and also because it’s quite awkward pressing the ⌥ Option and T buttons together with one hand. I know it’s such a small thing for everyone else, but believe it or not it would be a tremendous help to my workflow.

Answer 1

This isn’t remapping of a key on the keyboard but rather assigning a macro to a key.

As a project, I attached a second (Logitech) keyboard to my Mac to act as a makeshift “board” of sorts that autmated several actions. One of these was issuing commands in Think-or-Swim (TD Ameritrade) for pulling up charts and entering orders.

There are a few tools you can use. All are paid apps, but they each have trial periods (ControllerMate is unlimited, but limits the number of actions)

• ControllerMate. See this answer for more details.
• USB Overdrive.
• Keyboard Maestro.

In my experimentation, I was able to program buttons on the second keyboard to launch new instances of Firefox with a specific profile, issue several key presses in a certain sequence (ToS), and even run AppleScripts. It’s not required to have a second keyboard (you can remap any key on your existing keyboard), I was trying to emulate products like the X-Keys products.

I attempted to do this with AppleScript, but it tended to break when the software was updated. I found both ControllerMate and USB Overdrive to meet the requirements perfectly. I’ve not used Keyboard Maestro.

Currently, I have a 10-key USB keypad that I assigned macros in Lightroom to automate repetitive tasks. I abandoned the ToS project because I’m not a trader. 20-30 trades a month was too little for the effort required to maintain this.