Here is the December AutoHotkey Newsletter!

December 30th, 2021

Howdy %Name%,

Well 2021 is on the way out and I’m excited and optimistic for 2022. How about you?
Any plans to learn a new automation topic?
I need to dive deep into Classes. I actually found around 4+ Hours of videos of Maestrith & Hellbent where Maestrith
was teaching us classes. I’m going to see if I can edit them and clean them up decently enough to share.
If you didn’t see the intro to Classes tutorial that Jean Lalonde did for us, you should check it out! 👍 Make 2021 the year you really start investing in yourself. I guarantee you this, you’ll never be disappointed you learned something that saves time & makes your life easier!

BTW- I did just hit a major goal. I created my 1,000 AutoHotkey video‼️ 😃
That’s a LOT of videos! I want to thank you for watching my videos. I’ve learned a lot over the years and have been improving in my video
skills (but still have much to learn).

From what I can tell I have at least 3X the number of AutoHotkey videos as any other channel.u
Soon I hope to surpass HellBent with the total number of subscribers. If you’re not a YouTube subscriber, please consider it. I only mention a fraction of my videos in this newsletter.

Hellbent said, when I pass him, he’ll start making more videos so, ironically, subscribing to me will get him back in the game. 😊

Developer’s corner

The Magic of ActiveX

Years ago I was on a call with Maestrith when HellBent joined and had a question about how to speed-up his GUI.
He was using a traditional GUI approach and, when he’d draw ~1,000 items, it was slowing way down. Maestrith, on the fly, showed us how to
create an ActiveX GUI and then adapted HellBent’s GUI to make use of it. The
audio quality is poor and the video is grainy however I think it was some AMAZING teachings! Just remember, there was zero prep on this so
Maestrith was troubleshooting as he’s developing. You can get the scripts here.
Also, this video was ~45 min. I decided to make a short version talking
through the first script he developed which you can check out here.

API Example: Append name & Address to phone number ☎️

In this quick walk through I show how handy Webservice APIs can be! I used a service to look up phone numbers append demographic information about who (supposedly) owns it. Of course this is just scratching the surface of APIs. I
have a TON of examples and tutorials on our API page

Our API webinar is top-notch! Be sure to check it out!

Help Tab Nation / How does AHK work in your games 🎮?

In this video, Thom, from Tab Nation, asks for your help in learning how AutoHotkey works with various games. You can use this source to understand how to use AutoHotkey with the games or comment on the video to help others!

The-Automators’ Podcast

#125: Do resources matter when waiting for a Window❓
#124: 🕵️Are key loggers an invasion of privacy?
#123: 🗣️Voice commands in our everyday lives

Quick Access Popup news

I’ve been doing some shorter Quick Access Popup tutorials. In this tutorial Jean Lalonde and I show how easy it is to add icons (which really help you find what you’re looking for). BTW we did a follow up video (not released yet) which shows how you can update your Windows folder icons (both manually and with qap).

Troubleshooting your Hotkeys & HotStrings

Temporarily raising your script to an Admin level is a quick/ easy way to troubleshoot your script. It’s not a great permanent fix, but it’s a great first step to see if it is a problem.

What we’re reading 📚

Colors Look Weird in Windows 11?
How to 👢 Kick People Off Your Wi-Fi Network 🔒
The Best Funny Wi-Fi Names for Your New Router (here are a few of my favorites)
- Password Is Gullible
- Free Public Wi-Fi
- Modem Family
- 404 Network Unavailable
- FBI Surveillance Van
- IP Funny Colors

Productivity tips ⚡️

Version 1 is infinitely better than version none!
Learn to take short-naps! (Most days I take one-two 3 minute naps)
Do your most dreaded task first
Things that contribute to productivity often take more time than they save. Don’t sweat it!
Winners are NOT those who never fail but those who never quit.

A spot of Humor 🤣

Quotable quotes 🗣️ 💭

When someone tells me “no,” I just ask someone else. — Joe Glines
Simplicity boils down to two steps: Identify the essential. Eliminate the rest. ― Leo Babauta
My whole philosophy is working smarter and not harder. And making sure I’m using little effort and getting a huge effect. — Anthony Pettis

The-Automator

Joe and staff

P.S. Special thanks to the following for purchasing multipleAutoHotkey Udemy courses this month!

🔥94 Julija K.🔥
5 Osvaldo Kotaro T.
3 Zachery B.
3 Michael M.
3 Kris S.
3 Bastian B.
2 Sergey P.
2 Luís D.
2 Kay M.
2 K H.
2 Juan R.
2 Joe L.
2 Jeff T.
2 Daniel E.
2 Arkadiusz Z.
2 Apiphu P.
2 Ajey G.

December 23rd, 2021

Howdy %Name%,

It seems hard to believe but Christmas is here🎄! I hope you’re able to spend time with the people you care about!

Last night I received a generous donation from Hojung out of Dublin. While the 💲 is much appreciated, his note about how, by watching my videos and using the-Automator he’s been learning AutoHotkey and using it to save a ton of time. Check out the amazing note! These notes really make my day!

Udemy Courses

I also want to give a shout out to Julija K. who bought 47 licenses of both Intro to AutoHotkey & Intermediate AutoHotkey! I hope they help people save time! Julija, if you’re listening, I’m happy to plan a free Zoom call to give an intro to people. If anyone else is considering buying bulk licenses (more than 10), reach out to me directly and we can figure out a good approach that will save you 💵 and get people started saving time with AutoHotkey!

Free Access to FAQ2 Udemy course

I just checked and there’s a few (28 of the 100) coupons left available for free access to the Intro to FAQ2: What to know when you start to code in AutoHotkey. I recommend you grab it while you can! Currently the coupons are exclusive to subscribers like you %Name%. Next week I’ll post the code on my YouTube channel and social media. BTW are you subscribed to my YouTube channel? I recommend you subscribe as there is content there that I don’t share in the Newsletter.

Developer’s corner

Would you like a way to compare mic levels? While most tools provide a visual indicator of the levels, I wanted a more quantitative (numeric) approach. Check out this tool which will takes an average and provides you with a numeric comparison.

How to use Discord to get AutoHotkey support👍

During our Friday AutoHotkey / QAP support hours Dillon DeRosa helped us understand how to use Discord to get AutoHotkey help. Discord is a great tool however, as you can see in the video, it is a bit complex. This walk through helps understand how, and where to post your AutoHotkey questions. The people on Discord are AMAZING!

AutoHotkey help & links to videos

Speaking of AutoHotkey help, have you tried our AHKHelp script that allows you to access AutoHotkey help in ANY editor? It also pulls up videos on your topic!