AutoHotkey

AutoHotkey puts hotkey and macro automation functionality at your disposal and it allows you to create custom apps and macros that can automate various tasks. All of AutoHotkey’s wonderful functionality is offered for the great price of free.

The setup wizard that helps you install AutoHotkey on your Windows PC invites you to pick what components will be installed: main program (main program, help file, Window Spy, AutoScriptWriter), script compiler (tool to convert AHK scripts to EXE), enable drag & drop (files dropped onto an AHK script will launch that script).

A prompt shows up when you launch AutoHotkey for the first time and asks this question: “To help you get started, would you like to create a sample script in the My Documents folder? Press YES to create and display the sample script. Press NO to exit.”

Since we’re on the topic of getting started with AutoHotkey, it must be mentioned that the application comes with a detailed and comprehensive Help file. It must also be mentioned that there’s a detailed Tutorial section on AutoHotkey.com. It explains how to create a script, how to use variables, and more.

And now, a list of the main features AutoHotkey has to offer: create scripts to automate tasks; multiple scripts can run simultaneously; manually write macros or use the macro recorder; create all sorts of hotkeys; remap keys and buttons; convert scripts to executables; and more.

As mentioned above, all of AutoHotkey’s wonderful functionality is offered for the great price of free. I have to add that AutoHotkey is free and open source software released under a GNU General Public License (GPL).

Create scripts and automate a variety of tasks. Multiple scripts can run simultaneously. Scripts can be converted to executables and run on PCs that do not have AutoHotkey.