People who thrive on difficult problems will relate to this – AHK News 2026-05-14

AutoHotkey Newsletter

Howdy,

Last week I had a call with a good friend I exchange ideas with daily.

Like me, and many other Entrepreneurs, he doesn’t have the problem of coming up with ideas.

He has the problem of “finishing-out” the ideas once he has solved the “hard stuff“.

The other day he surprised me because he spent some time outlining all those “little tedious things” that took him time to do and built an “app” to automate the process.

Now he starts his projects off automating the mundane part first, then he works on the “fun” stuff (solving the difficult problems).

Great job Ryan❗

For many people in corporate America this would seem backwards.

They look forward to doing the “mundane” because the solution is known.

I think, like Ryan and I, you love the challenge and live to find new solutions like us.

How about it❓  

Am I right that you like a challenge❓

That’s what our Hero club is all about!  People finding unique solutions to their problems.

Now on with the show…

Learn how to Master VSCode Make the switch to v2 Intro to AutoHotkey Intermediate AutoHotkey Intermediate ObjectsGUIs are Easy w/AutoHotkey Access all our Courses; Quit when you want

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AutoHotkey System Tray Icons

Hopefully you’ve seen our previous videos about using our IconFinder to really change your AutoHotkey icons.

In this video I discuss how you can control if your AutoHotkey icons show up in the system tray area or if they are in the system tray “overflow“.

This may seem nuanced, but finding your script shouldn’t be a part-time job! 🤣

Fix AutoHotkey Icons Moving Together in System Tray area vs. the Overflow
Fix AutoHotkey Icons Moving Together in System Tray area verse the Overflow


Our AHK V2 Window Snipping tool is spectacular

We released our V2 version of our Window snipping tool a while ago but I accidentally forgot to create a video on it.  It is full of amazing bells and whistles like:

  • Draw Arrows
  • Add Text
  • Highlight Areas
  • Delayed Capture

🖼️ Window Snipping Tool V2 – The Features That Make This a Must-Have tool
🖼️ Window Snipping Tool V2 - The Features That Make This a Must Have


Improving People’s Lives: Story #95

A friend is working on growing his business.   I mentioned that developing his USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is one of the most important things he can do.

I also mentioned this video and podcast explaining the concept.

How To Never Compete On Price Again 🏆 Simple USP Formula

How To Never Compete On Price Again 🏆 Simple USP Formula

But then I had him go to this GPT I created which helped guide him through the process and in about an hour, he had a very solid USP (the process can often take weeks❗)


📚 What we’re reading


🤖 AI News that you Need to Know


⚡️Productivity tips:

Brian Tracy has a book entitled Eat that frog where he argues you should tackle the hardest thing first.

The intro to this Newsletter gave a great example where the “hardest thing” should be relative to what you find “hardest” to get yourself to do!


🤣 A spot of Humor:

Jim Gaffigan: How Dads Vacation

Jim Gaffigan: How Dads Vacation | Jim Gaffigan

Jim Gaffigan: How Dads Vacation | Jim Gaffigan


What we 🅰utomated this week with AutoHotkey #132

In this week’s video I show you the Claude notifier we built that pops up the second your AI session finishes (no more forgetting which VS Code tab you were working in!), along with a slick new magnifier, an Alt+C color picker, and a dark mode for Automator Spy.

I also dig into the smoke tests we added to the AHK MCP server and where I think this AI + AutoHotkey combo is heading next.

What we automated with AI and AHK #132
What we automated with AI and AHK #132


Clients say…

This has the potential to save more time than anything we’ve done so far — Michael N. (Radiologist)


Cartoon superhero mascot in green costume beside the bold text AHK Hero on a yellow background AHK Hero 🦸

Consider joining the 🦸Hero club! Members receive 25% off courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.    Currently we have over 560 hours of recordings teaching AutoHotkey that is exclusive to Hero members❗

During this Friday’s call we’re planning to discuss:

  • Help Hero Members with their Questions & Code
  • Demonstrating Installing and using our AHK MCP Server
  • Creating a CLI by watching your browser actions creating an HAR file
  • Automator Spy– Dark mode and Inspector
    • Graph inside ListView
  • Using Persona Prompting in your skills and agents❓
  • Using SendTo to push files to a Script
  • Updates to Simple Checklist
  • Using Try/Catch in your code

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


🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes

  • If you have time to whine then you have time to find the solution — Dee Dee Artner
  • Before you diagnose yourself with depression, first make sure that you are not just surrounded by aholes — Sigmund Freud
  • Spending time with someone is more important than spending money on them — John Carlton

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  Dedicated to Multiplying your Income

Joe, Isaias, Irfan and staff


P.S. If you’re like us in that you enjoy the “struggle” you should consider joining the Hero club.

It’s a fun group of people of all ages that love to solve problems and get things done!

AHK News 2026-03-05 Making best use of your Scarce Resources🧠

AutoHotkey Newsletter

Howdy %Name%,

I’m using AI more and more these days.

When Open AI first released ChatGPT, it was clear the potential was insane❗

I realized combining AutoHotkey with AI would make a powerful combination.

AI provides the brains and AutoHotkey does the actions.

And now that AI is getting brilliant at programming I feel like I’m being “freed up” to truly focus on what matters.

I’m thinking about recording a video sharing my best “vibe coding” tips.   Would you be interested in seeing that❓  Let me know by replying to this newsletter.

If enough people are interested I’ll record it this week.

Now on with the show…

Learn how to Master VSCode Make the switch to v2 Intro to AutoHotkey Intermediate AutoHotkey Intermediate ObjectsGUIs are Easy w/AutoHotkey Access all our Courses; Quit when you want

firstAHKScript

AHK v1, v2 and v2.1 Beta

I used AI to discuss the differences between the main versions of AutoHotkey.  It did a great job which you can hear about in this video.

🚨 AutoHotkey V2.1 Features Will Change How You Code Forever
🚨 AutoHotkey V2.1 Features Will Change How You Code Forever


Are all the New v2.1 new Features really an Improvement?

As a follow-up to the above video Niek, an AHK Hero member, and I discuss V1 and some of the changes coming in v2.1 beta.  It turned into a very interesting discussion which you can watch here.

🚨 Why This Developer HATES AutoHotkey’s New v2.1 Features | AHK Hero Extract
🚨 Why This Developer HATES AutoHotkey's New v2.1 Features | AHK Hero Extract


Easily Merge PDFs

I was preparing my tax documents and wanted to give my Claude project the ~55 Amazon invoices and have it create a spreadsheet listing the items and their costs.

Unfortunately Projects had a max of 20 files so I just pivoted and created PDF Merger to merge the 55 pdfs into one and I then gave that to Claude.

You can check out the tool in this short video.

🔧 I Built a PDF Merger Because Claude Has a 20-File Limit
🔧 I Built a PDF Merger Because Claude Has a 20-File Limit


VS Code Profiles Vs Workspaces

We often joke that VS code is the Ferrari of editors.

It is incredibly powerful.  However, with all that functionality, it can be difficult to keep it all straight.

Ray, a Hero member, asked for clarification on Workspaces and Profiles.  You can check out the video here

VS Code Profiles vs Workspaces: Which One Do You ACTUALLY Need? 🤔
VS Code Profiles vs Workspaces: Which One Do You ACTUALLY Need? 🤔 |AHK Hero Extract

And remember, if you’re wanting to learn how to use VS code you can check out our Intro to VS code course.  The course comes with double your money back guarantee.


Improving People’s Lives: Story #84

A friend had a bad accident a while ago and, even after a few surgeries, still has significant pain & lack of strength in his neck & back.

He’d read about NMES (which is similar to a TENS) but wasn’t sure if it was a gimmick.

I figured this was a great job for NotebookLM since it rarely hallucinates.  I created several videos, reports and a pro/con debate podcast which helped him decide it was worth a try.

I’m happy to report it has given him great relief!

Click here If you’d like to check out the research, Podcasts, Infographics or Videos.


📚 What we’re reading


🤖 AI News that you Need to Know


⚡️Productivity tips:   Study on Extreme Productivity

Top 3 (of 12) differentiators were:

  • Hold themselves Accountable
  • Are very Proactive
  • Have Productive Habits overall

🤣 A spot of Humor: Jimmy Carr helps someone quit (with Pizazz)

Jimmy Carr Records the Most BRUTAL Resignation Message Ever!
Jimmy Carr Records the Most BRUTAL Resignation Message Ever!



What we 🅰utomated this week with AutoHotkey #124

In this week’s video I dove into 13+ tools.  From an AI-powered OCR that blows Windows’ built-in version out of the water, to a segmenter tool, a dim screen upgrade with a color picker, and even a newsletter plugin that uses embeddings to match content intelligently.

What we Automated with AutoHotkey #124
What we Automated with AutoHotkey #124


Clients say…

My mind is blown — Kelly Coughlin


Cartoon superhero mascot in green costume beside the bold text AHK Hero on a yellow background AHK Hero 🦸

Consider joining the 🦸AHK Hero club! Members receive 25% off courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.    Currently we have over 530 hours of recordings teaching AutoHotkey that is exclusive to AHK Hero members❗

You can watch 1 hour a day for a year and not repeat content! That’s a lot of AHK Learning!

During this Friday’s call we’re planning to discuss:

  • Help AHK Hero Members with their Questions & Code
  • AHK Script Maker: Another round of updates, adding v1 to v2 converter
  • Using Try/Catch in your code
  • Creating a wrapper for YT-DLP
  • Moving Chrome and restoring it
  • Claude’s Files API lets you upload files and access them from various API calls
  • Connecting Claude to NoteBookLM
  • Deciding on Model to use in OpenRouter
  • Setting default values in an ini file

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


🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes

  • If you come to a fork in the road, take it — Yogi Berra
  • Underutilization ➡️ Lack of perceived value ➡️ Churn — Ryan Wells
  • Listen more than you talk. And when you talk, observe the rules of conversation. If these rules are a mystery to you, go hunt them down — John Carlton

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  Dedicated to Multiplying your Income

Joe, Isaias, Irfan and staff


P.S. If you would like help talking through what you should be working with, look at my calendar and book a call.

Double P.S. I can’t mention scarce resources and not mention Thomas Sowell’s amazing book Basic Economics.  For over 25 years I’ve been saying “If I could get everyone on the planet to read one book, this would be it❗”

Our Favorite AI Tools used by the-Automator

My AI Tools Cheat Sheet

Here is our list of AI tools we use regularly organized by superpowers. Pick your poison and get stuff done!

AI Superpower Guide: Know which to use depending on your task

AI Superpower Guide: Know which to use depending on your task


Text & Writing Tools

These are your go-tos for chatting, brainstorming, and whipping up words.

Research & Info Hunters

For digging up facts, news, or deep dives without the hassle.

️ Image & Graphic Wizards

Turn ideas into visuals—static or tweaked.

Video, Audio & Media Makers

From clips to tunes, edit or generate on the fly.

Coding & Dev Boosters

Supercharge your scripts and builds.

⚡ Productivity & Utility Sidekicks

Everyday helpers for tasks, teams, and quick builds.

Updated: October 28, 2025 | Keep crushing it with AI!