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Desktop Macros
www.desktop-macros.com
Reviewed by Maureen Shannon Shannon, NJPCUG
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Recently I decided to convert some images that were in the native
format of a particular application into jpegs so that I could use them
in another application. I had collected thousands of them over the
course of several years,. I wanted to sort through the collection and
convert the images that I liked best. The final count was 3,794 images
to change over to jpegs. The process required using a capture program
and the application that housed the data for the images. The total
amount of keystrokes and mouse clicks for each image was 13 (I counted
keystroke combinations as a single number). Multiply that by the number
of images I wanted it reached a massive 49,322 mouse and keystrokes!
Luckily I didn't do the math before starting the process or I would
have given up on the idea.
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I started the process and after 4 days that found me spending countless
hours of doing repetitive keystrokes, my CTS was so bad I no longer
could use my left hand and I had only converted a few hundred images. I
knew there had to be a better way. I even knew what would do it but
didn't how to do it. What I needed was a macro. Inside of an image
editor it would be easy. Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro both have the
ability to create them. However, I couldn't use either and this process
is somewhat limited to how much it can do. Between the pain in my
wrists and the magnitude of the project I had undertaken, I was feeling
very overwhelmed and wondered if I should abandon the effort. This is
were fate and xStarter Solutions, Inc. came to my rescue. I received a
press release for a new application called Desktop Macros. I have to
admit I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the email! I was in
dire need of exactly what this product said it could do. Having found
excellent products from many of these international software companies,
I wasted no time in replying to the email and requesting a review copy.
I certainly had the perfect set of circumstances to test it.
Some macros are difficult figure out, they may only go so far and then
you have to stop the script and enter the balance of the data you need.
They can save lots of steps but I've never used one that worked in all
other Windows applications and would work using two of them at the same
time. I held my breath and installed Desktop Macros. Installation was
quick and easy and I was up and running in a matter of moments.
I wondered how difficult it would be to use it. It turns out it is
so simple that even a complete novice could write the prefect macro and
have it running in seconds. My left hand was completely useless at this
point and in a brace so I had to rely on using the right hand only , it
was not to happy with what I was doing either. I absolutely needed to
cut down the number of keystrokes (and keystroke combinations) to a
bare minimum.
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This is how difficult it is to get going hit F2 or mouse click the
'New Macro' button. Could this possibly be any simpler? This process is
so easy and a wonderful time saver plus it's a blessing for those of us
who suffer from CTS (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome) that if it had only
reduced my steps by half I would have been impressed. It did more than
that.
It reduced my steps to two. One mouse capture and a keystroke combo to resume the macro.
I
was using a regional capture and it required that I pause the macro to
enter manual information which was to draw the capture area with the
mouse and then the keystroke combination of Alt+F12 to start macro
running again. I don't recall being able to do that inside my other
programs that created macros. You had to stop when it came to entering
data and then if there were many more steps, create a second macro to
proceed. I was very happy with the results I was getting.
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This is how difficult it is to get going hit F2 or mouse click the
'New Macro' button. Could this possibly be any simpler? This process is
so easy and a wonderful time saver plus it's a blessing for those of us
who suffer from CTS (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome) that if it had only
reduced my steps by half I would have been impressed. It did more than
that.
It reduced my steps to two. One mouse capture and a keystroke combo to resume the macro.
I was using a regional capture and it required that I pause the
macro to enter manual information which was to draw the capture area
with the mouse and then the keystroke combination of Alt+F12 to start
macro running again. I don't recall being able to do that inside my
other programs that created macros. You had to stop when it came to
entering data and then if there were many more steps, create a second
macro to proceed. I was very happy with the results I was getting.
I was not able to get the screen shot to work inside the second
application with the macro running. This didn't bother me in the least
because the mouse strokes were being reduced from 49,322 to 7,588!
Those numbers certainly impressed me. xStarter Solutions was not happy
that I even had to pause the macro to use a mouse to draw the area or
screen shot the entire area, they are now testing it to see why it
would not do the entire process. They said it should have. It may very
well be my computer and the multitude of products installed on it. They
have a way of interfering with each other. I have to say that doing one
mouse movement didn't bother me in the least I was still in awe at what
the application was doing to save me from all the other keystrokes and
combination.
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Creating the macro was a easy as naming it, clicking record, and
going through the steps I was using to convert a single image to a
jpeg. When I came to the actual screen capture, I had to pause the
macro, draw the selection with the mouse pointer, and then restart the
macro and let it finish the steps to complete one image save. As you
can see, the dialog box is very easy to set up. It's a total no-brainer
and absolutely fantastic to work with. How did I ever live without the
product? I most likely could have used the loop option but opted not to
because this was my first attempt at using it and I wanted to try it in
its simplest setting. Now I plan on going back and using it with the
loop setting in the macro.
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Just so you can understand what I was
doing, I will explain each step needed to convert one image to a jpeg.
I had both applications opened with the capture program minimized. Then
I would click 'Edit' on the application with the images, open the edit
dialog box and copy (Ctrl+C) the image name, then click OK or cancel to
close the box, then click the slide show button to view the image in
full screen (it was opened in a smaller window in the applications
interface), then I used the keystroke combination of Ctrl+P to launch
the capture program this set the mouse up for the area to select. Next
I drew the selection and then used the keystroke combination of Alt+F12
to restart the macro. The macro then closed the slide show, the save
dialog box for the capture program was open under that screen, the
macro then clicked the save button, pasted in the image name (Ctrl+V),
clicked Save to save the image, then closed the dialog box, and then
went to the next button and the image application moved to the next
image in the collection. All I had to do next was use the key command
or mouse click to restart the macro and it did the next image. Since my
left hand was so bad I didn't want to use a keystroke combo and opted
for the simple mouse click to rerun the macro. The entire process was
now reduced to two steps and then clicking to have the macro begin
again. This eliminated 41,734 mouse and keystroke combinations from my
project! I am so happy that I found this application or I should say
that it found me.
In the next 10 days, I converted the balance (well over 3000 images)
of the entire collection of 3,794 images. Do that math and you will see
that what would have taken me weeks and weeks to finish without the
macro was now reduced to 10 days of working in the evenings. I did work
for hours at a time but the time I saved I couldn't begin to calculate.
Desktop Macros had enabled me to work faster with as little steps as
possible and also allowed me to stop using my left hand while I tried
to let it heal. There is no way I would have been able to complete what
I started if I hadn't found this application. It's a given that I would
have had to abandon the project until I was able to use both hands
again and then I would have only been able to work in very short
amounts because of the constant pressure of the repetitive keystrokes
on my wrists. If you suffer from CTS, you'll love this product but that
is only one benefit ..it works great and saves time and saves the user
from the stress and boredom repeating the same keystrokes and mouse
clicks over and over again. I must have had a computer guardian angel
looking over my should because I can't imagine why when I needed a
solution so badly to help me through my project that Desktop Macros
arrived in my email. All I can say is thank you to Alex Gilev and the
folks at xStarter Solutions, Inc. I have found a better way to
manage/save my time with less input time required and maximum output
resulting from my efforts.
Desktop Macros is essential to all of us who do repetitive entries
in applications. Until I needed an application that would do this for
me, I really didn't appreciate it. Sure I had used scripts or macros in
my image editors but I never did it for tasks outside of them. Now I
have a product that will meet, if not exceed, that need.
Being able to use a hotkey to pause and restart the application is
an excellent feature. We all run into situations where manual data
needs to be entered and the need is answered with Desktop Macros. The
ease of using the product is terrific, so I will repeat myself by
saying it again. It's so easy to understand that all level of users can
benefit from it. It works in any Microsoft Windows application. **It
records the sequences of keystrokes (and mouse clicks), stores the
information in the macro file, and then you can run it as many times as
needed. After 3,794 runs, my macro was still going strong! The playback
also has 9 speed settings. Some suggestions how to use Dekstop Macros
from xStarter Solutions, Inc. are 'data entry into forms, entering
passwords and usernames, filling parameters and text fields in complex
applications, etc.' Desktop Macros is available as a download for
purchase or trial at www.desktop-macros.com
. It sells for $19.99. It worked great for me and I recommend it to
anyone that wants to save time and reduce repeating keystrokes.
*The problem is with the capture program I am using. Excellent technical support from xStarter Solutions.
**I worked with small windows. I did not have the applications
opened to full screen. If you do this, the windows must open in the
exact same spot if you are using mouse clicks. If you move the window
from the spot it recorded from, the mouse clicks will not line up with
the same spot that was recorded by the macro.
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