• Intro to AutoHotkey HotStrings with AutoHotkey Intermediate AutoHotkey Intermediate Objects GUIs are Easy w/AutoHotkey Intro to DOS & AutoHotkey AutoHotkey FAQ2

December 2022 AutoHotkey Newsletter

AutoHotkey Newsletter December 2022

AHK Newsletter

AutoHotkey Newsletter: December 15th, 2022

Howdy %Name%,

Improving oneself is a crucial aspect of personal growth and development. Learning new skills, techniques, and technologies can not only enhance our abilities and performance, but it can also help us to stay competitive in today’s ever-changing job market.

By learning AutoHotkey, individuals can significantly increase their productivity and reduce the risk of errors in their work. With AutoHotkey, tasks that would normally take multiple steps and require manual input can be automated, allowing users to complete them with a single click or keystroke. This not only saves time and effort, but it can also help to reduce the likelihood of mistakes.

In addition to improving efficiency and reducing errors,
learning AutoHotkey can also open up new career opportunities. Many companies and organizations are constantly seeking individuals with expertise in automation and scripting, and having AutoHotkey skills on your resume can make you a more attractive candidate for these types of roles.

Learning AutoHotkey is an important step in improving oneself and advancing one’s career. By mastering this powerful scripting language, individuals can greatly increase their productivity, reduce the risk of errors, and open up new opportunities in their chosen field.

Now on with the show…


🎉 Ring in the New Year at the AutoHotkey Party 🎊 Don’t miss out on the fun! 🎆

Want to have some fun New Year’s eve with like-minded people?   We’ll be in zoom from 7-10 CST (10 CST is midnight for Isaias) and live-stream to YouTube.  If you’d like to join  the zoom call there is a “cover charge” of $7 (Just trying to cover the costs of paying Isaias).  We’ll be having fun helping people with code and talking tech.   We used Chat GPT-3 to create some “AutoHotkey drinking games.”   We discuss our plan for the evening in this video.

🎉 Ring in the New Year with AutoHotkey excitement 🎉 Join us live❗🎈

🎉 Ring in the New Year with AutoHotkey excitement 🎉 Join us live❗🎈


🤖 Chat GPT-3 is the bomb 💣

The more we use Open AI’s Chat GPT-3 (and other models), the more impressed we are with them.  They are not writing amazing AutoHotkey (yet) but it definitely will be in the coming months.  As I mention in this video, it is the biggest thing since Fire and/or the wheel.   We’ve done many videos on how to use it for programming however I haven’t created videos on many other ways that I’m using it.  There are too many to list here however I’ll consider making a video documenting some of what we’re doing with it.

Right now we’re realizing many things we are doing manually, Chat GPT-3 can do faster and better.

Should you be using Chat GPT-3🤖? Now that is a stupid question❗

🤖Should you be using Chat GPT-3? Now that is a stupid question❗


How to Master UI Automation⚡ with AutoHotkey

We had a client consultation call that was having some trouble using the AutomationID with UI Automation.   During the call Isaias gave some great learnings on deciding which “pattern” you might want, depending on your need and how to use it.  Thankfully the client said it was okay we share this so you can learn from it here.

🔥Master UIAutomation : Learn how to interact with controls like a pro💪

🔥Master UIAutomation : Learn how to interact with controls like a pro💪


🖱️ Customize your clicks! 🔥 Transform the way you interact with your computer 💥

I’m willing to bet you are all familiar with context sensitive Hotkeys and HotStrings.  But have you ever thought about creating context sensitive mouse clicks?   In this video I walk through how you can change what happens when you clicked based on what your mouse is over.

Revolutionize your clicking game with this MUST-HAVE AutoHotkey hack!

Revolutionize your clicking game with this MUST-HAVE AutoHotkey hack!


Amazing Auto-Completer in the works  😁

An AHK Hero member wanted a tool to help auto complete based on what he is typing.   I immediately thought of the Sift function to allow for more complex pattern.  We implemented it really quickly and our client was really happy with the tool.  Later he “stress tested” it by loading over 40,000 rows of data (we started off with around 3,000 rows).   This made a noticeable lag so we are working on an updated version using the built-in ADO database.

If you’re not aware, Windows has a built-in database tool that can read text files and allows you to run SQL on the results.  In the past I’ve used it to join files together, filter lists, etc.  After some quick testing we are satisfied we can incorporate it into the tool which will remove the latency.

We’re also writing a function entitled “SQLSift” which will be a SQL generator that will generate many patterns that were available in the Sift command (but in SQL).   The SQL should work in most SQL environments so you can port it to SQLite, ADODB, MySQL, etc.   Hopefully we’ll release this soon.

Changing GUI to be editable & great fuzzy matching script: Sift

Changing GUI to be editable & great fuzzy matching script: Sift


AutoHotkey v2: Error Reporting

Have you made the switch to AutoHotkeyV2?   We were really excited to see V2.0 released and are actively working more and more with it.   In this video we discuss some of the benefits of the new Error Reporting in v2.

Check out the New Error reporting in v2❗ Cool improvements 😍

Check out the New Error reporting in v2❗ Cool improvements 😍


Neutron is now available in AHKv2

Neutron is a great way to create amazing GUIs in AutoHotkey leveraging HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.  During an AutoHotkey webinar back in May 2020, GeekDude demonstrated his amazing Neutron library.  Just the other day GeekDude reached out to me and mentioned he has updated it to work with AutoHotkey V2.    You can learn more about Neutron from the AHK forum post

AutoHotkey Webinar 05/2020 Hour 2- Geek Dude’s Neutron and Q&A

AutoHotkey Webinar 05/2020 Hour 2- Geek Dude's Neutron and Q&A


📚 What we’re reading


⚡️Productivity tips  Time Vampires ⌚🧛‍♀️

Time vampires suck!  Do what you can to avoid people that take up your time and you’ll be amazed at how much more you have of it!


🤣 A spot of Humor

This video is a little out there but had some very funny clips.

The Best Of The Internet (2022)

The Best Of The Internet (2022)


AHKHeroAnimation AHK Hero?

Want more time than the free hour? Have content that you can’t have on YouTube? Consider joining the 🦸‍♀️AHK Hero club! Members receive big discounts to courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.
They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and a 2nd “office hours” session which isn’t on YouTube.


🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes

  • Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is specifically your own Bruce Lee
  • Successful people rarely start out As most likely to succeed
  • Work first, reward second, in order Dan Kennedy

Live Live AutoHotkey Support Tomorrow

Don’t forget on Friday’s you can get free AutoHotkey support on my YouTube channel.  Or you can sign up for reminders and join the zoom room.



The-Automator

Joe, Isaias and staff

P.S. We hope to see you New Year’s eve!  You can join the YouTube channel for free or come onto the zoom call for $7.


AutoHotkey Newsletter: December 15th, 2022

Howdy %Name%,

Can you believe it; AutoHotkey v2 is, finally, here!

The initial release of AHK V2 happened in March 1, 2009 which means it’s been in development for nearly 15 years!   Wow, and I thought I was slow to release things…  lol

Seriously though this is really, really big news in the AutoHotkey world!

Personally I’m a bit torn on the topic.   On the one hand, the language being “stricter” will give it more credibility to programmers however one of the huge strengths of AutoHotkey was it’s openness to non-technical people.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very thankful for Lexikos’ work however I do think it is going to change the core audience and some people will not use it because it is too much like “programming”.

This link is to our V2 playlist however here are a few videos that you might want to review:

What to look out for when making the switch

🚀 Make the switch to AutoHotkey v2! 🚀 Here’s what you need to know 💡


🚀 Make the switch to AutoHotkey v2! 🚀 Here's what you need to know 💡


Now on with the show…

Chat GPT-3 is taking over the world!

Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but I honestly believe it isn’t too far off.  The AHK Hero group has been having a lot of fun discussing it’s uses.  Here are a few videos we created last week discussing it’s usage with AutoHotkey.   I have a public playlist here.

🤖AI revolutionized with Chat GPT & AutoHotkey!🔥Discover what you can and can’t do with it!🤯

🤖AI revolutionized with Chat GPT & AutoHotkey!🔥Discover what you can and can't do with it!🤯


🚨💻 Debugging AutoHotkey made EASY with ChatGPT 💥🔥

🚨💻 Debugging AutoHotkey made EASY with ChatGPT 💥🔥


🔥🤯 Incredible Tips for Using 🤖ChatGPT to Generate Code Like a Pro 💻”

🔥🤯 Incredible Tips for Using 🤖ChatGPT to Generate Code Like a Pro 💻


🚀 Boost Your Coding Skills with OpenAI 🔥 A Viral Guide to Generative Algorithms 💻

🚀 Boost Your Coding Skills with OpenAI 🔥 A Viral Guide to Generative Algorithms 💻


📚 What we’re reading


⚡️Productivity tips : 🕵️‍♀️ Track your day

Some people hate tracking every minute of their day however, unless you track it, it’s impossible to really “know” where your time is spent.   Keep a clear log of what you work on every day and you’ll be amazed!


🤣 A spot of Humor

It’s rare for me, but I have felt this way a couple times this year

forceAwakens


AHKHeroAnimation AHK Hero

Want more time than the free hour? Have content that you can’t have on YouTube? Consider joining the 🦸 AHK Hero club! Members receive big discounts to courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.
They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and a 2nd “office hours” session which isn’t on YouTube.


🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes

  • Ideas fade away if you don’t write them down
  • Put systems in place that will allow ordinary people to do extraordinary things — Joe Glines
  • Work harder on yourself than you do on your job — Jim Rohn

Live Live AutoHotkey Support Tomorrow

Don’t forget on Friday’s you can get free AutoHotkey support on my YouTube channel.  Or you can sign up for reminders and join the zoom room.



The-Automator

Joe, Isaias and staff

P.S.  We hope you have an amazing Holiday!


AutoHotkey Newsletter: December 15th, 2022

Howdy %Name%,

Do you read with purpose? Do you ask questions with purpose? Do you listen with purpose? Do you watch TV with purpose? What “purpose” am I talking about?

If you are committed to improving your automation skills then you should always be asking yourself if you can “use that approach” in solving your automation problem.  Always be alert to and aware of what’s going on around you and soak in whatever information comes your way.

Give yourself opportunities to stretch your thinking. Read things you would not ordinarily read. Go places you would not ordinarily go. Use tools you wouldn’t ordinarily use.

Talk to people you don’t run into regularly. Don’t just hang around other people like you.

Keep your eyes (and more importantly your mind) open to new ways you can borrow what you’ve seen and incorporate into something you’re working on.   ABL:=  Always Be Learning❗

Now on with the show…


Is there an AI Revolution with Chatbot GPT3?

During an AHK Hero call we discussed the current status of AI and Chatbot GPT3.   It has definitely come a long ways in the past 6 months but still has a ways to go.  Having said that, we discuss what you can currently use it for and how it can be increditbly helpful assisting you with your code.

🤖AI revolutionized with Chat GPT & AutoHotkey!🔥Discover what you can and can’t do with it!🤯

🤖AI revolutionized with Chat GPT & AutoHotkey!🔥Discover what you can and can't do with it!🤯


Context Sensitive Mouse Clicks 🐁

Inspired by an AHK Hero member I adapted one of Lexikos’ scripts to allow for context sensitive mouse clicks depending on what your mouse is hovering over.   This way you can assign a mouse button to do different actions based on what it is above.

Mouse is Over- Context sensitive Mouse clicking with AutoHotkey

Mouse is Over- Context sensitive Mouse clicking with AutoHotkey


Yikes- was that a virus I just downloaded?

A subscriber emailed me to let me know that my script was a “virus”.  I let him know that there are a lot of false flags from virus checking software but thought I’d make a video to help demonstrate what virus software is doing.  In this video I show what happens when you submit the AutoHotkey.exe executable to VirusTotal.com as well an AutoHotkey script, compiled version and mpress (compressed) version.

Did I just download a virus❓ Why Virus checkers are often wrong

Did I just download a virus❓ Why Virus checkers are often wrong


Why does this run❓❓❓

During one of our AHK Hero member calls I demonstrated a bit of code that surprised a lot of member so I decided to create a separate video because there are probably a lot of people out there that would get this wrong.  Are you one of them?

Miss Conception of AutoHotkey: Why does this run❓

Miss Conception of AutoHotkey: Why does this run❓


Sometimes simple is best

When you have advanced skills, it’s easy to want to create a complex solution to a problem however sometimes simple fits the bill!  We recently had a webinar on 9 ways to web scrape with AutoHotkey.  I definitely could have taken an advanced approach however, in this video I show how easy it was to repeatedly click a button over and over.

Web Scraping with AutoHotkey: The ultimate guide for 2023

Web Scraping with AutoHotkey: The ultimate guide for 2023


Setting any program to be “Always On Top”

Sometimes it’s super-helpful to have a program stay on-top of other programs.  In this super-short video I show just how simple it is.  Trust me, once you get used to this you’re going to wonder how you lived without it!

How to easily set any program to stay on top of all others❗

How to easily set any program to stay on top of all others❗


Easily Mapping a mysterious key

Do you have an extra key on your keyboard that you don’t know what it is (so you don’t use it) but would like to?   Isaias and I walk through how easy it is to detect what key is being pressed with AutoHotkey and map it to a Hotkey.

How to map a mystery key to a hotkey | 🗺❓🔑

How to map a mystery key to a hotkey | 🗺❓🔑


Automating programs with UIA

The work Descolada did on UIA is really helping people automate programs!  In this video Isaias and I walk through some of the basics in using the class.   UI  Automation is a model that can be used to automate most programs.  It’s been around for quite some time however this class is relatively new to AutoHotkey.  If you’re new to using classes & objects, I highly recommend our Objects & Classes course.

How to easily automate nearly any program with the UI Automation API

How to easily automate nearly any program with the UI Automation API


📚 What we’re reading


⚡️Productivity tips : Tracking your time

People that have to log their time are typically much better at avoiding time /scope creep.  Consider keeping a log of where you spend your time and you’ll magically start having more ofit!

🤣 A spot of Humor

This is an oldy but a great, hilarious, video.  Have you ever been “the expert” in the room?  I have and I know exactly how this guy felt!

The Expert (Short Comedy Sketch)

The Expert (Short Comedy Sketch)


AHKHeroAnimation Consider joining the AHK Hero club

Want more time than the free hour? Have content that you can’t have on YouTube? Consider joining the 🦸‍♀️AHK Hero club! Members receive big discounts to courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.
They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and a 2nd “office hours” session which isn’t on YouTube.


🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes

  • Work harder on yourself than you do on your job Jim Rohn
  • Whatever Your Mind Can Conceive and Believe, It Can Achieve. Napoleon Hill
  • You’ll always think there is a better time to start; Start now!

Live AutoHotkey Support Tomorrow

Don’t forget on Friday’s you can get free AutoHotkey support on my YouTube channel.  Or you can sign up for reminders and join the zoom room.



The-Automator

Joe, Isaias and staff

P.S. We are having some amazing conversations in the Private Telegram group to the AHK Hero club.  If you’re not a member you are missing out!


AutoHotkey Newsletter: December 8th, 2022

Howdy %Name%,

Do you find AutoHotkey confusing?   Honestly I don’t blame you because we are not taught how to use a computer “efficiently”.

Schools don’t teach it.

Bosses don’t encourage it and don’t give time for us to learn it

Colleges have specific courses on programs but they don’t focus on how to use a computer efficiently.

But your past does not need to dictate your future.

It’s one of the reasons why I’ve created over 1,200 AutoHotkey videos and our AHK Courses.  It’s also one of the reasons why we created the AHK Hero club.  So you can have direct access to AutoHotkey experts.

Stop being frustrated when you code and start learning how to be more efficient!  Or consider signing up for an AHK Tune-up which has a 200% money back guarantee!  That’s right.  If you’re not 100% satisfied, you get a complete refund

AND WE PAY YOU!

Now on with the show…



Easily getting the Text under your Mouse

The UIA library from Descolada is relatively new however UIA has been around for quite some time.  I realized I had never shared this script which utilizes the UIA technology for, programmatically, getting the text under the mouse.

How to easily get the text under the mouse in most Windows Programs❗


How to easily get the text under the mouse in most Windows Programs❗


More Updates to v1:  V1.1.36.02 released on Dec 7th

Last week we recorded this video on v1.1.36.00.  There were some great additions like

VerCompare and updates to #Requires directive to allow specifying bitness and encoding.

Just an fyi- Lexikos has already pushed out two updates which fix a few things…

AutoHotkey v1.1.36.00 Some really cool new AHK functionality!😲


AutoHotkey v1.1.36.00 Some really cool new AHK functionality!😲


Reading and Writing files with AutoHotkey

A lot of what we do with AutoHotkey involves reading and writing to text files.   Thankfully this is super-easy with AutoHotkey!  Here I show how you can easily read/write to text files.   This video was extracted from the Intro to AutoHotkey course.

File Read and write with AutoHotkey


File Read and write with AutoHotkey


Using Excel functions

Excel is an amazing program!  With a crazy amount of built-in functions sometimes you want to leverage them.   In this video I show how you can use some very common functions by inserting the formula in Excel.  This way, if the data changes, the values will be recalculated.

I also show how you can “call Excel functions” without saving them in a cell.  Pretty nifty stuff if you wanted a value as an AutoHotkey variable…

Inserting Excel Functions and Using Excel formulas with AutoHotkey


Inserting Excel Functions and Using Excel formulas with AutoHotkey


Sending a lot of text with AutoHotkey

As you probably are aware, I LOVE HotStrings!  I ripped this video out of the HotStrings course which shows how you can speed-up sending a lot of text with AutoHotkey.  We’ve also had reports of issues sending text with AutoHotkey.  This is an approach that should work-around that problem.

How to send a lot of text with AutoHotkey


How to send a lot of text with AutoHotkey


Adding GUIs to your scripts

Just a reminder, GUIs don’t have to be difficult.   In this video I show how easy it was to add a GUI to my script.  This was made after I worked through our GUIs are easy course.  Isn’t it time you start using GUIs in your scripts?  Level-👆

How to easily add a GUI to your script | AutoHotkey GUIs are easy


How to easily add a GUI to your script | AutoHotkey GUIs are easy


📚 What we’re reading


⚡️Productivity tips:  Be Accountable❗

Whether it’s weekly check-ins with a co-worker or setting your own deadlines and announcing them to “the world”, having to answer to someone else can often force you to get the job done.  When you share your goals with others research shows you are 42% more likely to achieve the goal.

fingersTouch


🤣 A spot of Humor

I have to say, at times, I know EXACTLY how this “Tech Support” guy felt!

Medieval helpdesk in English

Medieval helpdesk in English


QAPbr Quick Access Popup news

I had a call with a Hero member the other day and got him started using Quick Access Popup.  It’s an amazingly powerful tool which I use throughout the day.   Even though I know AutoHotkey, it is much easier for doing many thing!   Are you using Quick Access Popup?  Trust me, you should be!

Here is a link to my Quick Access Popup playlist (in case you need some ideas of what can be done with it)


AHKHeroAnimation AHK Hero?

Want more time than the free hour? Have content that you can’t have on YouTube? Consider joining the 🦸‍♀️AHK Hero club! Members receive big discounts to courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.
They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and a 2nd “office hours” session which isn’t on YouTube.


🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes

  • Work harder on yourself than you do on your job — Jim Rohn
  • Whatever Your Mind Can Conceive and Believe, It Can Achieve. — Napoleon Hill (If he only knew about AutoHotkey!)
  • If you ask me anything I don’t know, I’m not going to answer — Yogi Berra

Live Live AutoHotkey Support Tomorrow

Don’t forget on Friday’s you can get free AutoHotkey support on my YouTube channel.  Or you can sign up for reminders and join the zoom room.



The-Automator

Joe, Isaias and staff

P.S. Don’t forget the #1 investment you can make is in yourself!   Learning to be more efficient is a great way to add security in these uncertain times.

AutoHotkey Newsletter: December 1st, 2022

Howdy %Name%,

If you boil down your personal, career, and , financial goals, into a single overriding objective it is the desire for greater control.  Ironically, as much as we desire greater control, we are the ones who often give it away. Every time we say:

  • It’s the location of our business
  • It’s my genes / parents / partner / co-worker / spouse / supervisor / etc.
  • It’s the season
  • It’s the economy
  • It’s the _______________

Each and every time we say an “it’s the…” We’re doing two things simultaneously:

  1. we push away a small “weight” of responsibility which, temporarily, makes us feel “better
  2. we give up an equal-sized amount of control which will later cause us anxiety

Only by taking on more responsibility can we have more control.   Once you realize you are in charge of your future, you are one step closer to achieving great things❗

Now on with the show…


Black Friday Sale ends soon! Save 40% on everything we offer!

blackFriday


AutoHotkey V2 is out of beta! 😲😲

Isaias and I were both really surprised to see that AutoHotkey V2 was out of beta.  The version is currently entitled “RC” which stands for “Release Candidate”  but I like to think of it as meaning “really close”.  LOL

In his comments Lexikos says he’s planning to release it “this year”.  Wow!  Have you begun to work with AutoHotkey V2?

AutoHotkey V2 is no longer in Beta❗ Planned to be released in 2022 😲

AutoHotkey V2 is no longer in Beta❗ Planned to be released in 2022 😲


9 ways to Web scrape with AutoHotkey AHK Hero Webinar

Last Friday we invited AHK Hero members to a webinar discussing pros/cons of 9 different approaches to Web Scraping with AutoHotkey❗   We discussed many different aspects of each one.  While the webinar was only available to AHK Hero members, we are letting people watch it.   If you’d been an AHK Hero, you could have been there to ask YOUR questions!

Web Scraping with AutoHotkey: The ultimate guide for 2023

Web Scraping with AutoHotkey: The ultimate guide for 2023

We have a few more days to take advantage of the 40% discount code “IndependantMeBlackFriday” offered for Black Friday.   Don’t miss this deal;  You’ll hate yourself later!


Getting around an Automation warning in Outlook

Several of our clients have us automating Outlook for them.  They were seeing a “stupid” automation warning from Outlook.   We looked around and found a simple, albeit weird, way to solve the problem.

Outlook Warning: “A program is trying to access e-mail address information”

Outlook Warning:


Using Excel to create an editable grid

A new client (thanks for the referral Jean Lalonde), and AHK Hero member, had created a tool similar in some ways to Quick Access Popup however he was having some difficulties with the GUI.  One need was to have a fully-editable ListView.    In AutoHotkey you can easily edit the first column however, to edit the other cells, you have to jump through a lot of hoops.  We discussed the client’s need and proposed using Excel to provide the grid.   With a little work we were able to hide everything except for the grid.

Excel is an amazingly powerful tool so he now has amazing functionality built into his tool with only 1 hour of our time being used!

Creating an editable Grid in AutoHotkey- Excel saves the day❗

Creating an editable Grid in AutoHotkey- Excel saves the day❗


Rendering Modern websites in AutoHotkey

An AHK Hero member was wanting to display Google maps in an a GUI.  Since we’d come up with a solution for another Hero member we thought we’d all get on a call and talk through how to do it in AutoHotkey V2.

How to Display Modern Websites inside an AHK GUI (🆕 WebView2 Runtime)

How to Display Modern Websites inside an AHK GUI (🆕 WebView2 Runtime)


Adding custom information to a GUI event in AutoHotkey

A YouTube subscriber asked a question on one of our GUI videos about being able to pass parameters from a “button click” on an AutoHotkey GUI.  In AHK V1 this is a fairly complicated topic as you need to bind it to the function so Isaias suggested we create a video demonstrating it and showing how much cleaner the code is when achieving the same goal in V2.

How to add custom information to a GUI event in AutoHotkey v1 & V2

How to add custom information to a GUI event in AutoHotkey v1 & V2


📚 What we’re reading


⚡️Productivity tips

One great tip for getting more done the next day is to drift-off to sleep thinking about a task you need to do the next day. Amazingly your subconscious will get to work for you while you sleep! 💤


🤣 A spot of Humor

I know a few people I’d like to send this to.  How about you %Name%?

unsub


AHKHeroAnimation AHK Hero?

Want more time than the free hour? Have content that you can’t have on YouTube? Consider joining the 🦸‍♀️AHK Hero club! Members receive big discounts to courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.
They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and a 2nd “office hours” session which isn’t on YouTube.


🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes

  • Don’t wait. The time will never be just right. Napoleon Hill
  • There’s more pay off from self-improvement than improving anything else Dan Kennedy
  • Improved productivity means less human sweat, not more. Henry Ford
  • The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me. Ayn Rand

Live Live AutoHotkey Support Tomorrow

Don’t forget on Friday’s you can get free AutoHotkey support on my YouTube channel.  Or you can sign up for reminders and join the zoom room.



The-Automator

Joe, Isaias and staff

P.S.  Don’t forget you can save 40% on everything we offer by using our Black Friday discount code IndependantMeBlackFriday.  Sale ends soon so act now!

blackFriday

November 2022 AutoHotkey Newsletter

AutoHotkey Newsletter  AHK Newsletter

AutoHotkey Newsletter November 10th, 2022

On November 10, 2003 Chris Mallet released the very first version of AutoHotkey(Beta .205)

We all owe Chris a huge Thank you

ahk19yearsold

I just thought you’d like to know AutoHotkey has been around for 19 years now!   I was lucky enough to stumble upon it around 2007

I found AutoHotkey because I was tired of using AutoCorrect in MS office programs (mainly because, at the time, AutoCorrect didn’t sync between Word, Excel PowerPoint etc.)   So HotStrings were my first love (which is why the HotStrings course was the first one I created)

Hard to believe that the beta Version of AutoHotkey 2  was released this year!  Although we are expecting it to become the default version of AutoHotkey in 2024.

I just looked at my oldest backup of AutoHotkey.ahk file (which was from 2008) and it was quite a flash-back.   When I first started using AutoHotkey I stuck with HotStrings and Hotkeys plus a little bit of bit of mouse clicks and a little RegEx to clean up text.   Take a look at your original scripts.  Have youleveled-up”?  If not, why not?

I know both I and AutoHotkey have come a long way over the past 19 years.  If you haven’t progressed perhaps you should conser one of our courses to learn AutoHotkey?

To celebrate AutoHotkey’s 19th birthday I’m creating a store wide coupon for 19% everything we offer!

In the next week you can get any of our courses for 19% off.   Just go here and select a course that you want to purchase.  Then use “AHK19Birthday as the coupon code during checkout

This also includes Tutoring, done for you Consulting or even signing up for our AHK Hero group.

This coupon code will be valid for 19 days (until November 29th) but use it now to continue to improve yourself!

Joe, Isaias, and team



P.S.  Can you imagine a world without AutoHotkey?   I can and it is scary!  I’ve saved an amazing amount of time using AutoHotkey.  I hope you realize it is more than sending mouse clicks and key strokes.  Use this email as a point to jump-start your knowledge and shift your strategy to working smarter, not harder.


AutoHotkey Newsletter November 3rd, 2022

Howdy %Name%,

Do you ever wish you could custom design your own future as a programmer / Automator?
Cool!  Then I’ve got one heck of a counterintuitive tip for you.
First, line up all the mistakes possible in your gig.
Then… go MAKE them. All of ‘em. Yes, every last one.
Why?
Cuz 99% of learning is from what we do wrong, not what we do right.

Now on with the show…



Updates to the AHK Toolkit: Great way to test your code

I asked Isaias to spend some time on his AHK Toolkit.  He made it super easy to switch between versions of AutoHotkey 😊.   In this video we also discuss some of the other really cool features it has.

Streamline testing your code with this Update to AHK Toolkit

Streamline testing your code with this Update to AHK Toolkit


Adjusting Output window

Speaking of testing code, have you tried out our function that pays attention to the editor you are in and adjusts for you?   Quite handy if you’re using more than one editor (or sharing your code with others that use a different editor).  We discuss how to use it in this video but you can get the function here.

Debugging your scripts: Displaying text regardless of editors

Debugging your scripts: Displaying text regardless of editors


Getting Properties from UIA

On a client call the other day we were extremely thankful for Descolada’s work on UIA.  The programs we were automating were very “new” and impossible to peak inside of by any other method.  It reminded me of this video where Isaias walks us through how to access properties.

How to easily access properties from UIA

How to easily access properties from UIA


🎃Spooky updates to AutoHotkey👻

On October 30th Lexikos released updates to both V1 and V2.  In this video Isaias and I discuss the tweaks / patches released in V1.1.35.00.  BTW- have you begun to program in V2 yet?

🎃 Spooky AutoHotkey Update👻


Context Sensitive Hotkeys in v2

If you are working in V2, you’ll need to rethink Context sensitive hotkeys using the #HotIf directive.

This is because: IfWinactive, IfWinexist, etc. have been removed as AxleFublr explains in this video.  If you’re wanting to learn V2, his channel, AHK All the Way, only uses V2.   Incidentally he was on our live Friday AutoHotkey help call last week.  Thanks for dropping in Axlfublr!

Context Sensitive Hotkeys in — AutoHotkey v2


Sometimes stupid works🤦‍♂️!

As you should know we rarely send keystrokes & mouse clicks.   That being said, sometimes you realize it would be handy to just send mouse clicks….   The other day I was cleaning up my spam folder and realized a 3-line, super simple, script would be extremely “handy” (excuse the pun).

Super simple script for cleaning up spam folder

Super simple script for cleaning up spam folder


Reading And Writing text files

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m working on an email drip campaign for people new to AutoHotkey.  One of the emails is how to read/write text files.   Since I’m super lazy I decided to just extract a video from the Intro to AutoHotkey course.   In this short video I show you how easy it is to in AutoHotkey.  I also show how you can easily check if a file exists or not.

File Read and write with AutoHotkey


📚 What we’re reading


⚡️Productivity tips:  Break up your day

Consider breaking your day down into various time slots.  Then have specific things you do during those slots and stick to it.  For instance, I typically open my emails in the morning and then in the afternoon but, most of the day, I don’t have Outlook / Gmail open.


🤣 A spot of Humor: 🤪 Crazy people!

In 1990 Dudley Moore starred in “Crazy People”.  A movie that is mostly forgettable except for the general idea of “what would happen if advertisers told the truth”?    Some hilarious ads were written!  🤣🤣🤣

Crazy People


Join the AHK Heroes! AHK Hero?

Want more time than the free hour? Have content that you can’t have on YouTube? Consider joining the 🦸‍♀️AHK Hero club! Members receive big discounts to courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.
They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and a 2nd “office hours” session which isn’t on YouTube.


🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes

  • Whatever Your Mind Can Conceive and Believe, It Can Achieve. — Napoleon Hill
  • Work harder on yourself than you do on your job — Jim Rohn
  • The secret to getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one. — Mark Twain

Live Live AutoHotkey Support Tomorrow

Don’t forget on Friday’s you can get free AutoHotkey support on my YouTube channel.  Or you can sign up for reminders and join the zoom room.

You can use either of the below to add a reminder for the Friday meetings. We hope to see you there!

Outook Gmail
outlook google


The-Automator

Joe, Isaias and staff

P.S. Due to the urging of our clients we’re going to be raising our prices soon (apparentely we offer way more value than what we’re charging).  Anyway, I’m going to increase our overall prices however, AHK Heroes will be locked-in to the current price for the next year so you might consider signing up now if you plan to hire us in the future.

October, 2022 AutoHotkey Newsletter

October 2022, AutoHotkey Newsletter

AutoHotkey Newsletter

AutoHotkey Newsletter: October 27th, 2022

Howdy %Name%,

You know how real estate prices recently went nuts?
I know, I know, there’s a ton of money in real estate. Long ago I realized there was something that returned a MUCH better return-on-investment, and the risk was pretty much zilch

It’s my brain 🧠❗

In my head, I can solve all sorts of problems and people pay me huge bucks to do so.
I am in the investment game.  It’s just that I don’t deal in real estate, or stocks or bonds, or anything else “physical”.

I deal in brain power⚡.  Giving advice and writing code that changes lives and alters the future.
Invest in yourself and learn.

Now on with the show…



The magic of AutoHotkey

The magic of AutoHotkey

AHK products


Forcing any program to always be on top

If you’re using a laptop, my Window Snipping tool is super helpful to keep parts of your window and then easily removing it later.   But sometimes it helps to change a program to be always on top.  In AutoHotkey it is amazingly simple and I show you how to do it here.

How to easily set any program to stay on top of all others❗

How to easily set any program to stay on top of all others❗


maestrith
Adding a thousands separator to your numbers

Often we have values that we’d like to display in AutoHotkey.  In this video I show a simple RegEx provided to me years ago by Maestrith (author of AHK Studio).  The nice thing about this function is you can decide on the separator (in the U.S. we use a comma however other parts of the world they use a period).  If you’re new to Regular Expressions, I highly recommend you take a look at some of these tutorials.  For testing Regular Expressions I like to use RegEx101 and have this AHK Quick reference page open.  You also might want to work through Jack Dunning’s excellent AutoHotkey book on RegEx (I did❗).

How to easily add thousands separator to a number in AutoHotkey

How to easily add thousands separator to a number in AutoHotkey


Functional vs. Procedural programming

Do you know the difference between Functional vs. Procedural programming❓  Neither did I however Isaias walked me through some of the main differences in this video.

Functional / Procedural VS. Object Oriented Programming languages

Functional / Procedural VS. Object Oriented Programming languages


Outlook emails

For our clients we’ve been doing a lot of Outlook automation.  Since Outlook has a COM object it is really easy to automate with AutoHotkey.  In this video I demonstrate how to easily get a few items.  If you’d like to learn more, you might check out our Webinar where we showed several examples of automating Outlook.

Outlook Email Object- Getting Name, email, Send date, etc.

Outlook Email Object- Getting Name, email, Send date, etc.


WMI: Windows Management Instrumentation

There is no easy way to describe  the amount of ways you can easily poke & prod windows using WMI.  In this video I demonstrate many of the functions you can use to pull information out of your Windows environment.

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and AutoHotkey

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and AutoHotkey


📚 What we’re reading


⚡️Productivity tips :  Make important behaviors measurable

To make progress toward any goal, it helps to track our progress.  Monitoring your progress is a great way to make sure it gets done (and gives us great ways to evaluate how efficient we are being


🤣 A spot of Humor

Thankfully we have AutoHotkey

updatecomputers


QAPbr Quick Access Popup news

Want to easily access your mobile devices?  Quick Access Popup has some great built-in tools for doing this!  In this video Jean Lalonde, the author of Quick Access Popup, shows how to access and use them.


AHKHeroAnimation AHK Hero?

Want more time than the free hour? Have content that you can’t have on YouTube? Consider joining the 🦸‍♀️AHK Hero club! Members receive big discounts to courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.
They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and a 2nd “office hours” session which isn’t on YouTube.


🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes

  • Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is specifically your own — Bruce Lee
  • If you want something done, ask the busiest person you know to do it and stand back!
  • I never lose. I either win, or learn. — Nelson Mandela

Live Live AutoHotkey Support Tomorrow

Don’t forget on Friday’s you can get free AutoHotkey support on my YouTube channel.  Or you can sign up for reminders and join the zoom room.



The-Automator

Joe, Isaias and staff

P.S.  Did you see that we added a Saturday session to the AHK Hero calls?   So for those of you that are too busy at work during the week, we now have a weekend call to join!


AutoHotkey Newsletter: October 20th, 2022

Howdy %Name%,

Do you have a checklist for your important processes?

Humans are amazing at some things and not so great at others.

We can often be very creative, using our imagination to solve very complicated problems far greater than any computer that has been created!  We’re even very good at identifying patterns and coming up with a routine or process.  What we’re not good at is always using that process.

We often get sidetracked, distracted, or are just not thinking critically and forget.

How many times have you gone to the store to buy something specific only to get home and realize you didn’t buy the one thing you went there for?    That’s where having a list is incredibly helpful!

“Create a checklist for all important procedures”

There’s a reason why pilots have one! ✔

Now on with the show…



📢 Big News for the 🅰HK Hero members 🦸‍♂️ 📢 AHKHeroAnimation

Our AHK Hero community is growing & expanding!

We’re adding a Saturday session!😲   So now we’ll be having 3 hours of availability per week.

Find amazing friends & learn AutoHotkey in the AHK Hero Community

Find amazing friends & learn AutoHotkey in the AHK Hero Community

Our office hours sessions are getting to be quite fun and educational.  Its really great to be able to connect with others that share a passion for automating the mundane!

If you haven’t joined yet, I highly encourage you to take the leap!    If you’d like to read some testimonials, or learn more, you can do so here.

As a final note I’d like to mention we’re going to “cap” entries pretty soon.  We don’t have the bandwidth for more sessions and I want to make sure members have time to ask their questions so, if you’re considering joining, now is the time!   For the end of the week the ½ off coupon is still valid.  Use “50PercOffLiveSubs” on checkout (good for 3 more days).


fiddler Using Fiddler to help with an API

During last week’s call an 🅰HK Hero was having problems working with an API.  I asked if he had used Fiddler to analyze his traffic.  He hadn’t however I stressed he watch some of my Fiddler videos to better understand what is being sent (and what he thought was being sent).   Interestingly enough, later that day, Isaias was having issues with an API and we used Fiddler to identify the problems we were having.  APIs are amazing but they can be complex.  Our webinar on APIs is a great place to start!

AutoHotkey Webinar 06/2017 Hour 1-Web services / API calls with AutoHotkey


AutoHotkey Webinar 06/2017 Hour 1-Web services / API calls with AutoHotkey


Using LIB folders

In a consultation call with a new AHK Hero member (welcome Erik O.) we were helping them better structure their testing framework for AutoHotkey.   (Sort of similar to what Chunjee mentioned in this video but much, much more complex).   Anyway, it reminded me of just how helpful LIBs are and properly using the #include directive can be. Isaias showed us all the testing environment that Lexikos uses with AutoHotkey.

If you’d like to learn more about #include read this post,

Properly using AutoHotkey ❰LIB❱ (and where AHK searches)

Properly using AutoHotkey ❰LIB❱ (and where AHK searches)


Setting a Window to Always on Top

Did you know that, with AutoHotkey, it is super-easy to set a window to always be on top?  In this video I show just how easy it is to assign a hotkey to the process.

How to easily set any program to stay on top of all others❗

How to easily set any program to stay on top of all others❗


Simple GUI for snippets

Y’all know I’m a huge fan of Quick Access Popup.   But sometimes you want something very simple and fast.  In this video I show how easy it is to create a GUI to show you the snippets of text to any edit field.

Easily select from a list and send a snippet of text with AutoHotkey

Easily select from a list and send a snippet of text with AutoHotkey


SciTE Debugging your scripts with SciTE4AutoHotkey

Isaias rocks debugging in VS Code but many of y’all are probably more comfortable in SciTE4AutoHotkey.   I have two videos where I show how to debug AutoHotkey code using SciTE.   The first video I show some of the basics.  In the second video I goa bit deeper.

BTW I still use it but do my AutoHotkey programming in AHK Studio.

Debug AutoHotKey with SciTE | Level up your AHK programming today!

Debug AutoHotKey with SciTE | Level up your AHK programming today! How to Debug with SciTE Part 2 | A deeper dive into debugging AutoHotkey code with SciTE4AutoHotkey


Giving an option to Add to Startup Process

I’m on a call right now with a client and Isaias where they are building-in an option into the tool to ask the user if they would like the script to be added to the startup menu.  We were discussing a couple of options (One being updating the registry directly the other creating a shortcut in the Startup folder.)

This reminded me that, in Windows XP & Win 7, it was super easy to add a script / program to your Windows startup process.   But Windows 8 and Win 10 made it more difficult so we created a simple tool to make it easier.  You can review the tool here and, if you’re interested, grab it here.

Add to startup: Easily add / remove programs from Windows Startup

Add to startup: Easily add / remove programs from Windows Startup


📚 What we’re reading


⚡️Productivity tips:  Institute the “Five-Minute Rule”

If you can do a task in five minutes or less do it right away!

If you spend a couple minutes understanding a task, but don’t take action, you’ll have to waste time refamiliarizing yourself with the task at a later date.  Multiply that by dozens of times throughout a week, and you’ll see chunks of time gained back.   It’s better to just “getter done”❗


😢 A spot of Humor Sadness

Make sure you watch this and listen very carefully.  There are some important, albeit tearful, “life lessons” you can learn here:

tearfullessons


🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes

  • Fact: You have just as much time as: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Thomas Jefferson & Einstein. It’s all about prioritizing & staying focused (and using 🅰utoHotkey❗)
  • Never be handicapped by your education Dan Kennedy
  • Never let success get to your head🧠, never let failure get to your heart💗

Live Live AutoHotkey Support Tomorrow

Don’t forget on Friday’s you can get free AutoHotkey support on my YouTube channel.  Or you can sign up for reminders and join the zoom room.



The-Automator

Joe, Isaias and staff

P.S. I seriously think you should sign up for being an AHK Hero.  It’s far better value and experience than you think!
Besides what is the risk? Surely a few dollars is worth changing the direction of your life! Sign up now and, if you’re not 💯% satisfied, you can quit at ANY time


AutoHotkey Newsletter: October 13th, 2022

Howdy %Name%,

I talk a lot about self-improvement as I’m a huge believer in investing in yourself over investing in “things”.    With AutoHotkey we’re able to work smarter, not harder!  In Steven Covey’s book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People“, habit number 7 is “Sharpen the Saw” (here is a short video illustrating the point.

Earlier last week I read this quote the other day from Jim Rohn

“Work harder on yourself than you do on your job”

My question to you is What are you doing to work on yourself at the moment?

Why not join us in the AHK Hero group?  Its amazing how much we are learning from each other!  While you get great discounts to courses the real value is the time, both in the private Telegram group and on our Office hours calls, where we ask questions and get answers!   Often just seeing how others are using AutoHotkey is inspirational🧠!

Stop being part of the “hustle culture” and start working smarter!

If you use this discount code “50PercOffLiveSubs” , you can become a hero at 1/2 price! however this coupon code is only good for the next 3 people so act now

Now on with the show…



Configure AHK Toolkit for V2

Isaias wrote the AHK Toolkit over 10 years ago!  He’s made small improvements over the years but one great functionality that he’s (manually) added was making it easy to run V2 scripts.  Unfortunately he hasn’t updated the GUI yet so, in this video, he walks through how to make the updates yourself.

Configuring AHK Toolkit for V2


Configuring AHK Toolkit for V2


Sending lots of Text

It’s amazingly simple with AutoHotkey to send text to an edit window!  But your mileage may very when you’re sending a lot of text!   In our HotStrings course I walk through a couple of ways to send large amounts of text.  I decided to put the video up on YouTube so everyone can access it.

How to send a lot of text with AutoHotkey


How to send a lot of text with AutoHotkey


Easily Navigate to Frequently used folders

While we’re on the topic of HotStrings,  a while back I showed how handy it can be to have HotStrings set up for frequently used folders.  I use these many times a day and highly recommend you have some for your frequently accessed folders.

Easily navigate to Folders with HotStrings


Easily navigate to Folders with HotStrings


Refactoring Code

Isaias and I share a lot of code on the-Automator and in our videos however we often don’t show the process the code went through, we just share the finished code.  This makes a lot of sense however it leads people to believe that, what we share, is what we originally came up with.  I saw a pattern in some code I wrote the other day that changes the size of font in text that is selected in either Excel or Word and decided to record a video showing the refactoring process.

Example Condensing Code and Refactoring code


Example Condensing Code and Refactoring code


Comparing lists

A short time ago I shared this video where Chunjee demonstrated various uses of his bigA class.  I didn’t mention it then however it reminded me of this little GUI tool I wrote that simplifies comparing lists.  In this video I show how to use it and how helpful it is!   BTW- it was one of the first GUIs I built!  If you’re new to GUIs, check out our GUIs are Easy course.

Easily Compare lists / comparing sets Sets with AutoHotkey


Easily Compare lists / comparing sets Sets with AutoHotkey


Functions are your lowest-hanging fruit! 🍒

If you’re new to AutoHotkey Functions are, by far, the easiest and fastest way to “level up” your programming skills!  They are essential and you need to learn them today!   I cover some of the basics in this video but I dive deeper in our Intro to AutoHotkey Course.

How to use functions in AutoHotkey| Level-up today!


How to use functions in AutoHotkey| Level-up today!


📚 What we’re reading

Work faster by adding YOUR buttons to the Excel Quick Access Toolbar


Work faster by adding YOUR buttons to the Excel Quick Access Toolbar


⚡️Productivity tips:  Schedule every phone call

To some, a productive day means one spent making phone calls. And that’s OK, but it needs to be predetermined. Schedule your calls, even if it means locking in a schedule in 30-minute increments. It’s worth it!


🤣 A spot of Humor

All jokes aside, true leaders lift up those beneath them.

liftup



AHKHeroAnimation
AHK Hero?

Want more time than the free hour?
Have content that you can’t have on YouTube? Consider joining the 🦸‍♀️AHK Hero club! Members receive big discounts to courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.
They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and a 2nd “office hours” session which isn’t on YouTube.

If you use this discount code “50PercOffLiveSubs” , you can become a hero at 1/2 price! however this coupon code is only good for the next 3 people so act now


🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes

  • Good leaders don’t make excuses. Instead, they figure out a way to get things done — Jocko Willink
  • You’re like a dull knife that just ain’t cutting. You’re talking loud and saying nothing James Brown
  • Life is better when you start forgiving the people who never apologized. Zig Ziglar

Live Live AutoHotkey Support Tomorrow

Don’t forget on Friday’s you can get free AutoHotkey support on my YouTube channel.  Or you can sign up for reminders and join the zoom room.



The-Automator

Joe, Isaias, and staff


October 6th, 2022

Howdy %Name%,

Once upon a time…

There once was this guy who was struggling. He was working 80+ hours a week to get ahead however moving up the ladder was a slow and painful process.

He then attended some training that showed how he could use “macros” to automate his work.  Unlike others in the class, he marveled at the overall concept and forced himself to learn how to use them.

It took a considerable amount of time and energy however, with perseverance, he kept at it and was able to automate much of his work.

For instance, when he started a new job, his predecessor told him a huge part of it was reporting on one project.  She worked from Mon-Friday morning and then had ½ a day on Friday to do other work.

From using macros & automation he was able to create much more advanced reporting that his predecessor and get it done in 10 minutes on Monday freeing up the rest of his week❗

I know this story is true because this is MY story.  Nearly 20 years ago I realized that:

“Knowledge is Power; Automation knowledge is a Super Power ⚡”

Back then I was just automating one program (SPSS).  Now I use AutoHotkey to automate nearly everything❗

And the best part is YOU CAN TOO!

Just keep applying and pushing yourself.  We have plenty of free content and AutoHotkey courses that can help nudge you along however, in my opinion, the best way is to join the AHK Hero club and start learning with, and from, your peers.  If you use this discount code “50PercOffLiveSubs” , you can become a hero at 1/2 price! however this coupon code is only good for the next 3 people so act now

Now on with the show…



bigA is an amazing class for working with Objects, Arrays and Text

An AutoHotkey hero member told me about bigA by Chunjee.  I took a quick look at its methods and was impressed.  Having done some work in Python and JavaScript I was always jealous of being able to easily slice text and perform many functions (like merging arrays, detecting the difference between arrays, etc.).

I reached out to Chunjee (he’s often on our free Friday calls) and he agreed to give us a demo / walk through.   Great job on the video and the class Chunjee❗   Y’all might want to subscribe to his YouTube channel.

Great Class for working with Arrays, Objects and Text with Chunjee

Great Class for working with Arrays, Objects and Text with Chujee

Remember, if you’re new to working with Classes / Objects, our course is a great way to learn them!

Intro to Classes


Basics of Troubleshooting your AutoHotkey Script

I recognize my audience is varied!  Some of y’all are far better programmers than I while others are just starting out.  This video is the second group!  When you’re new to AutoHotkey, it can be very hard to understand what is working and what isn’t!  I extracted this video from the Intro to AutoHotkey course.  It gives some solid tips on what to look for, where to look and things to try.

Troubleshooting your AutoHotkey Script (extracted from Intro to AutoHotkey)

Troubleshooting your AutoHotkey Script (extracted from Intro to AutoHotkey)

Intro to AutoHotkey


Combo lists rock!

Are you creating a GUI with a dropdown?  Did you know that a ComboBox is a great way to jazz it up?  In this video we show how easy it is to convert a DropDown list to a ComboBox.  Such a great way to allow people to add something to the list if it isn’t already there!

Massive improvement to dropdown list & using the Format command

Massive improvement to dropdown list & using the Format command


Semantic Versioning

Did you know that there is often a meaning behind the structure of versioning?  For instance, I’m currently running  AutoHotkey V1.1.34.03.   In this video Isaias explains the meanings and how it can be very helpful to understand (even outside AutoHotkey)

Semantic Versioning: Those numbers have important meaning!

Semantic Versioning: Those numbers have important meaning!


Window Snipping tool with OCR

In our private AHK Hero Telegram channel Mathew F. mentioned a tool he used for OCR (and other things).  I asked him if he used our WindowSnipping tool with OCR.  To my surprise he wasn’t aware of it so I thought I’d mention it here.  If you haven’t updated it recently you might want to grab it now.  Isaias patched a small bug in the script and made some other tweaks.  It’s by far our most popular download.   Don’t miss out!

What amazes me is that having a tool like this changes how you work in many programs!  Give it a try, I guarantee you’ll love it!

Window Snipping Tool now tied to Google Translate

Window Snipping Tool now tied to Google Translate


Automating Outlook 📧

For a couple of Clients we’re automating Outlook.  Outlook has a COM object which allows for some amazing functionality!  In this video I cover some of the basics for automating Outlook.  If you’d like to learn more about automating Outlook you might also want to check out our webinar on Outlook & AutoHotkey.  You can also look at our page on Outlook and AutoHotkey.

Outlook Email Object- Getting Name, email, Send date, etc.

Outlook Email Object- Getting Name, email, Send date, etc.



📚 What we’re reading


⚡️Productivity tips

Planning is one of the simplest, yet productive, ways to get more done.   Putting a little thought into what you’re working on, the order of things, pros/cons of them often lets you realize there are benefits you may not have realized.


🤣 A spot of Humor

This meme is painful because I know how he feels.   %Name%, are you the “free tech support” for friends & family?  I’ll bet you are!

noise


AHKHeroAnimation AHK Hero?

Want more time than the free hour? Have content that you can’t have on YouTube? Consider joining the 🦸‍♀️AHK Hero club! Members receive big discounts to courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.
They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and  “office hours” sessions which isn’t on YouTube.


🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes

  • Put systems in place that will allow ordinary people to do extraordinary things
  • You’ll never change your life until you change your daily routine
  • Don’t wait. The time will never be just right. Napoleon Hill
  • Work first, reward second, in order Dan Kennedy

Live Live AutoHotkey Support Tomorrow

Don’t forget on Friday’s you can get free AutoHotkey support on my YouTube channel.  Or you can sign up for reminders and join the zoom room.



The-Automator

Joe, Isaias and staff

P.S. there are 3 coupon codes left to join the hero program at 1/2 price. Use 50PercOffLiveSubs at checkout

Members agree, this is one of the best ways to level-up.

Join now, what do you have to lose

AHKHero