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November, 15th AutoHotkey Newsletter

AutoHotkey Newsletter

Howdy,

I truly have a moving story for you today!

Around 12 years ago my son was 4 and had made a great friend, Alex, at his daycare.  We’d met his parents (Jennifer and Cody) several times and, even though they are ~10 years younger, we realized we have similar attitudes and beliefs.  Plus they lived in the same city as we did!

It was great because, if you’re not aware of it, when you have kids you spend more time with your kid’s friend’s parents than your own friends!

After a couple of years Jennifer was excited because they were buying a house.  Unfortunately it was in a neighboring town but it would still be close enough where we’d see them regularly.

At this point I was working for TI full time and, even though I hadn’t started “the-Automator” yet, I did side projects to make sure we stayed debt free.

Given the fact that I:

  • was out of shape
  • super busy
  • had more money than time

I told them:

“If you’d like us to watch Alex during the move, he’s more than welcome to stay with us for a few days.”

They said that would be great and we waited for the purchase of their home to go through.

Once they got all of that scheduled we were hanging out and Cody said: “We’re moving next weekend and would like to take you up on your offer”

”So please be at our place at 8:00 am Saturday, we’ll have a 🚚truck and be mostly boxed up”.😳

That’s when I realized they didn’t really hear my offer…  They heard what they wanted to hear.  This is a common thing that happens to all of us in everyday life!

Being a good listener and always paying close attention to what someone actually says is one of the things we do very well at the-Automator.   We also push-back at what we here the client say they want because, more often than not, they’re not aware of all the possibilities.   Sometimes it is more important to hear what isn’t being said so you can ask the right questions.

In fact, it’s of my firm belief that most disagreements happen because of miscommunications/misunderstandings. Once people really understand each perspective they resolve themselves.

It’s one reason why I ask people not to use pronouns when communicating with me.   Its very easy for our brains to swap out who/what is being referred to when we say “It”, “he/she”, “they”, etc.  Do yourself a favor and use the actual names and you’ll be amazed at how much easier it is to communicate clearly!

Now on with the show…

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

Computer Vision and AutoHotkey

A couple of weeks ago I had a vision (excuse the pun) of how, at some point, our usage of AutoHotkey will change because AI will be “doing” the image search which means it will be more robust and reliable.  I was thinking this was a year or two away however, after watching several videos on creating GPTs, I see the future is much closer than I was anticipating!😀

Future of AutoHotkey with AI Computer Vision
Future of AutoHotkey with AI Computer Vision

OpenAI Playground Assistant is POWERFUL! Here’s how to BUILD one…
OpenAI Playground Assistant is POWERFUL! Here's how to BUILD one...

How to use AI to understand your pictures

Since we’re on the subject of AI and Computer vision, you might check out this video where I show a free way to submit pictures to an AI and have it tell you what it sees!

🆓 How to use AI to examine pictures for FREE❗
🆓 How to use AI to examine pictures for FREE❗

Celebrating AHK’s 20th Birthday!🎂

Don’t’ forget AutoHotkey turned 20 last week!  To celebrate we’re having a huge sale (40% off)on our AHK courses that will be ending soon!  You can learn more about AHK’s birthday, and how well AI is writing v2 code in this video.

AutoHotkey hit’s a milestone! Celebrate with us!🎂
AutoHotkey hit's a milestone! Celebrate with us!🎂

What we Automated this week with AutoHotkey

As you might know I spent ~20 years as a Data Scientist and have a masters in Market Research.  While I’ve mainly hung up my Data science “hat”, I do help a friend out when he needs it.  A good friend of mine, Mike Courtney, runs Aperio Insights and is one of the few people I’ll still do work for as they’re honest, professional and do amazing work.   We regularly use Alchemer (formerly SurveyGizmo) for fielding studies.  So this week Isaias and I spent a ton of time connecting to their API and simplifying building a “clean” data file.  In this week’s video I discuss some of that process and cover a bunch of other cool things we did!

What we automated with AutoHotkey this week #22
What we automated with AutoHotkey this week #22

📚 What we’re reading

🤖 AI / Chat GPT-3 News / Usage

⚡️Productivity tips: Windows key + Shift + S

Did you know you can launch the Windows snipping tool by hitting Win+Shift+S❓   Or you can use our amazing Snipping tool and define your own!

🤣 A spot of Humor:

This is Fascinating, not funny, but just try and take your eyes off of this video!  The vast majority of them are breathtaking!

1 in a Billion Moments
1 in a Billion Moments

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

  • Give me 6 hours to chop down a tree and I’ll spend the first 4 sharpening the axe — Abraham Lincoln
  • Better to Remain Silent and Be Thought a Fool than to Speak and Remove All Doubt — Mark Twain
  • What I lack in Skills & Abilities I make up for with Optimism & Determination
  • Knowledge is power; Automation knowledge is a “super-power”💪 — Joe Glines

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. If you’re wondering what happened on the day of my friend’s move I’m proud to say I did show up and help them.   You see, even though I was at a point I’d never move myself, I’m a firm believer in doing what I say (even when people innocently misconstrue what I said)

If you’re looking for people that do what they say you might consider joining our AHK Hero group.  We have a lot of like-minded people there getting things done faster, smarter, better❗

BTW- I did insist they have a dolly because, like AutoHotkey, a dolly is an enormous productivity booster

 

Happy Birthday AutoHotkey!

Tomorrow, November 10th, is the 20 year anniversary of AutoHotkey!   To celebrate Chris Mallet’s Chris Mallett’s vision we’re having a 40% discount.

You can use “AHK20years” during checkout or click one of the following links and it will, automatically, be applied.

V2 Courses

V1 Courses

 

 

November 8th, 2023 AutoHotkey Newsletter

AutoHotkey Newsletter

Howdy

A couple of weeks ago my son Jon and I were headed back from dinner at a local restaurant (I like supporting local mom-and-pop shops).  Like many teens these days my son had his earbuds in while he was watching this John Cena video on TikTok.

We were getting back in my car🚗and starting it up when, to his demise, his phone switched from his earbuds to the Bluetooth in the car stereo.

At this point I should also mention the stereo was up really loud because we were driving on a rough highway that is as loud as a dumpster full of silverware being emptied into a blender set to ‘puree’—with its lid off! (and, no, I’m not exaggerating)

So what were the first things we hear screaming loud?

If you guessed:  “Can I say Anus”  you’re 💯% correct! 🤣

Technology can really put you in a precarious position.   A couple of times I’ve had a goof when automating SMS text messages to friends as well as, accidentally, triggering a HotString.

As Stan Lee once wrote in Spider Man “With great power comes great responsibility”.   I’d like to add “With Automation power, remember: test thrice, deploy once, or brace for a code-tastrophe!”

It’s one of the reasons why people have us do work for them.   Since we work with AutoHotkey 24-7 we know how to build robust tools that they can count on.

Book a session with us and sleep better tonight❗

Now on with the show…

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

Happy Birthday AutoHotkey 🎂

Tomorrow, November 10th, is the 20 year anniversary of AutoHotkey!   To celebrate Chris Mallet’s Chris Mallett’s vision we’re having a 40% discount.
For the next 20 days you can use “AHK20years” during checkout or go here and click one of the following links and it will, automatically, be applied.

The Future is Here: Copilot is Amazingly helpful❗

The other day Isaias gave us a demo of using CoPilot.  It was amazingly helpful (even without knowing AutoHotkey V2).   Paying for CoPilot is a “no Brainer” as we’ll be incredibly more productive for our clients.

🚀Is This the Coding Revolution? Copilot’s Here & It’s Epic! 🔥
🚀Is This the Coding Revolution? Copilot's Here & It's Epic! 🔥

What we Automated with 🅰HK this week!

Sunday I recorded this video documenting what we automated with AutoHotkey.  This week we had a bit fewer files however, after recording the video, I realized our major project isn’t even being included because it’s all done on our client’s computer.  Most days Isaias and I are in zoom with the client between 2-3 hours in the afternoon.   We’re building an amazing tool for our client (unfortunately it’s privileged so we can’t share).

What we Automated with AutoHotkey 21
What we Automated with AutoHotkey 21

Sometimes you have to think outside the 📦

Irfan was updating my Media Player (a script I’ve probably used everyday for the past 15 years).  He was converting it to AHK V2 and, to get some extra benefits, using the Windows Media COM object.  (If you’re new to COM Objects, you really should check out our Objects course.)

Anyway, I realized Irfan “corrected” a line of code I had in my version.  I got him and Isaias in Zoom and explained my crazy reason for what I did.  It goes against any rational thought yet it is a great, simple, solution.  Check out the video and see if you can guess why I did something so whacky!

Crazy Programming solves the day for Media Player
Crazy Programming solves the day for Media Player

🐁 Easily Getting Text Under your Mouse

Are you working in a program that you want to grab the text but can’t select it❓   While our Window Snipping tool has built-in OCR, often you can programmatically get it as I demonstrate in this video.

🖱️ Get the scoop on the text under your mouse with AutoHotkey : Works in most Windows programs❗️

🖱️ Get the scoop on the text under your mouse with AutoHotkey : Works in most Windows programs❗️

Sharing your AutoHotkey Programs: Getting them in the Microsoft Windows Store

Last week we had a call with Jean Lalonde (author of Quick Access Popup) and Maciej Słojewski.

Maciej lead this webinar a few years back.   In hour one he showed us amazing HotStrings and the second hour he showed what he’s done with AHK and tablets (using them as secondary keyboards).  If you’ve ever felt like you were running out of Hotkeys, you might check that out.

Anyway, our call last week was discussing getting programs in the Microsoft Store!  We have a lot more work to do however it was a really good call and great catching up with both these AHK experts!

AutoHotkey Webinar 10/2020 Hour 1-Cool & Advanced HotStrings script
AutoHotkey Webinar 10/2020 Hour 1-Cool & Advanced HotStrings script

AutoHotkey Webinar 10/2020 Hour 2-External Keyboards & Touchpads
AutoHotkey Webinar 10/2020 Hour 2-External Keyboards & Touchpads

📚 What we’re reading

The Google Messages for Web article above lead us to this discussion regarding automating messages with Android Phones and API calls.

Sending new Android messages thru browser and Android phone
Sending new Android messages thru browser and Android phone

🤖 AI / Chat GPT-3 News / Usage

⚡️Productivity tips: Redo / Control + Y

Most people barely touch the capability of using the “redo” button.

For instance, imagine you’re wanting to change the font size, Color, and alignment of several text objects in MS Word. If you select text, hit Control+D (to bring up the Font window) and make all the changes, then you could select other words and hitting Control+Y would apply all the changes you made the first time!

🤣 A spot of Humor  By far my favorite clip from Taxi🚕

What does a yellow light mean?
What does a yellow light mean?

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

  • You do not rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your systems — James Cleary
  • If you want something done, ask the busiest person you know to do it and stand back!
  • What you plant now, you will harvest later — Og Mandino
  • You wouldn’t have won if we’d beaten you — Yogi Berra

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. My intro may have caught your attention but it’s a true concern when working with 🅰utomation.  Our clients take comfort knowing we build robust tools they can count on.

Every client is amazed at how much we get done on a given session.   Give us a try by booking a Consultation and I guarantee you’ll be blown away!

November 2nd, 2023 AutoHotkey newsletter

Howdy,

“We do a crappy job teaching Spanish❗” was the subject line of a message I sent to Isaias Baez last week.

I sent the message because of I’m finishing up John Carlton’s excellent book: “The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Getting Your Shit Together”.   Since Isaias is a native Spanish speaker it would get his attention (and hopefully it got yours).

In the book John explains that he’s been learning Spanish all his life yet he can barely get by.   When he was a kid he couldn’t fathom why it would be helping to ask where the library was in Spanish.  However, if his teacher’s had bothered to

explain HOW learning Spanish would help him ask where he could buy fire crackers, or “hook-up” with a lovely Latin lady

he would have been breaking his neck to learn it!

That’s when I realized that I don’t do a good job explaining why people should learn AutoHotkey.  I assume that most people already realize that learning AutoHotkey is life-changing! 

They must realize how redundant the vast majority of work we do is and that AHK can easily automate the “fulfilment” side of things (leaving the decision making to the human).

I also assume people realize it:

  • Allows ordinary people to do extraordinary things
  • Let’s you develop an app in a fraction of the time of other languages
  • Standardizes workflows
  • Reduces errors
  • Is FREE
  • Can log what was done
  • Has 19+ architectures for connecting to programs

The only real issue I see with PC users learning AutoHotkey is it is a very versatile tool and knowing where to start can be problematic.   That’s one of the main selling points of our AHK Courses.

Our courses offer a clear path for ANYONE regardless of their programming knowledge

And that, since our courses come with a 200% money back guarantee, I’m accepting all the risk.

So consider learning to work smarter, not harder.  It’s going to be a requirement for all jobs in the next couple of years because AI will be replacing the least efficient employees! 
Don’t let your future disappear before your eyes!  Invest in yourself even when no one else will!

Now on with the show…

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

Discover the right approach to Automate your program

For years I’ve had people write me and ask a general question like:  “I’m using ‘X’ program, how can I automate it with AutoHotkey.   I’d tell them we know of 19 ways to automate programs with AutoHotkey however I need to have access to the program to be able to tell which ones will work for that particular program.  

I realized there are some ways we can programmatically detect what is available❗

So now our Automation Discovery tool can help you realize some of the more-common approaches are available (and provides some links for learning about them.)  We reviewed our Discovery tool in this video.  We’ve made some great improvements to it since we recorded that video.  One of which is that we notify the user if the program they are trying to automate is being run in Admin mode!

This tool is going to be a HUGE game changer for noobs!

🚀 Discover Hidden Program Automation Approaches with this 🆓 discovery tool!
🚀 AutoHotkey Unveiled: Discover Hidden Program Automation Approaches with this 🆓 discovery tool!🔍

Automating Programs with Controls

Currently our Discovery tool checks for 7 architectures (but we’re adding more).   One of my favorite ones are Controls.   If you’re new to working with Controls, you’re in luck as I‘ve extracted one of the 11 videos (an hour and 12 minutes worth) where we discuss controls in our Intermediate AutoHotkey course.

Automating programs with Controls Extract from Intermediate AHK
Automating programs with Controls Extract from Intermediate AHK

Simple Spy for starting-out with Controls

If you’re completely new to working with Controls I highly recommend you grab our Simple Spy script. It makes working with them a breeze by limiting the amount of information being shown to you. You can see how it works in this video.

Amazingly Simple Spy tool for Inspecting Controls: SimpleSpy in AHK v2
Amazingly Simple Spy tool for Inspecting Controls: SimpleSpy in AHK v2

Amazingly Flexible way to Notify yourself / Users

We finally released an update to our Notify object.   This tool is super simple to use yet extremely robust.  It makes it very easy to pop-up notifications / alerts to users.  You can use bare-bone notifications of just text, an icon, sounds, etc. Or you can go crazy adding pictures, songs, hyperlinks, or even callbacks (which wait for you to click the notification before moving forward).  Take a look at this video because we step through a ton of examples how to use it.

Amazingly Flexible AHK script for Notifying users
Amazingly Flexible AHK script for Notifying users

AutoHotkey Challenge

Isaias created this video of his Favorite 5 AHK scripts in response to my AutoHotkey Challenge.  There were some really interesting ideas here which help demonstrate some of the great things that can be done with AutoHotkey. 

AHK Challenge: Isaias Baez 5 Favorite Scripts
AHK Challenge: Isaias Baez 5 Favorite Scripts

What We’ve Recently Automated with AutoHotkey

I’m going to try and regularly create these videos to help stimulate ideas as to what can be automated with AutoHotkey.  In this video I showed the AutoHotkey files we’ve updated in the past 7 days.   Kind of hard to believe but it was 60 files! 😲   I guess that’s what happens when all you do is AutoHotkey 24-7!  Many of the things I show are just discussing what we’ve done for clients but that is plenty to give you ideas as to what can be automated…

What we Automated this week with AutoHotkey
What we Automated this week with AutoHotkey

📚 What we’re reading

🤖 AI / Chat GPT-3 News / Usage

⚡️Productivity tips: Navigating an Edit Field

  • Ctrl + Home: Moves cursor to beginning of document
  • Ctrl + End: Moves cursor to end of document

🤣 A spot of Humor:  Enjoy the timeless art of seduction❗

George's Underwear Photoshoot | The Package | Seinfeld

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

  • Work harder on yourself than you do on your job — Jim Rohn
  • Decisions without actions are worthless — Dan Kennedy
  • It’s better to get started in the wrong direction than not get started; We can fix the direction, we can’t fix not getting started. — Norm Schwarzkopf
  • You’ll never change your life until you change your daily routine — Joe Glines

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. Don’t forget that by taking control of your future you are ensuring you have one.  Some people sit back and hope life happens to them but you can be the one taking the bull by the horns and ensuring your future is great!   Borrow my mantra of ABL:  Always Be Learning!