Productivity Enhancement

Collection of stuff to enhance navigation, automation, etc. for the day-to-day computer user (nothing too fancy).

Keyboard Navigation Enhancement

Issue: Using a modern computer, most individuals use the keyboard and the mouse. Though this is user friendly, it is not time friendly. Bringing your hand to hold the mouse, click, move around, move the hand back to the keyboard, type, back to the mouse, and so on is too time consuming. Worse, operating systems (Windows, Mac) do not make navigation fast.

Solution: (For Windows Users ONLY) AutoHotkeys, with a few other modifications, can be used to significantly increase navigation.

Installation and Setup

1. Download and install AutoHotkey.
2. Download and unzip the latest release.

There are multiple options for the modifications. Options are:

1. Running the .ahk (AutoHotkey) files manually:
2. KeyboardMotion.ahk allows the IJKL keys on the keyboard to be used as arrow keys (if using Dvorak, it is HTNS keys) + more.
3. MouseMotion.ahk allows WASD (AOEU if using Dvorak layout) keys to be used as the mouse + more.
4. Numpad.ahk allows using UIO JKL NM<> (GCR HTN BMWV if Dvorak) to be used as the numberpad + more if Scroll Lock is on (useful for non-numpad keyboards).
5. Placing the .ahk files in the startup folder. To access the startup folder:
6. Press Win + R
7. shell:startup then Enter
8. Move all of the .ahk files here

The CapsLock.ahk and Functions4Others.ahk are used to restart the above scripts if needed, and add other hotkeys of your own. You can open these files for edit/viewing by opening them with any text editor. Also, if you are using the auto startup method, then it will start after the next restart; You can just run the files to get started immediately.

Mouse Usage

While holding	Press/Hold	To Do This
Right Alt	W	Move Mouse Up
Right Alt	A	Move Mouse Left
Right Alt	S	Move Mouse Down
Right Alt	D	Move Mouse Right
Right Alt + Shift	W	Jump Mouse Up
Right Alt + Shift	A	Jump Mouse Left
Right Alt + Shift	S	Jump Mouse Down
Right Alt + Shift	D	Jump Mouse Right
Right Alt	Spacebar	Left Click
Right Click	Spacebar	Right Click
Right Alt	Q	Scroll Up
Right Alt	E	Scroll Down

Keyboard Usage

Action	Output
Pressing/Holding I	Up direction
Pressing/Holding J	Left direction
Pressing/Holding K	Down direction
Pressing/Holding L	Right direction
Holding Left Alt	Turns IJKL into Arrow keys
Holding Left Ctrl	Jumps words or goes to end
Holding Shift	Selects while moving
Left Ctrl + Space	Jumps to end of line
Left Alt + Space	Jumps to start of line
Left Ctrl + Shift + Space	Selects everything from cursor to end of line
Left Alt + Shift + Space	Selects everything from cursor to start of line

Usage Guide for Dvorak Users

If you are using Dvorak, I trust that you are tech-savvy enough to view the files using a text editor, and figuring out what keys are what, with the additional help of the AutoHotkey Documentation.

Changing Caps Lock, Enter, and Scroll Lock

Although confusing at first, it is easier to have the Caps Lock key be the Enter/Return key. Since Scroll Lock is used for the numpad, it may be beneficial to have Enter/Return be Scroll Lock. If you are doing the scroll lock modification, your keyboard is probably a laptop keyboard, and I don't expect the Scroll Lock to be there anyway. Hence, you can make F9 key be your caps lock.

To do this, install SharpKeys or via GitHub. Use it to change CapsLock into Enter, and Enter into Scroll Lock. The CapsLock.ahk converts F9 into the Scroll Lock.

Snippets

Wouldn't it be nice if you could type @today and automatically have the current date pasted? Or have a short hotstring, such as SIGN to automatically insert your email signature? The Snippets4Others.ahk includes a few introductory snippets and allows you to add your own snippets. To get started, download the AutoHotkey file from the main branch (above).

• To restart the snippet script (e.g. after an edit), type r.s (followed by space, for example)
• To add your own hotstring on the fly, press Win + S; add your snippet into the window

Make sure to download AutoHotkey and place the above .ahk script in your startup folder. For first time use, double click on the file to run it. View "Installation and Setup" under "Keyboard Navigation Enhancement" for details on setup.