I work on my computer all day, and over the years I’ve noticed how small, repetitive tasks quietly eat away at my time. Opening the same apps, typing the same phrases, rearranging windows—none of it feels like work, but together it quickly adds up.
AutoHotKey is a free tool that solved that problem for me. It lets you automate mundane tasks with simple keyboard shortcuts. I use it for all kinds of things, like launching my daily apps, inserting my most-used text snippets, Googling selected text, and more. All of this together saves me quite a few minutes throughout the day.
5
Launch and arrange apps on startup
Start your day with a perfectly arranged workspace
Screenshot by Pankil Shah — No attribution required
Like most people, I rely on a specific set of apps to get started after booting my PC. However, opening each program one by one can be time-consuming. To avoid this, I’ve set up a keyboard macro to handle it automatically and save me a solid chunk of morning frustration. AutoHotKey not only opens these apps but also arranges them exactly how I want.
; Hotkey Ctrl+Alt+S launches my daily apps
^!s::
Run(“C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\OUTLOOK.EXE”)
Run(“C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe”)
Run(“C:\Program Files\Slack\slack.exe”)
Run(“C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes_8wekyb3d8bbwe\StickyNotes.exe”)
Run(A_Desktop “\WhatsApp.exe”) ; or use full path
; Give apps a few seconds to open
Sleep 3000
; Move and resize windows
WinMove(“ahk_exe OUTLOOK.EXE”, “”, 0, 0, 800, 600)
WinMove(“ahk_exe chrome.exe”, “”, 810, 0, 1110, 900)
WinMove(“ahk_exe slack.exe”, “”, 0, 610, 800, 400)
WinMove(“ahk_exe StickyNotes.exe”, “”, 1120, 0, 400, 300)
WinMove(“ahk_exe WhatsApp.exe”, “”, 1120, 310, 400, 400)
return
With this setup, my inbox, Chrome tabs, Slack workspace, Sticky Notes, and WhatsApp are all ready in under five seconds. So, even when I have to reboot to install an update or restart my PC, I can get straight to work without wasting any time.
4
Open favorite apps
Fire up music, games, and tools in seconds
While the startup macro takes care of my essentials, there are some apps that I only need to open occasionally, like Spotify for music, Steam for gaming, or LocalSend for transferring files quickly. With AutoHotKey, I can assign different keyboard shortcuts to launch these apps instantly.
; Hotkey Ctrl+Alt+M opens Spotify
^!m:: Run(“C:\Users\” A_UserName “\AppData\Roaming\Spotify\Spotify.exe”)
; Hotkey Ctrl+Alt+G opens Steam
^!g:: Run(“C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe”)
; Hotkey Ctrl+Alt+L opens LocalSend
^!l:: Run(“C:\Program Files\LocalSend\LocalSend.exe”)
This way, I can start playing music, launch a game, or send files in a flash whenever I need to. Of course, you can customize the above key combinations and app paths to fit your own workflow.
3
Access frequently-used folders and websites
Shortcuts for your daily digital destinations
Screenshot by Pankil Shah — No attribution required
We all have those go-to folders and websites we open multiple times a day—maybe your project folder, downloads directory, or a few sites you check for research, news, or entertainment.
; Hotkey Ctrl+Alt+P opens project folder
^!p:: Run(“D:\Work\Projects”)
; Hotkey Ctrl+Alt+D opens Downloads
^!d:: Run(“C:\Users\” A_UserName “\Downloads”)
; Hotkey Ctrl+Alt+N opens news website
^!n:: Run(“https://news.ycombinator.com/”)
; Hotkey Ctrl+Alt+Y opens YouTube
^!y:: Run(“https://www.youtube.com/”)
Sure, you could create desktop shortcuts, but reaching for the mouse and digging through icons feels clunky. AutoHotKey lets me open any folder or webpage I need with a quick keyboard shortcut. It’s especially handy if, like me, you prefer keeping your workflow keyboard-first instead of mouse-heavy.
2
Quickly insert everyday text and phrases
No need to retype the same text over and over
Some things I type so often, it almost feels like déjà vu, like my email address, meeting links, quick replies, or boilerplate text for work. Instead of typing them out or hunting through old messages to copy and paste, AutoHotKey lets me insert them instantly using short text triggers or hotkeys.
::;sig::
Send(“Best regards,{Enter}Pankil Shah”)
return
::;mail::
Send(“pankil@makeuseof.com”)
return
These are just a couple of examples, but you can take this idea much further. I’ve set up triggers for common Slack replies and even structured email templates. If you’re someone who writes a lot of repetitive text (like support messages, emails, or documentation), this tiny automation will save you more time than you expect.
1
Google any text
Find answers fast
Screenshot by Pankil Shah — No attribution required
Sometimes I come across a word, phrase, or error message that I want to look up right away. Normally, that means highlighting the text, copying it, opening a browser, pasting it into the search bar, and hitting Enter. It’s not hard, but it’s definitely clunky when you do it a dozen times a day.
This AutoHotKey script makes this process effortless. I just select any text, hit a shortcut, and it opens a new browser tab with the Google results for whatever I highlighted.
^+s:: {
Clipboard := “”
Send(“^c”)
ClipWait()
Run(“https://www.google.com”)
WinWaitActive(“Google – Google Chrome”)
Sleep(500)
Send(“^v”)
Sleep(100)
Send(“{Enter}”)
}
Now, instead of breaking my flow to look something up, I simply highlight and press Ctrl + Shift + S. You can even tweak the script to use your favorite website, like YouTube for videos, DuckDuckGo for privacy-friendly searches, or Stack Overflow if you’re debugging code.
Things that used to take several minutes now happen instantly with just a few keystrokes, and those little pockets of time I save every day quickly add up. If you spend a lot of time at your computer, these small Windows automations can feel like magic.
