Can I record mouse movement in a macro?
Yes. Tick Record mouse moves in Macro by Zaweba and every movement is kept, sampled every 15 ms. It is off by default because clicks alone are usually enough.
Mouse movement can be recorded, but it's off by default. Macro by Zaweba keeps only clicks, drags, scrolls and keystrokes unless you tick Record mouse moves. With it ticked, every movement is kept, sampled every 15 ms, and replayed along with everything else.
The default is off for a good reason. Most jobs only need to know where you clicked, not how the pointer got there.
Why clicks alone are usually enough
Filling in forms, choosing menu items and pressing buttons all happen at the moment of a click. The route the mouse took to get there makes no difference to the program. A macro of clicks alone replays those jobs exactly, and its step list stays short enough to read at a glance: a click, some typing, a key press, a wait.
Turn on movement and that list grows quickly. A pointer sampled every 15 ms produces a lot of positions, and each one becomes something to scroll past when you read or edit the macro afterwards. The macro is just as capable, only harder to look after.
When movement does matter
Some programs react to where the mouse is, not just to clicks. Menus that open when you hover, tooltips you need to bring up, and controls that respond to the pointer passing over them all need the movement. So does anything that draws along the path of the pointer.
Drags are a different case. When you press a button, move and let go, Macro keeps the path of that drag even with Record mouse moves off. You don't need the setting to drag and drop.
Recording with movement on
Tick Record mouse moves before you start, then press Ctrl+Alt+R or the Record button. The window gets out of the way and the small bar at the top of the screen shows the count with Pause keystrokes and Stop buttons. Expect the count to climb fast as you move the mouse.
Move with purpose. Wandering across the screen while you think gets recorded too, and it will replay. If you need a moment, keep the mouse still.
When you stop, read the step list. Long runs of moves between the clicks are normal. You can delete moves you don't need in the step editor with Del, and leave only the ones that matter, such as a hover that opens a menu.
A middle way
Rather than recording every movement, you can add a single move by hand. The step editor has a move step, and you can type its position or point at the spot; the editor reads the cursor after three seconds. One move to hover over a menu, then a click, is often all a job needs, and the macro stays tidy.
Positions relative to the active window apply here as well. With that on, positions are stored from the corner of the window you were working in, so a hover still lands on the menu after the window moves.
Replaying movement
Movement replays at the speed you choose: 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 3x, 5x, 10x or No delays. At high speeds a program may not notice a hover before the next step arrives, so a macro that relies on movement often works best at 1x. If it misbehaves, slow it down before you change anything else.
The countdown before each replay and the hold Esc panic stop work the same whether movement is recorded or not. Holding Esc for one second stops the replay before its next event and releases any button the macro was holding.
Our advice is simple. Leave Record mouse moves off, record the job, and only turn it on if the replay shows that something needed a hover.
