If you use your PC every day, there may be several tasks you perform repeatedly. They might be as simple as launching your favorite browser or opening a set of apps you use for work. Regardless of the type of actions, manually performing steps to recreate the scenario every single time takes up time. Instead, you can use certain tools for automation on your Windows desktop or laptop. These automation tools can be programmed to perform any function or a set of functions using commands and triggers.

Simply select an action from the list of activities, and then choose a trigger to activate the action. While the examples I mentioned are quite simple, you can perform extremely powerful automation using these tools, saving you a good chunk of time daily — so you can use that time to attend to some other work or build habits. Let's go over some apps and relevant scenarios where you can introduce automation to make your life easier.

4 Windows Task Scheduler

A built-in tool

Most users may not be aware, but Windows 11 has a plethora of built-in features and tools that nullify the need for third-party apps. For example, Clipchamp is an excellent video editor baked into the OS that provides a lot more features than you would imagine. Another such example is the Task Scheduler app inside Windows. As the name may suggest, the app — in simple terms — schedules tasks to take place at set intervals or triggers. For example, you can choose to open File Explorer at 9 AM every day, or close Arc Browser at 6 PM every day once you're done with work. You can even customize the frequency of the action. Set which days of the week you want the task to trigger, or pick a specific date.

If you think that's too basic, this is just a small example of what the Windows Task Scheduler can do at a surface level. The app also provides you with the option to create advanced tasks and automation. With this option, you can name your automation, set it to trigger only when a certain user account is logged in, and even select custom conditions for it to run. For instance, opening or closing an app at a certain time of the day may not be for everyone. For advanced tasks, the app gives you the option to set custom triggers based on an event, when you unlock your PC, lock it, or log in if you wish to perform tasks instantly when you switch on your PC.

Moreover, performing advanced automation can also involve running command prompt scripts as an action instead of simply launching or closing an app. When used correctly, the Windows Task Scheduler can be an extremely powerful tool to get work done without spending too much time repeating actions. As and when you use the app more, you should be able to figure out all the different ways in which you can use it to save time and effort.

3 Microsoft Power Automate

Yet another first-party app

A lot of Microsoft's decisions are rather questionable. Like this one, for example. Why are Windows Task Scheduler and Microsoft Power Automate separate apps? Given how they work similarly, they should have been combined into a single app on Windows 11. Either way, if you find the Task Scheduler app to be limiting in terms of functionality, you can use yet another app that comes packaged with your Windows 11 build — Microsoft Power Automate. Unlike the Task Scheduler which can only launch programs or run simple command prompt scripts, Power Automate is a lot more capable.

Possible tasks you can perform via the app include the ability to automatically send emails to a mailing list, automatically download attachments from emails, integrate online services with Excel to extract data, etc. I've set up the app to sync all my Gmail attachments with Google Drive automatically, which is super helpful since I don't have to look through thousands of emails to find a document when I need it.

Another decent use case is automatically migrating data from Microsoft Forms to an Excel sheet. When working with a large data set or conducting a survey, this is an absolute godsend. There are several office tasks you can automate with this service — including automating Excel — saving you a ton of time every single day. Think of running scripts in Excel to perform a function on a large data set.

2 AutoHotkey

Script automation with ease

Let's now get to more serious stuff. AutoHotkey is an automation scripting engine that allows Windows users to perform actions that can truly change the way they compute. Since it's a third-party app, the possibilities are endless. The automation isn't just limited to launching an app at a set time or sending an email as per a certain schedule. AutoHotkey enables you to use custom scripts to set key binds and combinations to trigger actions. In simple terms, you can press a set of keys on your keyboard or click your mouse pointer a set number of times to perform a function.

For instance, you can set text replacement shortcuts that are extremely helpful when typing long articles and essays. A good example is setting the text 'omw' to be replaced with 'on my way'. Now, every time you type the three letters, AutoHotkey will automatically replace it with the full phrase. Not just this. You can even create automatic clickers that click on a certain section of the screen at set intervals. Whether it's creating macros, improving your workflow, or activating shortcuts that do your job with less effort, AutoHotkey is your one-stop shop.

While the services mentioned previously save time by launching apps quickly, AutoHotkey does so by reducing the number of your keystrokes and mouse clicks. While it may not seem like a lot, the time saved adds up over time when using the service. There are several instances where I need to type long words or phrases repeatedly when typing articles. A lot of these words are proper nouns with weird capitalizations that take a bit of time to type. An app like AutoHotkey makes things a lot easier by letting me assign shortcuts like 'nv' to type Nvidia or 'sd' for Snapdragon.

1 MouseKey Recorder

Record and automate tasks

How can there be a list of automation tools without one that records and replicates macros? Well, MouseKey Recorder does exactly that. For those unaware, macros are functions that are recorded while they're being performed. For instance, you can launch a bunch of apps, open certain menus inside them, and click on a button. The entire process can be recorded using MouseKey Recorder as a macro. You can then set the macro to repeat as per a set schedule.

Such features are definitely not for everyone, but power users will appreciate how it makes life easier for computers that are intended to perform a single function. Let's say there's a certain procedure to follow when an app stops responding, and you need to relaunch it quickly. Instead of clicking four different times and spending time doing it, you can record the macro and run it via a key combination. So, the next time the app stops working, all you have to do is press a single key and watch the entire process being followed automatically.

I once used a macro to automatically add a product to my cart as soon as it went on sale. It was a flash sale, which meant there were limited units of a product that would go on sale exactly at 12 PM. I knew I would be too slow to do it manually, so I used a macro to automatically click on the "Add to cart" button several thousand times in a second. It worked surprisingly well, as I was able to purchase the product without any issues. Of course, there are several other productive use cases for the MouseKey Recorder apart from ordering a product online, but you get the gist.

Improve your efficiency

Using automation to improve your workflow can drastically impact your productivity. I used to think automating small and mundane tasks wouldn't make a big difference as it hardly saves a few seconds of my time in each instance. However, the time saved gets extrapolated massively when you consider all the circumstances in which you can automate your work, and the number of instances you can use it in every single day.