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Home Office Automation AutoHotKey Archive by category "HotString"

Category: HotString

Although hotstrings are mainly used to expand abbreviations as you type them (auto-replace), they can also be used to launch any scripted action. In this respect, they are similar to hotkeys except that they are typically composed of more than one character (that is, a string).
https://autohotkey.com/docs/Hotstrings.htm

Bill Gates demonstrates the first use of Text Expansion Ever Recorded

I was watching an old Microsoft video where Bill Gates was demonstrating Visual Basic.   To my surprise he mentioned using Text Expansion (HotStrings)

I always like to say that HotStrings are the “Hidden Gems” of AutoHotkey.   If you’re not using them, you are missing out!

Are you more incompetent than you realize❓ / September 20th AutoHotkey newsletter

AutoHotkey Newsletter

Imagine you have a friend named Joe who likes to write AutoHotkey scripts. He thinks he is very good at it, but his scripts all imitate a human and do not utilize an API approach. Joe also thinks AutoHotkey is “buggy” because his scripts often don’t work (especially when he shares them with other people.)

Joe thinks that other people who write AutoHotkey scripts are not very good and take overly-complicated approaches to make more money.

He thinks he is the best script-writer in the world.

This is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect.  The Dunning-Kruger effect is when people think they know more than they really do.  They are not very good at something, but they don’t realize it. They also don’t accurately evaluate how good other people are.

They believe they are better than average, or even experts (Yikes!), when they are not. This can make them act overconfident and make mistakes and often blame the instrument instead of themselves.

The Dunning-Kruger effect happens because some people don’t have enough knowledge or skill to judge themselves or others correctly.

Often People don’t know what they don’t know❗

The more you learn about something, the more you realize how much you still need to learn. You become more humble and realistic about your abilities.

To avoid the Dunning-Kruger effect, you should always try to learn more about the things you are interested in or need to do. You should also ask for feedback from others who are more experienced or knowledgeable than you. This is one of the best benefits of the AHK hero group.  We have 3 hours of Zoom calls each week where we help provide guidance to Hero members.   Not to mention the private Telegram group where people can ask for help during the week.   Give it some thought.  If you’re not sure, check out these objections that many people think.  You’re probably a better-fit for the group than you think!

Now on with the show…

Intro to AutoHotkey HotStrings with AutoHotkey Intermediate AutoHotkey Intermediate Objects GUIs are Easy w/AutoHotkey Make the switch to v2

HotStrings & Hotkeys that paste: Images, Text, and Hyperlinks / Rich text

For several years now sending keystrokes with AutoHotkey has been problematic.   It got so frustrating I asked Irfan to adapt many of my HotStrings to paste the text (instead of sending keystrokes).

This is a much more reliable way to get the text where you want it.   Nothing too special here…   But I also realized it is super easy to trigger them with either a Hotkey or a HotString.   Still, nothing too “wow” leveled (other than having automations that worked reliably).

Then I realized why don’t we kick it up a notch by making it easy to paste Rich text / Text with Hyperlinks and/or pictures.  Wow Now we’re on to something!

The function parameters are very easy to follow.  We share how to use them in this video.

Easily sending text, HTML or pIctures with Clipster
Easily sending text, HTML or pIctures with Clipster

We’re also considering wrapping the whole thing in a GUI to allow non-AutoHotkey users a way to have this functionality.  😊

Easily Adjusting your DPI

We just released two scripts that do (basically) the same thing.   They both make it super-simple to assign a hotkey to change your DPI.  One of them allows you to assign the monitor the hotkey will be applied to while the other just looks at the monitor your mouse is over.  You can see them in use in this video.

Two AHK scripts to easily change your Monitor’s DPI Scaling
Two AHK scripts to easily change your Monitor's DPI Scaling

How to Create & Use Custom functions

Last week I mentioned this video extracted from Intro to AHK v2 that explains how you can use the built-in AHK functions.    This week I’m following up by sharing this video which helps you see how you can write your own functions.  Functions are a crazy-powerful way to level you up!

Defining custom functions in AutoHotkey v2
Defining custom functions in AutoHotkey v2

Don’t forget, all of our courses come with an amazing 200% money back guarantee!

Pinning Files / Scripts in Windows 11

I have to say I’m not loving Windows 11❗ Granted, I wouldn’t even be using it if I hadn’t found this app that allows me to put the Taskbar on the side.  In this video I walk through a work-around on how to pin non-executables to the Taskbar.

How to Pin a non-executable file to Taskbar in Windows 11
How to Pin a non-executable file to Taskbar in Windows 11

How to create a File Installer with InnoSetup

A while back Jean Lalonde, author of Quick Access Popup, gave us a great tutorial on how to use InnoSetup.  In this video Jean walks us through many of the settings and how it can be configured to give your script a “level-up”.

💻 Take file installation to the next level – Use Inno Setup like a pro!
💻 Take file installation to the next level - Use Inno Setup like a pro!

Incidentally I spoke with Jean last week and he’s been hard at work on his other “clipboard” tool.  You can see an overview of it’s functionality in this video.

💥 Supercharge your productivity with this Amazing Clipboard Tool!😲
💥 Supercharge your productivity with this Amazing Clipboard Tool!😲

New YouTuber: Easily set windows locations

I was watching YouTube the other day and stumbled upon this video from Inthekhud.  He did a pretty good job.  He walks through using WinGet to detect where a window is located and then how to set it’s location.  I hope he continues to make AutoHotkey videos.  The more the better!

STOP manually adjusting windows | Use AUTOHOTKEY!
STOP manually adjusting windows | Use AUTOHOTKEY!

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📚 What we’re reading

🤖 AI / Chat GPT-3 News / Usage

HUGE Bard Update: The Future of Google is Now AI

HUGE Bard Update: The Future of Google is Now AI

⚡️Productivity tips: Setting Goals

Setting Daily, Weekly, Monthly and annual goals are a great way to make sure you achieve what you want.   Having said that, goals only take you so far, in the Atomic Habits book, he explains how habits are what truly drive action!

🤣 A spot of Humor This would freak me out!

Our Most Chaotic Prank Of ALL TIME | Just For Laughs Gags
Our Most Chaotic Prank Of ALL TIME | Just For Laughs Gags

AHK Hero 🦸

Consider joining the 🦸AHK Hero club! Members receive 25% off courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.

They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and a 3 hours a week where we help people with their AHK issues (the Saturday calls are geared towards people new to AutoHotkey.)

🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes

  • How you deal with failure determines whether or not you ever get to deal with the success — Dan Kennedy
  • A major reason for procrastination and lack of motivation is vagueness, confusion, and fuzzy minded thinking about what you are trying to do and in what order and for what reason. — Brian Tracy
  • You must stop expecting perfection — either from yourself, or your employees, or your customers and clients. It will never happen. — John Carlton
  • History is just new people making old mistakes — Sigmund Freud

AHK Newsletter⏩SHARE WITH A FRIEND⏩

Do you know someone that would benefit from learning useful automation tips like the gems in today’s issue?  Take a second and forward this newsletter and bask in the glow of their undying gratitude.  Was this email forwarded to you?

Sign up for this Newsletter here.  We never share your email with anyone.  Ever!

The-Automator

Joe, Isaias, Irfan, and staff

P.S. Are you one of those people that don’t know what you don’t know?  One of the best ways to safeguard against this is to regularly meet amongst others that know more than you.  The AHK Hero group is a great place to learn from others and ensure you’re accurately assessing your skills.  Do yourself a favor and sign up.   The only thing you’ll regret is that you waited so long!

How to Create a HotString in AutoHotkey v2 (Extract from Intro to AutoHotkey in version 2)

Intro to AHK v2 HotStrings Extract

Intro to AHK v2 HotStrings Extract

The key idea of the video is that hot strings in AutoHotkey are a simple and useful way to save time and standardize text input by creating text expansions triggered by small triggers.

  • 00:00 🔥 Learn how to create hotstrings in AutoHotkey, a simple and useful way to save time and standardize text input.
  • 00:51 💡 The course offers a double your money back guarantee within the first 30 days if you don’t find it valuable, encouraging you to work smarter, not harder.
  • 01:26 🔥 A hotString is a text expansion where a small trigger expands to a larger piece of text, and this video demonstrates two ways to create hotstrings.
  • 02:14 📝 Use a trigger, such as “ta”, followed by “::”, then type the desired expansion (e.g., a website URL), and use an ending character (e.g., tab, space, enter, or dot) to execute the expansion.
  • 03:43 💡 HotStrings in AHK v2 allow for quick expansion of frequently used text, such as usernames and program names, saving time on typing and fixing typos, and there are options available to remove unwanted ending characters.
  • 04:23 📝 HotStrings in AHK v2 allow for the insertion of specific text, such as adding a tab between words, which can be useful for filling out forms or entering passwords.
  • 06:01 💡 The speaker discusses the use of special characters in hotkeys and the need to be careful with them to avoid unintended actions.
  • 07:40 📝 To create dynamic hot strings in AHK v2, use the hot strings function and pass the hot string itself, followed by the text to be expanded, with the option to execute the creation of the hot string.
    • To create dynamic hot strings in AHK v2, use the hot strings function and pass the hot string itself, followed by the text to be expanded.
    • The function creates a hot string if the option is set to true, otherwise it does not execute the creation of the hot string.

 

Transcripts to How to Create a HotString in AutoHotkey

hey this is Joe Glines from the-Automator and in this video we’re going to have Isaias show you how to create HotStrings think of as like text expansion right you type something small and then bam you have the text that you want in Autohotkey they’re very simple to use it was the first AutoHotkey course that I ever did because they’re the hidden gems of AutoHotkey they’re so useful we should be using them all the timethis video is actually an extract from our intro to Intro to AutoHotkey in V2 course I’m
going to put a link up here if you’re interested in buying it we’ll give you 20 off if you click this link check it out it’s around four hours long this video most of the videos are three to five minutes long I think this one’s a little bit longer than that but HotStrings are a phenomenal way to save time and to standardize the text that you’re putting in somewhere you know when you have it or it’s repeated so I use them a lot I have hundreds and hundreds upon them sogive it a try
if you’re interested take a look at the course as I said thethe courses by the way come with a double your money back guarantee so you have nothing to lose is if you pay let’s say fifty dollars for the course we would pay you a hundred dollars if you said no I I didn’t think it was good quality right so within the first 30 days you’re eligible for a double your money back guarantee because our courses are really well put together and we have a lot of faith that you will see that value and
you’re going to start working smarter not harder so check it out I hope you enjoy it cheers one of the most interesting things that you can do without a HotStrings now what they are is that you just create a small trigger a few letters or a word that once you type it gets expanded to a bigger piece of text they’re so easy to create that is insane once you learn about this it’s going to be so you’re going to create so many of them very likely so let me show you in
this video I’m going to show you two ways of creating HotStrings and then I will talk about some options let’s go ahead and open a blank script in which I have already my directive setup and let’s go ahead and show you how to create a hot screen first of all you just go ahead and use the colon twice to indicate that whatever comes next is a trigger in this case let’s go ahead and use ta as trigger slash ta and whenever I type slash ta I want it to show a website for
the-Automator .
com and that is going to be my expansion so let’s go ahead and run that and let’s open a new file and type slash T8 now triggers don’t execute Automatically you have to use what is called an ending character usually by hitting tab space enter or a DOT for example it tells ourHotkey it just
goes ahead and shows your expansion which is great because a lot of times like my usernames most of the time websites that I visit very often a lot of program names that have some parameters all of that I just have them on HotStrings so that I don’t have to spend too much time fixing type typos or something like that right but let’s go ahead and take a look at how to createsome things that you have to keep in mind when you create these guys the ending characters might not be something that you want all the time so
in the other section I’m going to give you there’s a section in which I’m going to talk about some options that you can set to remove those things but before I get into that let me explain here on the right side is not simply literal text there are some things that get translated and let’s go ahead and take a look at that for example let’s say hello world now let’s say that I want to use the word hello here but the World Part I want to put it after a tab I could go ahead and open curly braces here use the
word Tab and close the curly braces and then world so instead of having hello world just with the space in between I want to have a tab in between so let’s save this up rerun it and if I use HW you will notice that I have Hello on one side at a tab in there and World on the other so this is something that it is amazingly useful in many cases I usually use this to fill out some username and password for example because I put my username in one side hit Tab and then my password or which the only thing that I wouldn’t
recommend about that I just do that on accounts that I don’t care about the password because you don’t want to save your passwords in a text file so but if it is an account that I have over there that have a lot of passwords that I don’t really care about then having these fill that out for me perfect you could use many Auto Keys like the enter key and some others in The Help file you can find the least of all the keywords that you can use for keyboard keys but not only that in ourHotkey there’s
three or Auto modifiers like the old the shift and control keys or the window Keys as well that have special characters that trigger them so just to illustrate these we will talk about those characters later on in that but just to illustrate what happens if you’re not careful with this is that the exclamation point is translated to an old key innerHotkey and you have to be careful because
if you put a letter right next to it it would try to trigger some actions like alt a might do something if it is a HotStrings this is what I’m just showing at the moment
are the static HotString
that’s the function that we’re going to be using we open a parenthesis and close it again that’s my function and in there I have certain parameters that I can pass the first parameter that I’m going to pass is the HotStrings and in this case I want to use the word new and then a coma and then the text that I want to expand it to this is a new Strength right there
you go this is how you create Dynamic HotString now if it is true it goes ahead and creates it because this option is true so this line is executed
condition these guys are not so these are the two ways of creating HotStrings and also how to deal with this translation and the ending characters which means we’re going to talk a little bit about options

🚀Boost productivity with AutoHotkey HotStrings! 💻Unlock the secret to effortless workflow🔥 39 examples provided

AutoHotkey HotStrings10 Reasons Why AutoHotkey HotStrings Will Revolutionize Your Workflow – The Ultimate Productivity Hack!

AutoHotkey is a powerful tool that allows users to automate repetitive tasks and increase productivity. One of the most useful features of AutoHotkey is the HotStrings function.

AutoHotkey HotStrings allow users to create custom shortcuts and abbreviations that can be used to quickly and easily type out common phrases or responses. In this blog post, we will be discussing 10 reasons why HotStrings are a valuable tool for anyone looking to increase efficiency and streamline their workflow. From increasing productivity and reducing errors to being easy to use and cost-effective, HotStrings have a wide range of benefits that make them a must-have tool for anyone looking to increase their productivity.

  1. Increased Productivity: HotStrings allow for the automation of repetitive tasks, such as typing out common phrases or responses, which can save a significant amount of time and increase overall productivity.
  2. Customizable: HotStrings can be customized to suit the specific needs of the user, allowing for the creation of personalized shortcuts and abbreviations.
  3. Error Reduction: HotStrings reduce the risk of typos and other errors, as the phrases and responses are pre-defined and automatically inserted, rather than manually typed out.
  4. Improved Efficiency: HotStrings can be used to streamline workflows by automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks.
  5. Easy to Use: HotStrings are easy to set up and use, making them accessible to users of all skill levels.
  6. Versatile: HotStrings can be used for a wide variety of tasks, such as typing out common phrases, inserting images, and even running scripts.
  7. Cost-effective: HotStrings are a cost-effective solution for increasing productivity, as they do not require any additional software or hardware.
  8. Expandable: HotStrings can be expanded upon and modified as needed, allowing for continued improvement and increased efficiency over time.
  9. Compatibility: HotStrings are compatible with a wide range of applications and programs, making them a versatile tool for any user.
  10. Increased Accuracy: HotStrings can be used to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, which can help to improve accuracy and reduce errors.

HotStrings is a powerful tool that can be used to automate repetitive tasks, increase productivity, and streamline workflows. With its versatility, ease of use, and cost-effectiveness, it’s no wonder that many users find it to be an invaluable tool. Whether you’re a busy professional, a student, or anyone in between, HotStrings can help to make your work easier and more efficient.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to unlock the full potential of AutoHotkey HotStrings and take your productivity to the next level. Enroll in our exclusive HotStrings course today and start seeing results in no time!

Here are 39 examples of AutoHotkey HotStrings to get you started

  1. ::btw::by the way
  2. ::gov::government
  3. :r:lu::Love you too!
  4. ::ctn::Sorry, I can’t talk right now I’ll get back to you in a few minutes
  5. ::pjz::Please join zoom for a few minutes.  I have a couple of questions I need to ask you
  6. ::rty::Spasiba  ;Thank you in Russian
  7. ::jty::Domo arigato ;Thank you in Japanese
  8. ::tq::thank you
  9. ::pls::please
  10. ::wdyt::what do you think
  11. ::idk::I don’t know
  12. ::np::no problem
  13. ::brb::be right back
  14. ::afk::away from keyboard
  15. ::yw::you’re welcome
  16. ::omw::on my way
  17. ::ty::thank you
  18. ::lol::laugh out loud
  19. ::lmao::laughing my ass off
  20. ::rofl::rolling on the floor laughing
  21. ::haha::laughing
  22. ::jk::just kidding
  23. ::btw::by the way
  24. ::ftw::for the win
  25. ::imo::in my opinion
  26. ::tbh::to be honest
  27. ::gtd::get things done
  28. ::adrs::address
  29. ::phn::phone number
  30. ::dob::date of birth
  31. ::email::email address
  32. ::sig::signature
  33. ::bd::birthday
  34. ::cp::company
  35. ::prjct::project
  36. ::rpt::report
  37. ::mtg::meeting
  38. ::cmp::compliment
  39. ::sug::suggestion

These are just a some examples, you can customize and make your own Hotstrings for phrases, words, sentences or even paragraphs that you use frequently.