Back in 2022 I was on a call with Ryan Wells, a good friend of mine, and we were both discussing how underused HotStrings were.
We started throwing out different use cases. I recorded the call and then went back and documented them.
We came up with 65 unique examples however I can guarantee you there are more!
If you’re new to AutoHotkey, we cover HotStrings in our Intro to AHK course
Do you have any that are not on this list❓
Stop Repeating Yourself! Use Text Expansion to Type Smarter
HotStrings Hacks: Grouped & Ready to Rock
Here’s your reorganized list, all dolled up in HTML. Copy-paste into a file, open in a browser, and boom—easy reading. Pro tip: Add some CSS flair if you’re feeling fancy!
Everyday Chit-Chat Boosters
These are the quick wins for casual typing—greetings, fixes, and words that trip you up.
- Greetings / Salutations
- Sign offs / signatures / P.S.
- Credentials
- Spell check
- Your personalized misspellings
- Things in other languages (thank you in Chinese, Spanish, French, etc.)
- Abbreviations
- Hard to remember words
- Words that are hard to spell
- Long words
- Adding trademark, copyright, capitalization, spelling etc.
Code Wizardry & Markup Magic
For devs and designers—snippets that save your sanity when coding or styling.
- Simple / Complex Formulas
- Code snippets (any programming language)
- Html tags
- BBC tagging format
- CSS structures
- Specific Hex values / RGB values
- Code snippets for helping you recode things (e.g., rec. = (“”=””)(“”=””)(“”=””)(“”=””))
- Commenting out lines
- Brand police (ensuring brands include ™, © etc.)
Canned Replies & Pro Tips
Ready-to-fire responses, guides, or fun zingers you tweak on the fly.
- Canned responses that can be personalized before sending
- Canned instructions how to do something
- Pull up favorite quotes, insults, jokes
- Speed up report writing (mlt. for more likely than, llt. for less likely than)
Biz & Inventory Quick-Draws
Stuff for work hustlers—lists that update easy and keep you organized.
- Product list of available inventory, out of stock inventory, etc.
- Last order / favorite product / favorite sport’s team
- Easily updated email distribution lists
- Easily updated phone / SMS texting lists
- Top selling products
Symbols, Supers, & Sneaky Chars
Fancy formatting and those elusive icons that make text pop.
- Words with Sub / super script
- Strange characters: Degree symbol, Trademark, copyright, creating arrow ->
- Characters not on your keyboard
Conversion Superpowers
Turn units, times, or cash on a dime—no calculator needed.
- Any type of conversion! (Distance, currency, time, volume, language, energy, etc.)
- Things you use together (e.g., a Phone number and name of manager usually talk to)
Contact Vault
Your rolodex on steroids—personal deets for friends, fam, or clients.
- Addresses
- Phone numbers
- Emails
- Age
- Birthdays
- Spouse / kids etc.
Pathfinding Hacks
Skip the file hunt—zap straight to your go-tos, even the nightmare network ones.
- Paths to frequently used files (avoid navigating / finding that file!)
- Paths to frequently used folders (have access to your frequently used folders in every open/save dialog box!)
- Paths to crazy-long / complex networked folders (if you work for a large biz, you know what I mean)
Link Launchers
Bookmarks that work everywhere—secure ’em, share ’em, map ’em.
- Force https on any url you type
- Zoom meetings
- Common pages you like (like a bookmark but not tied to a specific browser)
- Common pages you share with others
- HTML links to pictures/pages that have all the options you’d want
- Google maps
Secret Stash (Encrypt These!)
Sensitive stuff—keep it locked down, not plaintext.
- Crazy long & complex passwords
- Credit cards info
- API Tokens / keys
- Security codes
- Things that change on a regular basis (password, discount codes, combinations, etc.)
Handy Lists & Calendars
Repeatable rote stuff—days, months, or sales hits at your fingertips.
- Days of the week
- Months of the year
Seasonal & Short-Term Sparks
Hotstrings that come and go—like holiday cheer or flash sales.
- Use 1 character for a short time
- Use around special occasions like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, etc.
- During a big sale
Next-Level Ninja Moves
Fancy pants stuff—dynamic, contextual, or clipboard tricks for power users.
- Context sensitive (e.g., Commenting out lines (and moving to left X number of times))
- Dynamic string replacement (e.g., 34 m. changes to 34 m. / XXX kilometers; Sales tax, etc.)
- Time conversion (Insert current date; Insert date for 30 days from now; Change date to time in another time zone)
- Copy an image to the clipboard (and paste if you want it to)
- Copy content as HTML ready to paste
- Copy RTF (bold, color, italics, etc.) to the clipboard and paste
There ya go—your HotStrings list, HTML-style. Now go automate the world!
If you’re new to AutoHotkey, we cover HotStrings in our Intro to AHK course
AHK Hero 🦸
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