Raymond.CC Blog

Let’s say there is a company that wants to transfer all accounts data from excel to an accounting software. Can you imagine reentering the accounts information which is dated back 5 years ago to the software? If the accounting software can’t supporting importing the excel document, then you’re probably going to spend many months re-entering everything to the software. That is a waste of time and it is also boring!

What if I tell you that you can automate the copy and pasting data from your excel to the accounting software while you sit back and watch the task being performed on the screen? That’d save you so much time! This is called macro or automation software. A macro is a script containing commands that automate computer tasks. Each command performs one step, such as moving the mouse, launching a program or entering keystrokes. Anything that you do repetitively on the keyboard or even a sequence that requires just a few steps could be performed automatically to save you time. The possibilities are limitless.

I’ve learn about Macro software many years ago when I needed to do data input. My boss was so amazed with the short time I used to complete the data input. Here are the Macro software that I’ve been using.


There are freewares and also sharewares version of Macro. Powerful macro freewares can be tough to use because you must know BASIC scripting language. There are also easy to use freeware macro but you can’t edit what is recorded. As for sharewares, usually it combines both of the easy-to-use and also advance features. Here are my favorite macro softwares that I use.

Macro Freeware
1. AutoIt

- AutoIt is a very popular macro freeware but it is not easy to use. It is powerful and it uses BASIC-like scripting language designed for automating the Windows GUI and general scripting. It can perform a lot of tasks and then able to convert the script into an executable.
[ Download AutoIt ]

2. AutoHotkey

- AutoHotkey is also another popular macro freeware. It can automate almost anything by sending keystrokes and mouse clicks. Although AutoHotkey also requires scripting, but there’s AutoScriptWriter by Larry Keys which you can use to record mouse and keystrokes. Once you stop the recording, it will give you the commands. There is a small problem with AutoScriptWriter which is I don’t know why doesn’t it record the delay or pause time. It will continue executing actions without delays. This will definitely cause inaccuracy for automating tasks.
[ Download AutoHotkey ]

3. Do It Again

- This is my favorite macro freeware. It is simple to use, just click record “Create a New Task” to start capturing your task. Press SCROLL LOCK button to to stop the capture. Although Do It Again doesn’t support keyboard shortcut to run an automated task, you can create a shortcut to the corresponding .dia task file and then modify the properties of that shortcut to set a keyboard shortcut. Do make sure that you’ve associated .dia files with Do It Again. Windows already has this function for shortcuts. If you want to increase the pause time, you can open the .dia file with notepad and increase value for Pause.
[ Download Do It Again ]

Macro Shareware
I’ve tried a few macro sharewares and I like Macro Express the most.

Macro Express has a scripting editor that creates commands and also automatic recording. There is a feature that not many macro software has which is you can set the macro to repeat how many times. I always use this command for data input because I don’t want the macro to keep running. I prefer it to run 50 times then stop so I can check whether it has correctly input the data. It can create a real mess if the delay timing is incorrect. Macro Express cost $39.95. If the above freeware is too hard to use or can’t do the job, then you should consider Macro Express.
[ Download Macro Express ]

Here is one of my experience with Macro software which I’d like to share with you all. Once there was a beauty pageant where people can vote for Miss Website through online voting. Sadly, the voting system is too easy to cheat. It uses browser cookies and IP address logging for anti-cheating. I contacted the people who organized the beauty pageant and informed them about the weakness in their voting system but they did not believe me! So I recorded my actions of clearing cookies from my browser, disconnect and reconnecting to the internet, and then vote. I had to create thousands of fake votes before the organizers believed in me and updated to a voting system with CAPTCHA. It’s not totally fool proof, but at least it’s tougher to beat.

Hope macro software can help you automatically perform your daily tasks.