With the coming of new computer technologies and the improvement of software, we can automatize our work more than ever. There are lots of programs for this on the market today. This article is about some programs for this purpose and their differences. I will also show you how to create your own macros with the AutoHotKey program and to signup on AutoHotkey, it’s recommended to use temp email to avoid spam and junk email.
Text Expansion and Work Automation
The first two programs I will tell you about are PhraseExpress and Texter. The first one allows creating custom texts saving your time when writing common words or phrases over and over again. You can use it in business correspondence, writing reports, or even in playing games (for example if you need to type there something like “/invite x” often). For this program, you do not need any skills in programming since all macros creation process is very simple and intuitive. There is a free trial version, but some features like “Text clips library” and “Phrase macros library” require purchasing (and they’re really worth it).
Texter works in the same way as PhraseExpress, but there is one significant difference: Texter remembers your keystrokes while PhraseExpress only inserts text phrases with Ctrl+Space hot-key combination (although you can add more ). For example, if you write “Maybe we should go for a drink?” the program will automatically delete the last word and replace it with “, what do you think?” which makes writing texts much faster. It also allows performing ctrl+alt+number hotkeys combinations so macros do not have to be in a straight line under each other. This is fine for gaming and programming, but for business correspondence, this feature is not suitable (for example if you automate your signature with Ctrl+Alt+1, it will be different every time).
Text Expansion
I will write about two text expansion programs not included in the first paragraph. The first one is Texter used for work automation I described above. The second one is Type Machine that performs almost the same as Texter does, but there are some differences: Type Machine uses straight-line macros whereas Texter has more features like ctrl+alt+number combinations. Macro Library allows adding macros to a predefined list and performing them with just a mouse click. Also, Type Machine can encrypt macros so no one else will see them unless they know the password (password can be anything from a-z or 0-9). You can download the free trial version to check all features, but it is limited to 50 characters, so you have to purchase if your macros are more than that.
Text Expansion in Browsers
This program is called Auto Copy and it works with Firefox and Google Chrome browsers. It allows a programming browser so when a certain word or phrase appears on the page this program copies its entire text. If a website has a complicated structure sometimes links copied by AutoCopy do not work properly, but it is still useful since you do not need to type names of bookmarks, again and again, every time you open your browser session. The last feature I want to mention is the “AutoCorrect” option that adds spaces between symbols like “+” and “-” to avoid saving them as one symbol. AutoCopy has a free trial version that is limited to 500 characters, but it works without any restrictions during that period.
Search Strings
A program called InstantText allows you to search for whole words or phrases on the Internet using Google or Bing engines directly inside your system clipboard. For example, if you want to check something about windows 7, just type “Windows 7” in the InstantText window and press Enter (or click with the mouse). You can also filter results by specifying language – it supports English, German, French, and Polish so far. There is a free trial version, but some features require purchasing after the expiration date.
AutoClickers
AutoClickers are programs that click some predefined place on your screen using some built-in hotkeys. All of them can work with basic features like “click where I move my mouse”, but better ones use some custom macros to increase their functionality. There are many clickers like op auto clicker and gs autoclicker for automation, but none of them is complicated so you will understand all possibilities after just hearing about them. If you want to buy this program anyway, please choose 3 years license and not one year because there is a price difference in a few bucks, and in case if problems occur you will need your software active longer than 1 year.
Conclusion
There are also other great tools like DragAndView (which allows automatic dragging of many files in one folder at once, making thumbnails of pictures, or copying texts from selected images) and Skrommel (for applying text macros to multiple pictures). There are lots of other programs for different tasks that can save you a lot of time just by buying them. I have not mentioned many interesting AutoIt3 tools here because it is too long already. If you want to know more about this topic please leave your comments below.
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