Automation Tips, Tricks and Tools

For those of you with a mind towards efficiency, I'd like to create a thread where we can share some of our favorite automation tools that help us live more productive lives, interact with the world more accurately and/or save time.

I'll start off with a few programming-oriented Windows tools that make my computing life much easier and more efficient. Everything listed below is gratuitous or has an easy free version. If there is interest, I may continue this as a tips and tricks reference post as an ongoing source of automation hacks. Part of the idea of this is that technology has bias and we can remove many impediments to progress by controlling our environment.

Autothotkey - (ahkscript.org) - Poweful GUI automation tool with full programming language that can easily automate nearly any windows task.

Programmable mouse - I use four simple keys on my 'easy mode' configuration where I do next/previous tab, open link in one click, close link in one click. Seems like nothing, but saves loads of time and effort.

iMacros - Firefox/IE/Chrome extension to automate web site usage. Has macro recorder and playback for ease of learning.

Nimbletext - I use this at the office more than anything but it tends to do a lot of work for me by automating repetitive text based tasks making for loops simple for anyone to use. I have deployed it to non-programmers for use in conjunction with iMacros and they love it.

VBA - Mature object oriented language that is quite good at automating simple Excel tasks. Macro recording feature will help you do much of the heavy lifting if you live in spreadsheets.

App launcher - I use Bayden Slick Run but the built in windows search is now rather powerful and this tends to be less useful at home (office it rocks the house).

What are some of your favorite and how do you use them? Don't be shy about posting some examples as I don't mind technical content at all. People have said on other threads that we have quite a few technically inclined people on the forums and it would be a shame not to share some of the love in the name of self improvement.

 

I have been to the dark side and I shall return there often! VIM is my favorite toy in the Linux world these days. Modal editing is just absurdly cool. It is hard to pipe things to less and get more out of it in Windows!

 

A short and relevant Druckerism for the day:

It is bit harsh but there is something to be said for developing a bit of grit and mental toughness. A little bit of thought goes a long when it comes to routine and process.