How to Automate Report Writing with Ulysses and Airtable Using Keyboard Maestro
A main activity I do as a Social Worker is write reports. I interview and gather information to write psychological reports. Anyone who writes reports, knows the often tedious and sometimes repetitive nature of report writing. Automating that process, so that less time is spent on writing, is well, priceless.
This is why I am always on the hunt on how to improve and become more efficient with my report writing workflow. I use three primary apps on my Mac for this process. These are Ulysses for the writing itself, Airtable as my database, to store and track information, and Keyboard Maestro to do the automation. If you want to learn more about Keyboard Maestro, I’d highly recommend checking out David Spark’s Keyboard Maestro Course.
Let me explain: most people use a template when they write. Perhaps this is stored as a Microsoft Word document. They then use this template to write the report. However, what if the information you need, the information which is a unique identifier for the report, can be automatically inputted into that template document, by a keyboard trigger? Magic you say? Well, pretty close!
This is what I have begun with implementing Keyboard Maestro. I allow Keyboard Maestro to automate part of my report workflow. As I experiment, I hope to automate more of the report writing process; however, for now, I’ve started with the basic identifier information automation. Please see the video here, where I explain the process. Enjoy!: