For auto-text capability that transcends the limits of any one application and applicable to most situations where text is required – a most useful tool where one needs to remember one's own set of customized keystrokes for a multitude of tasks.
It is recommended that one considers first a strategy before assigning keystrokes to tasks. A suggested strategy is as follows:
For Special Characters: Assess the availability of almost redundant keys on one's keyboard. For example: the “AltGr” and the “PrtSc” key when pressed alone have no effect (on Windows-based devices) and very unlikely to have use in other Window-based applications. These keys, referred to as “hotkeys” can be assigned to specific special characters – an example: AltGr+a => á
For Special Tasks: Similarly such redundant keys used in combination with the “Ctl” or “Alt” can also be assigned to call up the browser to a particular website (eg. https://www.badi-calendar.com/calculator.php) or a commonly used file within your folders.
For Rendering Abbreviations: Forget key combinations but instead use “extended” abbreviations. Consider common abbreviations that one uses; eg. LSA for Local Spiritual Assembly. One would naturally wish to continue to use these abbreviations but there are times the full rendering of the word group is required. In this case, one would establish an auto-text – usually referred in AutoHotKey as a hotstring (with an added letter such as z or q – unlikely spelling to any other word). Using the above-mention abbreviation “lsa”, one would consider an “extended” hotstring such as “lsaq” which would instantly convert to “Local Spiritual Assembly”.
For Quickly Building a Hotstring library: If one has a tendency to create many hotstrings, one would consider incorporating into the end of one's .ahk script, the additional code the “Hotstring Helper” found in the AutoHotkey Help. With a bit of fine-tuning, one can build hotstrings on the fly.