expand punctuation (em dashes, anyone?).
things I type a lot (“ahk” to “AutoHotkey”, “aec” for “Acme Example Company, Inc.”). words I always misspell (AutoHotkey, the software project, maintains a list of common misspellings). names that are longer than a few characters, usually with last name, too (typically for my internal notes on project statuses there are two “Shannons” in my office, it’s easier to just have AutoHotkey drop the full name in there, instead of relying on first initial of last name). I use AutoHotkey’s text expansion capabilities for a lot of random things: Not everywhere, but in a surprising number of applications. 
I liken AutoHotkey in general and text expansion in specific as the tool you never knew you needed, *but now you can’t live without.* Once I implemented it on my computer at work, I started seeing opportunities to use text expansion all over the place. Text expansion sounds super simple, and it is, but it’s also super useful. You can define whatever abbreviation you want to expand into whatever text you want. For instance when I type ‘ahk’ on my computer it automatically expands it to ‘AutoHotkey’. Text expansion is your computer expanding abbreviations. If you find this article interesting, check out my ebook (costs less than a coffee!) Practical AutoHotkey: How to get faster at work with text expansion and automation, which covers all this in detail.
At a single keypress, bring your music player forward so you can change the playlist or song quickly, then hide it until you need it again, out of the way of your work. Send e-mails without opening your e-mail client. Take certain actions, depending on which window you’re in, or if a program is already running (and start it if it isn’t). If you want to get fancier you can set it with conditional logic to: It can be a lifesaver at work, making lots of little annoyances go away, and improving your efficiency a few seconds at a time. OverviewĪutoHotkey is a free (and safe donations accepted) software program that allows you to make your computing life faster and more efficient.
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