A macro recorder is a piece of software that "records" user actions for "playback at a later time".
The main advantage of using a macro recorder is that it allows a user to easily perform complex operations much faster and with less effort without requiring custom computer programming / scripting.

Built-in Macro Recorders

Most word processors, text editors and other office programs come with built-in macro recorder tools which automate the user's actions.

Standalone macro recorders

Not all software comes with a built-in macro recorder. A standalone macro-recorder program allows a user to "record" mouse and keyboard functions for "playback" at a later time. This allows automating any activity in any software application: from copy-pasting spreadsheet data to operating-system

Operating system

An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

 maintenance actions.

Most macro recorders do not attempt to analyze or interpret what the user did when the macro was recorded. This can cause problems when trying to play back a macro if the user's desktop environment has changed. For example, if the user has changed their desktop resolution, moved icons, or moved the task bar, the mouse macro may not perform the way the user intended. That's one of the reasons for preferring keyboard macros over the mouse-oriented ones.

However, some recorders do attempt to analyze user actions, trying to record mouse activity in window-related, not screen-related coordinates, for instance, or to detect exactly what widget

Widget (computing)

In computer programming, a widget is an element of a graphical user interface that displays an information arrangement changeable by the user, such as a window or a text box. The defining characteristic of a widget is to provide a single interaction point for the direct manipulation of a given...

 a user selected.

Possible features of standalone macro recorders include:

• a built-in macro editor that allow composing a macro rather than recording it. This includes adding conditional statement
  Conditional statement
  In computer science, conditional statements, conditional expressions and conditional constructs are features of a programming language which perform different computations or actions depending on whether a programmer-specified boolean condition evaluates to true or false...
  
  s, custom commands such as "open file", "launch website" or "shutdown computer".
• conversion of the macro to a compressed executable file (".exe")
  Executable
  In computing, an executable file causes a computer "to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instructions," as opposed to a data file that must be parsed by a program to be meaningful. These instructions are traditionally machine code instructions for a physical CPU...
  
   that can run standalone, without the need for the software that generated the macro to be present on the user's computer.

History

The emacs

Emacs

Emacs is a class of text editors, usually characterized by their extensibility. GNU Emacs has over 1,000 commands. It also allows the user to combine these commands into macros to automate work.Development began in the mid-1970s and continues actively...

text editor is well-known for its macro recording ability, whose name was an acronym for Editing MACroS.

Security

Security of the recorded macro needs to be considered. Macros are often stored as data files; sometimes in a format that can be edited by hand. It is conceivable that a malicious hacker could modify the recorded macro file to gain access / run processes / delete files / etc.