FREE Tool to Automate Your Repetitive and Boring Tasks | AutoHotkey

[@LeilaGharani]

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[@JoeGlines-Automator]

Thanks for covering AutoHotkey! I really hope more people realize just how powerful AutoHotkey is! I call it the "swiss army knife for Windows"

[@ryanwells7596]

Joe, you're very modest. Lelia did a nice job. And if anyone wants to have deeper dive on AHK they should check out your amazing channel. kzbin.info/door/R0Hs-Bgz1SgGCq_0kbzjjg

[@EnriqueSanchez-tf3bs]

Great video, I liked the introduction to this amazing tool, I've used it for two years, and I'm very happy with it.

[@Riegle105]

Agreed

[@uravindarreddy]

I use AHK a lot for my personal productivity. I learnt it from your udemy courses. Thanks a lot

[@dmurray16]

Please make more AutoHotKey videos and tutorials. Automating repetitive tasks is the future. This will give users tools and time back to become creative instead of repetitive.

[@AzulonKaiba]

Leila, It’s awesome AutoHotKey, I have used it to expand VBA outside the Office applications. How it’s possible? Because it uses COM. The objects that installed at Office installation. COM are the object that manipulate VBA in process. That explains how anybody who says Excel is dead and move to Python, the latter uses COM to automate Excel. I have used AutoHotKey to a data engineering pipeline of web scraping to upload data to an Access database. It’s not possible to use it with VBA because AHK has a library to control a browser if you know DOM and JavaScript (Web development stuff) to avoid sending clicks. If anybody knows VBA it can be expanded to another level with AHK. Specially for any Windows user.

[@edwinjonah]

Great video! I found AutoHotkey some years ago, I remember I used to have a long list of shortcuts on a cloud script, that would move with me across computers. I also had copies of specific hotstrings that I shared with coworkers back when we did a lot of transactional work and data entry, saved us a lot of time and also help standardize responses and completion comments.

[@hsh7677]

Amazing Leila!

[@FNL77]

Extremely useful, Leila. Thank you.

[@truefalse7059]

very usefull specicialy intro cleared all my doubts

[@satoshiedits21]

Thank you so much for this! You have helped increase my workflow drastically!! Master teacher! 😊

[@lofimusique1987]

Thanks Leila. This will save a lot of my time!

[@siva2k23]

Will try this.

[@pelecyphora1]

What about Expressions- next video . Any script editors with context for all .ahk v2 expressions. subscribed.

[@michaelbeithe8054]

Dear Leila, thanks for this tip - I installed it immediately. But: 1 It opens Excel and Outlook but it fails with Word or Access. 2 Is it necessary to put the programme in the Windows autostart? Best regards from Germany, Michael

[@LeilaGharani]

Yes. It would be good to have it in autostart. I had that as part of the original video but it got too long for KZbin so we took it out…

[@annan9752]

Hi Michael, alternatively, provide the entire path - same script, but instead of just Access, you need to paste the file path to Access.exe.

[@jeeswg]

To find out the process path for a window, you can use AutoHotkey's 'WinGet ProcessPath'. You can also use Task Manager, the Details tab. If you don't know the path of an exe, you could instead use the path of a link (.lnk file), e.g. a Start menu link. Sometimes when using the Run command to open a program, you need to specify the working directory parameter.

[@MrFatobese]

type 'winword' in Run Dialog box.. MSword will launch instantly.

[@jschwone2607]

Great video and awesome examples. Many thanks.

[@LeilaGharani]

Glad you like it!

[@rotethongvanit]

A great tool. Thanks.

[@LeilaGharani]

It really is!

[@webcrafting]

Thanks !

[@GaborCsorba]

Thanks

[@daitedve1984]

Forgot to say: the very first thing I automated is absolutely idiotic shortcut COPY/PASTE!!! (damn MS) They made as this: ; Cut/Copy/Paste for normal keyboard RAlt::^vk58 AppsKey::^vk43 RCtrl::^vk56 It could be nice to say (instead of repetitive examples) that keys can be specified as "language independed" scan codes (like vk58). Now VERY FREQUENTLY used copy/paste can be done with ONE key - right Apps and Ctrl keys.

[@jeekakrishna]

really usefull

[@nobodynobody1235]

Hotkeys, Hotstrings and Hotchics

[@simplysurfing]

Can it copy sentences (like a clip board app) and paste back with the same formatting as was copied ?

[@benworthhansen8863]

absolutely it can.

[@MonsterFenrick]

I have been using AHK since 2006. It started as you had mentioned, with text expansion. Since 2006 I've written countless utilities and 2 applications that have been Enterprise adopted. Hopefully AHK will be universally recognized in organizations as a productivity improvement tool, though currently it always takes convincing since it is not well known in most organizations.

[@LeilaGharani]

Great! Thanks for sharing 👍

[@alfonsneumann1878]

Yeah same here, using it since 2002, in the beginning as a script package made by a magazine and quickly started to adopt it and wrote my own set of tools now over the years. I really love how good everything is explained in it's help.

[@Jerome54DXB]

I've also been using AHK for years, literally every single day! Text expansions, e-mails filling, Excel format painter, program windows placement on different screens, specific program quick launch, custom music playlist shortcut, ... I even created several shortcuts for repetitive actions (like copy-paste between different files, or even new folders creation in project folders). It saved me HOURS at work!! Don't underestimate its potential, I cannot work without it anymore!

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

I always hate using someone else's computer because I have to remember the old / "mundane" way of doing things. lol

[@LeilaGharani]

😁

[@matheus.lifestyle]

What’s the script for copy a file and automatically paste it in another folder as back up?

[@jayo3074]

I haven't told my employees this but I've used an automation tool to do about 70% of my daily tasks. It's been ridiculous how much free time I have because of it, going to the gym, reading, napping lol I feel automation is the future of work

[@markusarmbruster8949]

Does only me make this comment thinking --- what an greedy arrogant person (some would even say how dumb it is as a boss) not to help and teach his employees to be more efficient and have better work life balance and like their job more ^^ but ok ... its your business :D

[@Ayplus]

It is. Especially now with ChatGPT

[@50PullUps]

I’m learning AutoHotKet to make applying for jobs easier.

[@jayo3074]

@@markusarmbruster8949 I don't care tbh with you. The bottom line and satisfying my shareholders is all that's important to me.

[@jayo3074]

@@Ayplus I know

[@jazamaraz8029]

I misread the the thumbnail as "10X Easter Everywhere"

[@DingusBatus]

I’ve used AutoHotKey for years. Combine it with the Elgato Stream Deck XL and things get a whole lot easier.

[@FaizSheikh]

Can you please mention some of your use cases

[@DingusBatus]

@@FaizSheikh I’m not very good at describing things, somewhat hopeless really. I have button(s) on the Stream Deck that execute AHK macros that Move the cursor to fixed point then click then move again an click, toggling things on/off I have mouse move+click+enter text. I do have a couple of videos of my own that were made as a guide on how AHK can be used with the Elgato Stream Deck. I don’t think any of my videos demonstrate my actual usage though?

[@agn855]

@@DingusBatus - you can go cheaper too… Matric (Android) Touch Portal (iOS + Android)… So you can create fully automated app-related keyboards for just $5/5€.

[@natenatenate10]

or just use numpad+modifiers and self contain everything to ahk

[@jameswoodward5121]

Hi Liela, I've just reviewed your video about Auto Hot Key and I was excited to give it a go. I downloaded Auto Hot Key and tried to follow your instructions and had all sorts of problems which I eventually found out mostly related to your video being based on Auto Hot Key v1 (which is no longer supported) and very different to the current Auto Hot Key v2. It would be great if you could update your video to Auto Hot Key v2. Thanks again for your great videos. James - Brisbane Australia

[@chuchuokeke]

I procrastinated using AHK for yearrrrssss...I wonder how many years I would have saved by not procrastinating.

[@submeg5183]

Don't wait any longer Chuchu! Do it today, best decision :)

[@daitedve1984]

AHK is the "must have" tool. I use it all the time from issuing strong password till window management. Second tool is Total Commander - I cannot work w/o this gem.

[@maestrith]

Nice, thank you for getting the good word of AutoHotkey!

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

Amen Chad! So happy seeing AutoHotkey get some deserved respect. :) Let's hope she makes more!

[@TABNationAutomation]

I agree with joe about trying out coms with excel and all ms office. Some of my most popular videos I have done.

[@omnipop4936]

12:23 Ha! I quietly wondered whether you'd notice 'Recipts'! 😄

[@leocarmopereira]

No one but Joe Glines here will believe me but AutoHotkey is actually THE most powerful Windows program.

[@donlawson2280]

So excited to see AHK being introduced by one of my favorite KZbinrs. AHK can do sooooo much more and they make it so easy.

[@ChristopherSalisburySalz]

There is also a cool resource, defkey.com/, that you can use to search for known keyboard shortcuts. This is nice so when you create your custom keyboard shortcuts with AHK you don't accidentally override an existing and useful keyboard shortcut in Windows or an application.

[@bigcat2024]

Superrrr 👍

[@JorgeEscobarMX]

My god, another way to use up my muscle memory.

[@TABNationAutomation]

Very clear video! I love doing AHK videos on my channel. Been using for years to automate both my job and sometimes single player gaming.

[@submeg5183]

You also have some great videos too; if people are interested, you should definitely check out TAB Nation's channel!

[@clearmanlawyers753]

TAB Nation is amazing. Go Thom. Great to see Leila on the AHK train.

[@IiOnna222]

I strongly suggest anyone to use AHK or any other text expander. It is a time saver for sure. Great video Leila. My company, outside of actual data management teams, does not allow AHK like it does not allow PowerShell. We have otherwise what's called FastKeys but it's not as well documented or even used. However, it has a text expander function that I use often.

[@LeilaGharani]

Thanks for the tip, Liz!

[@leondevries478]

Autohotkey is awesome !

[@janrienk]

Great video. I'm a big fan of AutoHotkey. Great to use it for things like links that I refer to often so that I don't have to search every time I'm looking for that one video, blogpost or VAT No. A few tips for fellow productivity enthusiasts: - Omit the warning message on changing your script by adding "#SingleInstance Force" in the beginning of your script. - Run your script(s) on startup by placing them (or shortcuts to them) in the startup folder. (Which you can find quickly using [win]+[r] --> "shell:startup") - The script is a text file... so don't put any passwords in them.

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

I'd add the option of putting "o" between the first two colons if you don't want a space at the end. ex: :o:btw::By the way Really helpufl for emails and passwords

[@janrienk]

@@JoeGlines-Automator Good point, I forgot why I did that XD.

[@dmurray16]

Please make more AutoHotKey videos and tutorials. Automating repetitive tasks is the future. This will give users tools and time back to become creative instead of repetitive.

[@LeilaGharani]

Will do, Dave!

[@jeeswg]

@@LeilaGharani Great news! Cheers.

[@sorinm221]

@@LeilaGharani I second this please do courses Basic and Intermediate with AHK!

[@RichardJones73]

I love auto hot key. Cannot live without it. But I also use Lintalist which is based on autohotkey

[@zubarmalik4672]

Do you know if AHK can be used to fill out text on a website with a drop down menu?

[@Holodeck1]

I work from home, and I use AHK. I can run a script that does the majority of my work HANDS-FREE! I cannot count how many times I've gone to the store or the post office "on the clock" and my script was doing all of the work. I rated top marks for production last month too!

[@rudiklein]

Why didn't learn about Hotkey earlier, like 15 years earlier?! WHY 😭?! Thanks very much for covering it!

[@CivReborn]

AutoHokey is great. I have been using it for years.

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

You know it @CivReborn! I'm so stoked she did a video on it! :)

[@jeeswg]

I agree with both of you! Cheers. 😁

[@CivReborn]

@@jeeswg Miss having you on the forums bro. How you been?

[@jeeswg]

​@@CivReborn That's very kind Hellbent, thanks. I've been great. I'll be posting my final batch of new AutoHotkey features, estimated 1st May. And hopefully my website, later in May. One preview: I've written machine code for spellchecking in AHK (the Levenshtein distance and Damerau-Levenshtein distance). Maybe I'll be back on the forum this year, we'll just see what happens! How have you been? It's been great seeing your GUI and other projects! Cheers!

[@raduflore1]

Good evening, I'm looking for a formula. Suppose I have 5 tables (worksheets) all containing 3 columns, product code, quantity, and price. some products are also found in 5 tables, I want to know what is the lowest price of each product code, and what quantity is displayed in the table where the lowest price is found. :)

[@raduflore1]

Can you help me with a solution?

[@KGF74843]

Leila super wow nice application 👏👏👏👏👌👌👌👌👌

[@panaiyappanpalaniyappan3781]

Expecting more videos on this....

[@andrewcharlesmoss]

The code below allows you to insert an en and em dash using Alt + - and Shift + Alt + -, respectively. !-::- return +!-::- return

[@ScottMattes]

Clipjump is a powerful clipboard based on autohotkey

[@boovank]

I love this very much. Thank you for sharing

[@giovanniielapi9296]

Not the hero we deserve but the hero we need.

[@mdexcelpro8495]

no one can lead you like introduction of this kind of new things 🎉

[@gracemark5995]

wow . really amazing and helpful . thanks leila it helped a lot

[@vAnoski_dragon]

Nice video! I love AHK.

[@elaidtahri8203]

Thanks for all the valuable information

[@michalrumanek7392]

This can be very useful tool. I am going to give it a try!

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

Trust me Michal, you'll be so glad you tried AutoHotkey! It's a life saver!

[@submeg5183]

100% Michal, it's great! Get started :)

[@kbalaji9516]

Thank you so much for the very interesting tool Leila..

[@ruudb72]

Nice demo. I'm a longtime user of AutoHotkey and know it can be a great help But Leila, keep in mind that Autohotkey (and the similar Sikluli and SikuliX) are banned in many companies. In my consultancy job I have several customers where the use is not allowed.

[@omnipop4936]

Easy fix. Just set up an AutoHotkey with the function, "Override Company Ban". 😜

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

Yeah, anything "powerful" must be banned. Such a shame to try and be productive... lol It can be a pain, but you can present your case and get them to change their minds... I did it at every place I worked.

[@reneschmidt1902]

@@JoeGlines-Automator well banning AHK is for me nothing more then an Systemadministration being unable to correctly setup GPOs in the Company. Good GPO can hold AHK easyly in check to just do the things its allowed to do. AHK is just brilliant although I still have little issues I cant fix when I converted my script to .exe files x)

[@agn855]

@@reneschmidt1902 - die da wären?

[@reneschmidt1902]

@@agn855 ich habe ein script mit nem settimer der werte einer .ini liest und eine Gui aktualisiert. Wenn man das Script beendet bleibt bei der Exe datei immer ein Hintergrundprozess geöffnet vermutlich wegeb dieses timers. Exitapp process close etc. Funktioniert alles leider nicht. Wenn ich die datei als .ahk öffne und schließe verbleibt der Hintergrund Prozess nicht. Bisher habe ich dazu leider noch keine Antwort gefunden.

[@yogaridho]

old tools but still helping us a lot.. been using since 2015

[@marcosmelendez09]

Yeah, I agree too. I told Leila that this is not a new thing unlike the way she kind of put in the thumbnail. I see Leila making a mistake as she is expanding to more and more areas besides Excel that I am starting to question her approach. I would suggest her to focus on Excel and maybe include Office Applications on factual matters instead of now delving into Finance, Programming and stuff that are clearly not her background or strength.

[@UA-js9fn]

Many thanks for your efforts and supports

[@RobMedellin]

I've been loving AHK for I don't know how many years now. Couldn't live without it.

[@LesGainous]

👉🏻 I look forward to your video on AutoHotKey v2.0 (or higher). The code in this video doesn't work in AHK 2 (or at least not without modifications).

[@meharnigar8984]

Thank you...

[@shiazasif8058]

Thank you Leila

[@lgvdbroek]

S U P E R 👍

[@ksoonsoon]

Thank you for covering this product. I have been using it for years and it is a natural productivity assistant with many of the tools you often provide content for. Appreciated!!

[@duartefernandes1555]

Thanks a lot for this video, it's really going to help me to be more productive on my daily tasks👏👏

[@submeg5183]

Duarte, really get onto it, it's great!

[@cristiandrei1980]

I've heard about the software, and planned to use it, but if I knew that is that great. Thank you!

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

She did a great job but barely scratched the surface of AutoHotkey's capabilities. I do hope she does more!

[@submeg5183]

Don't wait! Download it and start using it :) You'll be glad you did!

[@cristiandrei1980]

@@submeg5183 of course, already did. Followed the examples shown by Leila, but also the documentation, for example to have more lines for a hotstring.

[@submeg5183]

@@cristiandrei1980 great to hear! There's so many things you can do with AHK, once you get into it, you won't be able to stop! Opening files and applications is a useful step.

[@def__luisAM95__]

This is useful. Thank you!

[@lepolder]

About three months into being a ahk user, I now have 20 ahk files up and running at my desktop. I use it to run an image viewer. The viewer my company recently bought sucked, and I had to do something to save myself from repeatative clickings and draggings.

[@AnshulMarele-gbaa]

Email autohotkey is not working. showing error as: Error: PCRE execution error. Specifically: -8 ---- C:\Program Files\AutoHotkey\UX\inc\identify.ahk 003: { 005: p := 1, count_1 := count_2 := 0, version := marks := '' ▶ 006: While (p := RegExMatch(code, identify_regex, &m, p)) 006: { 007: p += m.Len()

[@PemberiSolusi]

thanks.. you are my motivation making excel tutorial, thank so much. but my channel not be famous, do you have suggestion for me..

[@hemvaidya]

Fantastic...thank you so much ....

[@DaveSmith-kf8bm]

Hi Leila - thank you for covering this topic! I've used MS Power Automate, but find AHK executes much quicker. I hope you can devote more to this tool!

[@JitendraBhatt28]

Hey Leila, Thanks for the video. For curious friends on this topic, I use AHK for mouse cursor highlighter and to keep sticky notes or any windows always on top.

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

Yeah, that's a super handy and helpful one (especially if you're leading zoom calls / giving presentations

[@JitendraBhatt28]

@@JoeGlines-Automator true

[@EngLuizD]

Amazing tool and another amazing video.

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

AHK is amazing for automating the mundane!

[@firestorm7311]

How do i know this is not a virus?

[@agn855]

How do you know that the scripts you've created are not a virus? AutoHotkey.exe is just the interpreter. It's open source. So you can even compile it yourself. How do you know that other programs are not a virus? TBH, you'll never know.

[@Void_Dragon]

Thanks for the video, but with v2, this no longer works for me. I got errors. The new context is this: ^n::Run "Notepad" (return is now redundant since v2 fixes this issue, as well as the first few lines)

[@broto8]

Good morning, Leila, I got a question if I've got some numbers in column A and I put another bunch of numbers in column B. Now I want to fill the cells of col B with colour Red or Green or any gradiant depeding if the difference of numbers of Col A and Col B is negative (Red) or positive (Green) and (Yellow) if zero. Orange if close to zero and negative, and light green if close to zero and positive

[@SamirHabib]

It is amazing and I always surprised how can you find and discovered such interesting topics. Thank you very much.

[@technicaldata3227]

Thanks for sharing 👌

[@mswordexpert]

I use something like it but it is very old and more visual called Mkey

[@whatzause]

Yours is the BEST and clearest on AHK after I’ve tried watching so many others!

[@0Tirano]

this is old in the video game side, more than anything in the RTS. there is also the auto click, it is very useful too, and you can also put hotkeys on the mouse esto es viejo en el lado de los video juegos, mas q todo en los RTS. tambien existe el auto clic, es muy util tambien, y tambien puedes poner hotkeys en el mause

[@marcelo20xxxx]

I can even Multibox WoW with autohotkey and clear 5man dungeons relatively easily, my only grip is that is not available for Linux...

[@DaviddeJonge-ec3pb]

I'm trying to get Win+Shift+s to be mapped as Ctrl+s Im using #+s:: ^s return I doesnt want to work any help?!

[@MrAIProgrammer]

Can you have multiple script files running at the same time?

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

Absolutely! You can also have them all in one script. I put most of mine in one, main, AutoHotkey script and then I have separate ones that I keep in their own (mostly so I can share them with other people)

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

It just gets a little confusing as you have the same icon in the system tray (however that is easy to change as well)

[@shrutikaaggarwal7088]

Thank you for this video Could you also make a video on auto filling pdf with excel data.

[@jayblev]

Very helpful tutorial. I have a malfunctioning key on my laptop, and AutoHotKey has allowed me to duplicate that key in Excel and other apps. No need for a hardware replacement. Thanks!

[@mohmda4449]

wish i could use this on my work laptop 🤔

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

AutoHotkey can be run from a thumb drive w/o installing...

[@JJ_TheGreat]

@@JoeGlines-Automator Some workplaces don’t let you load thumb drives.

[@jamesryan0207]

I'd be interested to know if you could you this for slightly more advanced shortcuts - for example when you highlight / hover over a telephone number and press a shortcut like Alt C, that it makes the call out of Microsoft teams for you. Does anyone know if this is possible?

[@fahimahammed3271]

ma'am I can't create script pls help me, because I can't find AutoHotKey in new option, I click on new option but doesn't show AutoHotKey that's why i can't create script. what I do??

[@AalimOnlineOfficial]

I have pasted some pictures inside Excel cells. Whenever i select filter, the loose their intended position. How to get rid of this issue?

[@UnSF-1]

Corporate doesn’t allow this!!!!!!!!!!!! Else i would have mastered my productivity

[@unkchaos2007]

I have been using AHK for at least 3 years now, and it is amazing what it can do. Awesome Video!

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

I think the question is more what can't AutoHotkey do! :)

[@lovebeam]

AHK is good but if you have shortcuts using Ctrl/Alt, sometimes they get stuck, and looks like there's no proper way to fix or workaround it.

[@prishasrivastava6169]

That's really useful for me. Thank you ^-^

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

Keep on it! AutoHotkey is an amazing tool!

[@milnerz9562]

Hi! can anyone know how to increment value at every single keypress ( for example: when pressing ^q::) ? Thank You

[@allegro1355]

Thanks for this great video! Any recommendations on where to learn AHK? (good online resource? year 2023)