Solving AutoHotkey Problems in Windows 7
There is plenty of love in the internet for AutoHotkey, the free macro application. It does allow a plethora of timesaving possibilities. I especially like it in situation where I am doing a repetitive series of keystrokes, but it also is great for text substitution (“btw†automatically becomes “by the wayâ€) and for assigning macros to certain keys like Function keys, footpedals, etc.
I recently was attempting to send text messages from a dental software application called Dentrix. I was successful in getting data scraped from a spreadsheet and into a Google Voice message. However when trying to run repetitive tasks within Dentrix, AutoHotkey had absolutely no effect. I imagine there are other Windows applications that also render AutoHotkey impotent.
The problem is not with these applications. Rather it is with AutoHotkey, which is not specifically designed for Windows 7, even after that OS’ first birthday. The fix is simple, though. Just make AutoHotkey run in a Compatibility Mode. More specifically:
- Open Windows Explorer, and go to where your autohotkey.exe resides. (most likely in C:\Program Files\AutoHotkey)
- Right-click on autohotkey.exe, and click Properties
- Select the “Compatibility†tab
- Select the checkbox for “Run this program in compatibility mod for:â€, and select “Windows Vista (Service Pack 2)†in the dropdown list.
- Select “Run this program as an administrator†checkbox, and select “OKâ€
This change will be reflected whenever any macros are launched. Good luck!
