Last week, someone asked me if there was a key command to activate the Witness alarm on your Mac. There isn’t, but you can easily create one using AppleScript and Automator:
You will first need to create a service in Automator that switches the alarm on:
- Launch Automator (in Applications)
- Choose “Service” from the template menu
- Select “no input” in the “Service receives” drop-down menu
- With Actions selected in the left-hand toolbar, type “run Applescript” in the search field
- Drag the “Run AppleScript” action to the main view
- Replace (* Your script goes here *) with the following script:
tell application "WitnessUserAgent" to activate
This will activate the alarm on all your Macs.
(For a script that will deactivate the alarm, you can replace "activate" by “deactivate”.)
- Choose File > Save
- Give a name to this service (for example “Activate Witness”)
- Open System Preferences > Keyboard
- Go to the Shortcuts tab
- Select “Services” in the left-hand menu
- Scroll down until you find your service
- Select the service and click “add shortcut”
- Press the keys which you would like to use as the shortcut for Witness
- Make sure the box next to the shortcut is checked
You're all set!