AHK News 2026-03-19 Do you suffer from this Disorder❓

AutoHotkey Newsletter

Howdy %Name%,

There’s a common disease among Programmers and Entrepreneurs.

It shows up a lot in the AutoHotkey world.

It often disguises itself as “clean code” or “better architecture.”

(If you struggle with this, review the different roles you should be thinking in while coding)

But most of the time…

It’s just avoidance.

I call it:

Perpetual Optimization Disorder

Here’s how it usually shows up:

You don’t release the script because it’s “not quite ready”

You refactor the function… again.

You rewrite the GUI instead of testing it.

You spend hours reorganizing your libraries.

You tell yourself that one more improvement will make it “good enough” to share.

Meanwhile someone else — with a much messier script — has already posted theirs on GitHub or the AHK forum…

And people are using it❗

📌 TODAY’S TAKEAWAY

Perfect code that never ships helps no one  

Not you.
Not other programmers.
Not the people that could be saving time using it.  (This is exactly what we fix with our students—getting your scripts usable fast)

Six weeks of polishing = six weeks of zero feedback

Someone else shared their tool, learned what people actually needed, and improved theirs.

The standard for “good enough” is simple:

  • It solves a real problem
  • It is (mostly) reliable
  • Someone else can use it

Everything else is nice to have.

  1. Scripts get better after people use them.
    Real-world usage reveals problems you’ll never discover on your own.

Bottom Line

If your script isn’t shared, it isn’t improving.

And if it isn’t improving…

Someone else’s script is. ❗

If you want help working out those last little tweaks, book time on my calendar and we’ll get you launched in no-time!

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

JustGoogledScript

Stop Hiring Einstein to do your laundry 👕

Are you burning through AI tokens faster than free samples at Costco on a Saturday?

Matching the model to the task could be a great way to save you both time and money. 

In this video I showed Hero members how they can get help deciding which model is right for their task.

💰 Save Money on AI Models: The Smart Way to Choose the Right One | AHK Hero Extract
💰 Save Money on AI Models: The Smart Way to Choose the Right One | AHK Hero Extract


Reduce Token Usage by 97%

Alternatively you could also consider using Jcode Munch to reduce your token usage.

Irfan walks through using it in this video.  It’s a lot easier to use than you think!

It trims unnecessary tokens from your prompts before sending them to AI

🤖 AI Tool Cuts Token Usage by 97% – Save THOUSANDS on Claude! 💰|AHK Hero Extract
🤖 AI Tool Cuts Token Usage by 97% - Save THOUSANDS on Claude! 💰|AHK Hero Extract


Creating Mockups of GUIs

Speaking of making things easy; in this video I show how you can take a GUI created from AI, Moqups, or just a screen shot and break it down into “Layers” with Canvas Magic Layers.

Stop Coding GUIs by Hand – Use This Magic Layer Trick ✨
Stop Coding GUIs by Hand - Use This Magic Layer Trick ✨

Don’t forget if you want to build the GUI yourself, our Intro to GUIs course is a great place to start❗


Improving People’s Lives: Story #87

While in Las Vegas, I had lunch with my stepsister and niece.  Both were mentioning they wanted to learn more about how AI could help them.  

I introduced them to NotebookLM and showed them how they can quickly learn any topic through a Video, Podcast or Infographics.  

BTW- I noticed videos recently had an upgrade.  Check out this one that I created discussing how many businesses make huge mistakes when creating a Lead Magnet.

💸Companies Waste Millions on Content That Never Converts
💸Companies Waste Millions on Content That Never Converts

They were stoked!


📚 What we’re reading


🤖 AI News that you Need to Know

Build Self-Improving Claude Code Skills. The Results Are Crazy.

Build Self-Improving Claude Code Skills. The Results Are Crazy.


⚡️Productivity tips:  

Niek, an AHK Hero member mentioned how he gets some of his best ideas while showering. 

I told him that I’ve had the same experience for years!  

The point is not to “shower more” (well maybe it applies 😆) but find some “down time” when you can let your subconscious solve your problems for you!


🤣 A spot of Humor:

This was a show I watched on Saturday mornings when i was a kid. Wow they were hurting for content!

Run, Joe, Run
Run, Joe, Run - Season One

Today it has a different meaning for me


What we 🅰utomated this week with AutoHotkey #126

This week was packed!  😁

We updated AHK Script Maker with code folding and a slick right-click option to convert V1 scripts to V2.

We also leveled up Automate My Task, played with AI-powered MySQL queries in plain English, and automated OBS webcam positioning.

In this week’s video I walk you through all of it, including why I think AI tools are basically the best employees money can buy.

What we automated with AutoHotkey #126
What we automated with AutoHotkey #126


Clients say…

I’m astonished at what we’ve done! — Michael N. (Radiologist)


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 536 hours of recordings teaching AutoHotkey that is exclusive to AHK Hero members❗

That’s a lot of AHK Learning!

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

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

  • Amazing things get done when you don’t care who gets the credit — Joe Glines
  • The thing most people like least is a mirror — Dan Kennedy
  • You’re like a dull knife that just ain’t cutting. You’re talking loud and saying nothing — James Brown

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. One of my favorite sayings is

Version One is infinitely better than Version None

If you need help launching, or just a kick in the butt, by all means we can help!

 

AHK News 2025-11-13: How to Identify Tasks for Automation

AutoHotkey Newsletter

Howdy,

Previously I’ve made videos on how our brain works differently when we explain things to other people.

Well I’ve been blown away by how much more of my work I’ve been able to automate because of conversations I’ve had with my son (when I was training him to edit our vidoes)

Just like with debugging, you don’t have to be talking to an expert.

When you explain what you’re doing your brain “works differently.”

One of the best things the person you’re talking to can do to help is to question your assumptions.

Surprisingly I find it can help if the person is less knowledgeable about what you do.

They are more likely to, unwittingly, question your assumptions (because they don’t “know better”).

So my advice is to find somebody that’s willing to listen to you and explain your process to them.

Ask them for ideas on things to automate (just not how to do it).

When they propose something, don’t explain “why their suggestion isn’t possible.”

Think about what you would have to do in order to make it possible.

Remember to question your assumptions

Of course you could also just join an AHK Hero call and have a bunch of people throw ideas out to you…

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

explainingAHK

Identifying Path of #Included File

During an AHK Hero call Connie asked if we could “detect” where a given file had been Included from.

It was a pretty interesting challenge which we discussed in this video.

Identifying the #included path
Identifying the #included path


Backing Up Your Post

Have you ever been filling out a form / writing something in a browser and “lost” all the content of what you’ve written❓

That’s what Hero member Harry challenged us with.   Isaias came up with an interesting solution with AutoHotkey, and I offered a JavaScript version at the end with a Bookmarklet.

Auto Backing-up Forum post
Auto Backing-up Forum post


Why Shared Scripts Break

During an AHK Hero call we walked through this list of the Common Reasons why your AHK scripts might break when shared with others (or ran on a 2nd computer).

You can watch our discussion here.

Why Scripts Break when Shared
Why Scripts Break when Shared


Benefits of Setting your Working Directory

While developing AHK Script Maker, Hero member Connie found an issue where AutomateMyTask  would not run.

It failed to run because the script relied on relative paths but we failed to set the Working Directory with SetWorkingDir.

Check out the full discussion in this video.

Benefit of Set Working Directory and Relative Paths
Benefit of Set Working Directory and Relative Paths


Keep Computers up to date with Action1

For one of our clients we’re constantly pushing updated versions of our tools to their 9 computers.

Originally we had to remote in to each computer and transfer the files, however Isaias knew there had to be a “better way”.

After some research and testing we settled on Action1.

Learn more about this (mostly) free tool in this video.

Remotely control computers with Action1
Remotely control computers with Action1


Improving People’s Lives: Story #70

I was on a consultation call with AJ (the client we’re working on the 2nd keyboard tool for) when he mentioned how he needs to use a new hotkey 3 times in order to remember it.

After our call I sent him our HotKeyString lookup tool which can make it very easy to find those created HotStrings / Hotkeys.


What we’re reading

AI News that you Need to Know

Screen sharing and Highlighting with CoPilot
Screen sharing and Highlighting with CoPilot


⚡️Productivity tips:

Great Windows Hotkeys, do you know them all❓

Amazing Windows Shortcuts You Aren’t Using
Amazing Windows Shortcuts You Aren't Using


A spot of Humor:

If you’ve ever shot a pistol you know how ludicrous this is!

Lethal Weapon – “Target Practice”
Lethal Weapon - target practice


What we utomated this week with AutoHotkey #110

In this week’s video, I walk you through a bunch of client projects and tools we cranked out with AutoHotkey – everything from creating a secondary keyboard that actually works on different hardware setups to wrestling with Google Sheets API (which was a fun adventure!).

We tackled some really cool automation challenges like capturing video content from the internet and building distributable programs that solve real-world problems.

It’s amazing how much tedious work you can eliminate when you get creative with AutoHotkey!

What we Autoamted with AutoHotkey #110
What we Autoamted with AutoHotkey #110


Clients say…

I am so thankful for all you are doing to help us in this conversion and our mission to produce a solid product. — Stephanie Holland


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 487 hours of recordings teaching AutoHotkey that is exclusive to AHK Hero members❗

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

  • Help AHK Hero Members with their Questions & Code
  • Regular Expressions: Differences between AHK and RegEx101
  • Using Edit field to Filter a list
    • Change Search to “Fuzzy” match via RegEx
  • Adding Check for Update to Ahk Script Maker
  • Using a Ternary to easily apply changes based on logic (instead of using an “if”)
  • Changing show 50 on YouTube- rethinking our UIA script
  • Changing our Licenses to be a 1-time check instead of checking on start every time
  • Comparing strings, case sensitivity, how to handle when in map, etc.
  • Using SendTo for passing multiple files to a script

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

  • The secret to getting things done is to get started; The secret to getting started is to divide your task into small pieces with “quick wins”. — Joe Glines
  • Never give up, never surrender, and always go for the win. — Charlie Kirk
  • Work hard, Be honest, Be kind — Buckin’ Billy Ray Smith

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. You really should get another set of eyes on your processes.

You’ll be amazed at how much more can be automated!

AHK News: Now that’s a name to remember❗

AutoHotkey Newsletter

Howdy %Name%,

You might be aware that we’re working on a new AutoHotkey editor that will be simple enough for beginners to use it yet powerful enough where people like Isaias will still work with it.

You may not be aware of it but I have a masters in Market Research (and my Undergraduate degree is in Marketing).   I’ve also been studying copywriting for many years and can tell you that the name of your project can make or break its success.

During a Hero call a few weeks back, I ran a quiz a few weeks back and there were a few front runners.    One that I liked was “Ahk Script Maker“.

It’s clear, to the point and helps beginners understand the usage (many don’t know what an “editor” is)

But it wasn’t “jumping out” for me.

I wanted something that would not only get attention but would get people “excited”.

I put on my thinking cap and came up with:

Optimized Rapid Generation – Ahk Script Maker

I do think it will appeal to both Noobs and Advanced users.

Yes, it is a mouthful.

But I think the name will catch on.   Perhaps we’ll just come up with an acronym…

Yes, I think an Acronym would definitely help with the marketing angle.

To prove my point here are a few introductory statements we might try:

  • Would you be interested in getting ORGASM?
  • We guarantee, once you try ORGASM, you’ll be hooked❗
  • Experience productivity like never before. Get your ORGASM today
  • Your productivity climax starts here; try ORGASM now!
  • Skip the foreplay and go straight to results with ORGASM.

Don’t worry.   I haven’t (entirely) lost my mind.

I’ll keep it “safe” and go with Ahk Script Maker

But you have to admit, it would get attention❗

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

convinceComputer

Configure Claude Code for VS Code

During an AHK hero call Ray asked about configuring Claude code for VS Code.

Isaias gave us a great walk-through which I extracted in this video.

If you’re not using VS Code, but you want to “level-up” you really should check out our Intro to VS Code course!

Claude Code for VS Code
Claude Code for VS Code

Remember, all of our courses come with a Double Your Money Back guarantee so you have NOTHING to lose!

200% Money Back Guarantee badge with a yellow and green starburst seal for AHK courses


Learning to Filter is a Game Changer!

We’ve discussed how important it is to bind your scripts to programs in the past.

Learning this simple approach will level you up faster than you’d believe!  Here’s a great video explaining how it will rock your world!

Improve your Automation skills by Learning to Filter
Improve your Automation skills by Learning to Filter


Packing Up Your Script

If you’re like me and using AI a lot, then you know how annoying it can be to provide your entire script to AI when there are a bunch of #Includes.

When I used to code with AHK Studio, I used a “pack up” function to push all of the code to the clipboard.  It was a game changer, so we created this script to do this for us.

You can check it out in this video.

Easily pack up your script
Easily pack up your script


Improving People’s Lives: Story #67

We had a client call this week with someone that had to “disable ~30,000 SKUs” manually!

Irfan was able to use Rufaydium to get the cookies and then make the changes using API calls.

What would have taken hundreds of hours, now takes 1 minute to start and then runs automatically


What we’re reading


AI News that you Need to Know


⚡️Productivity tips:

In many IDEs / Editors Ctrl+Space Can be used to trigger a suggestion


A spot of Humor:

I still enjoy listening to Dean Martin sing.   Here’s a fun clip I recently watched

Dean Martin, Buddy Ebsen, Lee J. Cobb, Charles Nelson Reilly & Jackie Vernon
Dean Martin, Buddy Ebsen, Lee J. Cobb, Charles Nelson Reilly & Jackie Vernon


What we utomated this week with AutoHotkey #106

This week we knocked out some seriously cool stuff!

In this video my son Jon and I walk you through our email automation system that pulls from spreadsheets, some slick video processing tools that work with VLC, and a sneak peek at our custom AutoHotkey editor that’s almost ready to ship❗

What We Automated with AutoHotKey #106
What We Automated with AutoHotKey #106


Clients say…

Thanks for all your help Joe.  Folks are already excited about getting  these updated. — Ron S.


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 475 hours of recordings teaching AutoHotkey that is exclusive to AHK Hero members❗

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

  • Help AHK Hero Members with their Questions & Code
  • Using SendMessage to automate Listviews
  • After using a Win command, what you DON’T need to provide
  • Using POSIX in your RegEx
  • Replacing / changing variable names in editors vs an IDE like VS Code
  • Copying specific files from sub-folders
  • Demonstrating resource drain during debug mode
  • Modularizing your code: Tips & Tricks
  • Adding tooltips on disabled buttons

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

  • Underutilization ➡️ Lack of perceived value ➡️ Churn — Ryan Wells
  • If you won’t believe in yourself, who will❓ — Joe Glines
  • The best way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing — Walt Disney
  • Work hard, Be honest, Be kind — Buckin’ Billy Ray Smith

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. Hopefully I didn’t offend you on the intro.  Our editor is coming along nicely.

Currently our plan is to have a “intro” version (without tools) and an advanced version which comes with a lot of “must have” tools (some of which will be AI driven.)

This advanced version will require a subscription.