Best Free Hotkey / Macro Recorder Utility
Do you find yourself doing the same thing over and over again? Do you open the same program, then start another utility to help with that program, time after time, day after day? Are you visiting the same websites, or checking your email so many times a day that you lose count? Do you type the same text information so often that you could do it in your sleep? For those of you who answer “Yes” to any of those questions, there are programs that make those tasks fast, simple, and easy to perform called Hotkey and Macro Recorder utilities. Real time-savers, and let’s face it, who has enough time to do everything we want nowadays? With the right utility and a small amount of effort to learn and set up the program to suit your needs, you can enjoy your computing experience in a much more pleasant and productive way, and never be bored with those repetitive tasks again!
For macho macro power you can't beat AutoHotkey. This extremely versatile program can automate most anything by capturing keystrokes, mouse clicks and even joystick movements and linking them to virtually any action you want including application launching, surfing to a particular website, and even inserting text or code snippets. Combine these features with a powerful scripting language and you have a product of awesome capability. Indeed, calling this product a mere "hotkey" utility is like calling Westminster Cathedral a chapel. However, all this power does come at a cost; AutoHotkey is no product for beginners. That being said, there are many ready-made AutoIt v2 scripts available on the Internet that do just about anything you can think of, ready to download and put to good use. It’s the product I use and an easy first choice for the technically literate.
For average users a good choice is PS Hot Launch VVL. This is a free utility that allows you to define your own hotkeys so that a single key press can launch an application, insert commonly used text, change your audio volume, or just about anything else. The program requires Win95/98/ME or WinNT/2000/XP, and is an excellent performer even on slow machines. PS Hot Launch is the perfect alternative to the Start menu and the Quick Launch panel.
A second option for average users is Qliner's Hotkeys. It's strength is ease of use, wide support for international keyboard layouts, plus a handy reminder key that flashes up your current hotkey assignments. Just hold the Windows key for three seconds and up pops an on-screen keyboard display with icons on the keys that are configured. You can use this not only to remind you of hotkey combinations, but also for Drag and Drop configuration. On the minus side, it's not quite as flexible as PS Hot Launch. It runs under Windows 2003, Windows XP, and Windows Vista, but requires that Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 be installed.
Still another choice, which is not really a hotkey utility at all but achieves the same result by using "magic words", is SlickRun. This program places a tiny text box on your screen and when you type specially assigned words into the box, it will launch a program, go to a web site, or whatever. For example if you type "mail" it can launch your mail reader. Type in "46" and it can take you to the web page of the "46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities." Of course, it's up to you to define these “magic words” and you can have as many as you want. It all works very neatly with some really nice touches like auto-complete for your “magic words”, which means you only have to type in two or three letters and SlickRun will complete the rest. Another great feature is an eyedropper tool that allows you to identify a program you want to "hotkey" just by clicking in its application window. There's also a built-in note jotter and calendar date display.
Hotkey utilities overlap with another class of programs: Program Launchers
AutoHotKey
Website: http://www.autohotkey.com/
License: Freeware
Download File size: 1969KB
Windows Operating Systems Supported: 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista
Non-Windows Operating Systems Supported: None
64 Bit Capable: No
Portable Version Available: No
Additional Software Required: None
PS Hot Launch VVL
Website: http://www.pssoftlab.com/pshl_info.phtml
License: Freeware
Download File size: 711KB
Windows Operating Systems Supported: 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
Non-Windows Operating Systems Supported: None
64 Bit Capable: No
Portable Version Available: No
Additional Software Required: None
Qliner's Hotkeys
Website: http://qliner.com/hotkeys/overview.htm
License: Freeware
Download File size: 3.50MB
Windows Operating Systems Supported: 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista
Non-Windows Operating Systems Supported: None
64 Bit Capable: No
Portable Version Available: No
Additional Software Required: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0
SlickRun
Website: http://www.bayden.com/SlickRun/
License: Freeware
Download File size: 175KB
Windows Operating Systems Supported: 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista
Non-Windows Operating Systems Supported: None
64 Bit Capable: No
Portable Version Available: No
Additional Software Required: None
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qliner and win98 do not mix.
I was asked for a missing dll, got it.
Then framework.net was called for, even though it was not needed for win98, and on and on, you know the drill, so I am all about the ps hotlaunch, which works fine.
AutoHotkey seems to be portable...
How about remotekeys?
http://www.freewarehits.de/RemoteKeys.htm
comfort keys properietary but nice and easy and has macros..text replacement
Since long months ago I use Qliner's Hotkeys. It become indispensable to me. It is very simple and fiable. Sure I recomend'it!
Diamantino
Actually AutoHotkey started out as a forking of AutoIt.
AutoIt is, nowadays, IMO, more powerful and pleasurable to write scripts in than AutoHotkey.
Although AutoHotKey is tricky to use (had xp revert to default desktop settings after simply remapping keyboard) when programmed correctly, it does get the job done.
It was the only remapper that "stuck" within an xp application (non-native). All others I've tried lose any remaping applied when in the app.
For a scenario;
What I needed seemed fairly simple. I wanted the number keys (above the letters) mapped to the keypad when in the PC game "Oblivion" and unmapped when back at the desktop. AutoHotkey was the only one so far that allowed this. Now I have one shortcut that launches the game, remaps what's needed, and unmaps everything upon game exit.
You know, John, IF you are going to use my verbage, exactly as I wrote if for Gizmo, then I would at least appreciate a mention of the hard work I put into making this review. There is not one word in this review, that I did not author! Fair is fair, after all...
Oblias
ex-site Coordinator
I personally recommend Clavier+
I've never seen I recommended anywhere before, but a little while ago I was looking around for a macro/hotkey programme and I stumbled upon it.
I tried pretty much all the popular ones, and found them either bulky, awkward to use or limited.
First, it is opensource (GPL), which is always a good thing in my book. Second, it is tiny (354Kb). But most importantly it does what it sets out to do intuitively, and with with a minimum of fuss. The method of limiting shortcuts to specific applications is brilliant.
Maybe it is because it is of French origin it is so little known (it is on a site called "UtilFr"), but the English language version is perfect.
I personally recommend making shift+enter "I'm feeling lucky" in google :)
http://utilfr42.free.fr/util/Clavier.php
One more, of perhaps limited interest: AutoApp.
http://www.bsoutham.org/AutoApp/index.html
(I couldn't get a response from the site, however.)
The official description, (extracted from Google's cache)
===
AutoApp is a Win32 console application that allows to to control DOS applications.
With AutoApp implements a simple scripting language that has the following features:
* Activate specific DOS windows
* Start executables
* Set the title of a DOS window
* Send keystrokes to the application
* Delay for specific periods
* Preform action while text does exsist in the window
* Preform action while text does not exsist in the window
===
Basically, if you have a DOS app that you want to be able to start up and pass info to, this is the only way I ever found to do it. (I use it to start a specific program, then press a key, wait for the userID prompt and enter my userID, wait for the password prompt and then enter it, then hand control back to me. Works perfectly.
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