Anyone using ActiveWords in conjunction with Evernote?

[idoc 413]

Just wondering if anyone else is using ActiveWords with Evernote?  ActiveWords is a very powerful program that uses universal auto correct, action triggers,  macros and script writing.  It launches programs, files, folders etc.  It can carry out scripted sequences, date stamp and all kinds of other useful features.  I use it a dozen times a day at least.  I've been playing around with it within EN to automate certain tasks such as assigning tags to certain notes and then automatically placing it within a specific notebook (annoying sequences that I have to do multiple times daily).  It's a fantastic program but sometimes the script writing is a bit laborious and I was wondering if anyone else had incorporated this into their EN usage.

[VincentC 352]

I tried ActiveWords for a bit when I was evaluating text expanders.  I settled on Text Expander instead.  I recognize that ActiveWords will allow automation in a way that Text Expander likely will not, but simple and easy to use are my top priorities.  I'm just a non-technical end-user, and whenever I try to stretch and do something more complex, it costs me more in time than the benefit I get from it.  Text Expander lets me get a fair amount of benefit for almost no effort, so it's right for me.  I can easily see the advantages of a more powerful tool, and it may be a better for many of the more technical folks that hang around here.

Vinnie

[idoc 413]

Hi vincent,

Yes simpler is always better.  I haven't used Text Expander but I will look it over.  ActiveWords is indeed very powerful and extremely simple if all you are doing is text substitution or program launching. The scripting language is more powerful but requires a learning curve.   Recently I wrote a script for ActiveWords that places the focus in the "Add Tag" box at the bottom and adds the tag that I want.  It then jumps to the "Move Note" box at the top and adds the notebook that I want the note to go to.  So in my case where I have about 15 notes a day that need to be tagged a certain way and then moved to a specific notebook this probably saves 40-50 extra clicks a day.  Likewise, I use it for adding dates in various formats to my notes,  moving the focus to certain fields that I want to be in etc.  The usage has been limited for EN but ActiveWords has become my most relied upon program for just about everything else I do.  It's the first program I load when I purchase a new computer (disclaimer: I have no financial stake in ActiveWords).  

[VincentC 352]

I believe that ActiveWords give more control over machine functions - more access to cntl alt shift key combinations, for instance.  Text Expander has some of that, but more limited.  For example, I started to make a Text Expander snippet so I could push a hotkey combination and would have whatever outlook email I was viewing forward to my evernote email address.  After a half hour, I stopped.  It takes a couple of seconds to do it by hand ,and I would have to forward a lot of emails before I got to break-even.  

Text Expander is really good with formatting.  For example, I have a snippet, semicolon mtg, that opens a form that I use in the header of a meeting note template.  The snippet autofills the date in y-m-d format and presents me with a text box to enter the topic.  I have another, semicolon msg, that I use in the header of an email I forwarded from my outlook client.  The snippet, semicolon msg, enters "Message, ymd, From: [name],  To: [name] Topic: [   ].   It both saves time and enforces consistency in my naming convention for meetings.  Also, there are tons of shortcuts available in a library that you can just use.   Emoticons, for example,  👍  

It's a great tool for me because I can spend a tiny bit of time and get a good return.  I live by the Pareto Pinciple, aka the 80/20 rule -- I'm passionate about staying on the right side of the rule - i.e., focusing on the 20% of the time that will deliver 80% of the results, and not 80% of the time that only delivers 20% of the results! 😀

Text Expander also has a lot of support available - youtube videos, webinars, with a lot of examples about how to use the tool in a customer service environment: responding to requests for support or more information, for example, which I suspect you have with Backupery.  Might be worth a look for you, but I suspect ActiveWords will do most of this too.

 

Vinnie

 

 

[gazumped 12,076]

Interesting...  thanks for the headsup: I hadn't looked at ActiveWords in any depth before,  but as a former (and very sad) Filterize user I was wondering how I would get around the closure of that service after the end of this year.  This looks as though it may help - do you use AI to write macros?  I just asked the -allegedly- smartest one of the current crop to write a Macro to find and go to the title field of a note.  I got this...

Quote

Dim objNote

' Get the currently active Evernote note
Set objNote = Evernote.ActiveNote

' Find the title field
Set objTitle = objNote.FindField("Title")

' Select the title field
objTitle.Select
 

I've no clue whether that might work -yet;  but if I can build up actions based on individual snippets like that it would be very useful!

[idoc 413]

6 hours ago, gazumped said:

Interesting...  thanks for the headsup: I hadn't looked at ActiveWords in any depth before,  but as a former (and very sad) Filterize user I was wondering how I would get around the closure of that service after the end of this year.  This looks as though it may help - do you use AI to write macros?  I just asked the -allegedly- smartest one of the current crop to write a Macro to find and go to the title field of a note.  I got this...

I've no clue whether that might work -yet;  but if I can build up actions based on individual snippets like that it would be very useful!

I don't really understand the AI response.  That doesn't look like AW scripting language.  Here is an example of a simple script in EN.  When I type 14338336 it executes the following script:

{tab 5}92014{tab 5}1{tab}2{tab}3{enter}{tab 13}92133{tab 5}1{tab 15}92083{tab 5}1{tab 15}92136{tab 5}1

This script takes a medical billing template which is blank and it enters procedure and diagnostic codes into the grid.  That one sequence in the triggering word takes care of the entire billing of this hypothetical patient.  Since we do this 40-50 times a day the savings in time is enormous.   There are many, many other ways to use scripts.

 

 

 

 

[gazumped 12,076]

Hmmmn - my AI may have been lying to me.  Quelle surprise...  Thanks for the example.  I'll have a look in more detail over the weekend!  

[idoc 413]

I use AW dozens of times a day.  It's absolutely invaluable.  The only slight downside is that it requires a tiny bit of technical skill (very tiny) and therefore may not be a good fix for people with absolute zero tech abilities.  However, my tech skills are pretty close to zero and I still have derived enormous use from it.  A $30 investment allows you to use it on 3 different machines and they all sync perfectly.