Intro to AutoHotkey Tutorial | 2+ hours extracted from Intro to AutoHotkey Udemy course for FREE

This is a "special" Intro to AutoHotkey Tutorial in that I looked across all of my videos in my Intro to AutoHotkey Udemy course and extracted those with the most value to people learning AutoHotkey.

This Intro to AutoHotkey tutorial is only about 1/2 of the Intro to AutoHotkey Udemy course. If you like the content I highly recommend you sign-up for the course as the Intro to AutoHotkey course is broken-down into small videos and I provide the scripts to help get you started. You can get a couple below

Learning AutoHotkey is a great investment in yourself and I honestly believe if you learn AutoHotkey you will save more time than you would with virtually any other tool.

Okay, now let's jump into and learn ahk in this great AutoHotkey tutorial!

TLDR: AutoHotkey is a powerful scripting language tool for Windows-based automation that can help you save time and solve complex problems.

1. 00:00 💻 AutoHotkey is a free scripting language tool for Windows-based automation, saving time and money compared to other GUI-based tools.
1.1 Autohotkey is a tool to automate tasks and save time, money, and brainpower.
1.2 Autohotkey is a Windows-based automation tool that can be used to automate tasks, remap keys, use hotstrings, manipulate files and folders, and access the Windows API.
1.3 You can programmatically access programs, controls, web services, and send keystrokes/mouse clicks to automate tasks.
1.4 AutoHotkey is a free scripting language tool created by Chris Mallett that can be used for desktop automation, saving time and money compared to other GUI-based tools.
1.5 AutoHotkey is a lightweight scripting language that uses Windows API to create GUI elements and can be run without installation.
1.6 Create a new AutoHotkey script, set AutoHotkey Studio as the default editor, and change the file associations to edit instead of run.

2. 17:08 💻 Compartmentalizing scripts into one main script and separate scripts, using directives, and debugging with message boxes are great ways to manage and debug scripts.
2.1 Set the default values to "ForceSingleInstance" to ensure only one version of the script is running.
2.2 Compiling scripts and using message boxes to debug are great ways to stop a script and see what's going on.
2.3 Double-clicking a script in Logit can show variables and their contents, and multiple scripts can be used depending on the situation.
2.4 Having two separate scripts allows for more than one message box to be visible at a given time and prevents the main script from being too long.
2.5 Compartmentalizing scripts into one main script and separate scripts allows for independent threading and easier management.
2.6 Directives are settings for scripts, with positional directives affecting only the section they are in and non-positional directives affecting the entire script.

3. 31:06 🤓 Set up Hotstrings for quick and reliable text replacement with two colons followed by an abbreviation!
3.1 String split is a command or function used to separate a string into an array, with a delimiter such as a comma.
3.2 Autohotkey has built-in functions, directives, and commands that can be used to execute tasks quickly and efficiently.
3.3 Storing a variable with a value and referencing it requires a hotkey to trigger it, or breaking it out into its own script.
3.4 You can reference variables in a message box by wrapping them in percent signs or by putting a percent sign after the command/function and everything to the right of it is an expression.
3.5 Hot strings are a great way to be more productive and simplify your life, and can be set up with two colons followed by an abbreviation.
3.6 Hotstrings allow for quick and reliable text replacement, including multi-line and capitalization, with the option to remove spaces and add comments.

4. 44:51 🔑 Create hotkeys and hotstrings to quickly launch programs, webpages, and emails with Windows key + letter, and use the file select command to easily select multiple files.

5. 01:03:02 🤔 Automating with AutoHotkey requires understanding of variables, logic operators, and curly braces.

7. 02:02:24 💻 Autohotkey can help you save time and solve complex problems with its built-in variables, special characters, and looping capabilities.

8. 02:17:11 💻 Reboot Windows and use message boxes and error levels to debug your code when seeking help on forums.

[venomgamingvenomgaming]

One of the most valuable channel on YouTube ❤

[TECHTHEMOTIUR]

Great Tutorial.
I have a question is: I want to use 'w' as a shortcut for opening ms word. But this letter wont work while I will typing. Do you have any solution?

[johnathanabaya]

Hi joe, do one of your videos on here show how to use the input box function to click a box in a program that has the same value as defined in the input box?

[Marko-the-Beast-Master]

Hello Joe, thx for your work, its amazing what you are doing for us. I have a few questions about the AHK that I use to send commands to a game. Which of the Send commands is most similar to the wireless keyboard command? Which most closely mimics pressKey down, sleep for a while, pressKey Up like a human? Is it SendInput or do I need to do the sequence Send {Key Down} Sleep, 50 Send {Key Up} manually?

Then I would have a question about the syntax,
which is correct: Send, 1 or Send 1 or Send {1}, or what is the difference in between?
Same for Sleep or maybe for SendInput

Thank you :)

[johndoremi]

Do you know how to setup a second Keyboard with AHI ? Greate video, by the way!!

[Adolfo.Silva.h]

Hi. do you have any video or help file. where you can guide in the assignment of keystrokes (single keystroke) (keystroke held). I want to use the alt key as a backspace without losing its function while maintaining it. I have done it in several ways but it gives me problems

[Alhusam]

Hi Joe. Thanks for your valuable efforts. However, The procedure you explained at 15:20 to set Studio as the default editor for the ahk scripts did not work for me. I am using Windows 11. I tried to do so from the settings of the default applications in the Windows settings, but it did not work as well. Could you please provide us with the link to the registry key to change the default editor associated with ahk scripts? Thanks in advance.

[Marko-the-Beast-Master]

Why should we make conditional parameters capitals?

[thethinker]

Wow Finally You Posted Again a great Content Genius sir🔥🤩👍

[davivify]

When you say you're "not a programmer", that doesn't make any sense to me. I mean, if you become really good in, say, Excel, and then use the Macro record feature to automate it, you can do that without any programming. But if you go into the VBA and hand edit the code, well guess what, you're now a programmer. I'm not aware of an AHK mode where you don't have to write/edit/debug code. And working with code *makes* you a programmer.

[AnkitSharma-ejfm]

Please do some automations rather than this msgbox like sending some text

[TheFellerHasAChannelGodDamnIt]

Pls tell me how I make it send spaces as commands.