How to run a macro when text appears on screen
OCR robots watch an area of the screen and run your macro when the text you choose appears. How to set them up in Macro Quantic Pro.
You're waiting for something to finish: an order that switches to "ready", a process that ends, a download that completes. And meanwhile, you can't stop looking at the screen. The alternative is to run a macro when text appears on screen, automatically. In this article you'll see what an OCR robot is, an example of how to use it, how to set it up in Macro Quantic Pro and what to do to make it reliable.
The problem: watching a screen
Some tasks don't depend on a time of day, but on a notice. The order will be ready when it's ready. The process will finish when it finishes. And as soon as the notice appears, there's something to do: send an invoice, let someone know, move on to the next step.
Scheduling the task at a fixed time doesn't help, because you don't know when the notice will arrive. Staring at the screen isn't a solution either. What you need is something that watches for you and acts at the right moment.
What an OCR robot is
OCR stands for optical character recognition: the technology that reads the text that appears in an image. An OCR robot applies that idea to your screen.
In Macro Quantic Pro, an OCR robot:
- Watches an area of the screen that you choose.
- Reads the text that appears in it at regular intervals.
- Runs a macro, or sounds an alarm, when the condition you've set is met.
The recognition happens on your own PC: the screen image isn't sent to any server to be read. One important detail: the robot recognizes text. It doesn't detect images, colors or objects.
An example
This is an illustrative example, the same one used on the Macro Quantic Pro website. You have an order program and, when an order is finished, the text "Order ready" appears. At that moment you want to send the invoice.
- You record a macro called "Send invoice" with the clicks needed to send it.
- You create a robot that watches the area where the order status appears.
- You tell it to run the "Send invoice" macro when the text "Order ready" appears.
- You set it to check every 2 seconds.
From then on, the robot reads that area every 2 seconds. As soon as it sees "Order ready", it launches the macro.
How to set it up
Creating a robot takes three steps. Start in the Robots / OCR section and press Create Robot.
- Select the OCR region. Press Select area and drag a rectangle over the area of the screen you want to watch. If you make a mistake,
Esccancels. - Detect and confirm the text. The program shows the texts it reads in that area. Choose the one you want to watch and press Use selected text.
- Configure the robot. Give it a name and choose:
- The condition: the text does appear, doesn't appear, changes or disappears.
- The macro that will run.
- The frequency: with Fixed interval, the robot checks the screen every 1 to 60 seconds. You can also choose to have it wait for the macro to finish before checking again.
- Alarms and limits, if you need them: a sound on detection, a maximum number of triggers or a maximum duration.
Before saving, you can press Test robot to check that it reads correctly. Then, from the list, Start Robot sets it running.
The text doesn't have to match letter for letter. It's enough for it to be contained in what's read, regardless of capital letters or accents, and small reading errors are tolerated. Each robot then shows its checks, triggers, active time and success rate.
The four conditions and what they're for
The condition decides when the robot acts. There are four, and each one fits a type of notice:
| Condition | When it triggers | Example of use |
|---|---|---|
| The text DOES appear | When the text is in the area | Launch a macro on seeing "Order ready" |
| The text does NOT appear | While the text isn't there. It's the default option | Alert you if a status that should always be there is missing |
| The text changes | When what's read is different from the previous reading | React when a counter or a status changes |
| The text disappears | When the text was there and no longer is | Detect that a "Connected" notice has gone |
For the last case, the robot also has an Alarm when text disappears option, designed for watching connection drops or statuses that "go away".
Robots and scheduled tasks
A robot doesn't have to be active all day. In Scheduled Tasks you can create a task of the OCR Robot type, which turns on a robot for a period. For example, to watch the orders only during office hours. That way you combine both ideas: the task decides when to watch and the robot decides when to act.
Reliability tips
These are general tips for any OCR system, not specific features of the program. They help make the reading more reliable:
- Use a small area. The less text in the region, the fewer chances of a mix-up. Frame only the spot where the notice appears.
- Choose a unique text. If the words you're watching also appear elsewhere in the area, the robot may trigger when it shouldn't.
- Look for good contrast. Dark text on a light background, or the other way round, reads better than grey text on a background of a similar color.
- Make sure the text is legible. A very small or very stylized font is recognized less well. If you can enlarge the window or the zoom of the program you're watching, do it.
- Test before you rely on it. Use Test robot with the real text on screen and check that it detects it.
Keep in mind that no OCR is right every time. The quality of the reading depends on the font, the size and the background.
Plan limits
OCR robots are in every plan, with different limits:
- Free, free trial and Starter: 1 robot, with a maximum of 1 hour of continuous running and a 90-minute pause.
- Pro and Enterprise: unlimited robots with no time limit.
You can compare them on the pricing page. For more details on each option, see the OCR robots documentation or the macro recorder page.
Stop watching the screen
If there's a notice you wait for every day, you can download Macro Quantic Pro for free from the Microsoft Store and create your first robot. You don't need an account to get started.
Frequently asked questions
What is an OCR robot?
It's a feature that watches an area of the screen, reads its text and, when the condition you choose is met, runs a macro or sounds an alarm. For example, launching "Send invoice" when "Order ready" appears.
Is my screen sent to the cloud?
No. The robots' text recognition happens on your own PC, and what they read stays on your computer.
How often does it check the screen?
You decide. With Fixed interval mode, the robot checks the area every 1 to 60 seconds. By default, it waits for the macro to finish before checking again.
How many robots can I create for free?
With the Free plan you can have 1 OCR robot, with a maximum of 1 hour of continuous running and a 90-minute pause. The Pro and Enterprise plans allow unlimited robots with no time limit.