By now you should have downloaded and installed the program. The first time you run AHK, you'll see a sample script with some instructions. Feel free to read them, keeping in mind that this tool can be a little daunting at first.

That said, I'm all about diving in headfirst. Today, I'm going to teach you about "hotstrings," which are keystrokes inserted whenever you type a designated abbreviation. For example, you type fwiw, and AHK replaces it with for what it's worth. Hotstrings are great for, say, adding different signatures to e-mail messages (sig1, sig2, etc.), or just saving time when typing repetitive bits of text.

To create a script based on the previous example, do this:

1. Run AutoHotkey.

2. On any open area of the desktop, right-click and choose New, AutoHotkey script.