Does anyone have any experience or recommendation for free macro software for Windows? I have a load of lines (thousands) to edit, individually, and I just want to press a key combo to make it do something like
Right mouse click (at the current position)
Tab
Tab
Tab
Type some fixed text
Tab
Tab
Left mouse click
There will be about 5 variants on the text so I'm thinking a different key combo to initiate each.
So it's rally simple but I've looked at some of the freeware stuff and not had too much success with it yet.
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Thx - that's one that I downloaded this morning and discarded fairly quickly as you can't record the macro, you need to write the script from scratch..
Having said that I'm currently testing Mouse Recorder Pro, what I don't like is that it works on absolute screen locations - for instance it starts at a specific screen coordinate rather than at the record in focus - so I'd always have to have the target record at the same place on the screen. I'd envisaged just highlighting a record, then pressing a key combo to fire up the macro.
So I may well have a read of the autohotkey Helpfile - it can't be too hard to write the script...
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I know I've used one that records, i thought it was that one.
Should I have a dig around later and find which tool it was or have you sorted it now?
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Not sorted, I spent some time yesterday looking through the various tools but none seemed to quite fit the bill. Maybe what I want would cost money.
Please don't waste too much time on it but if you can find something I'd be most grateful.
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You do not say what format the existing data is in. Is it a .doc or a .txt file or anything similar that could be opened with notepad?
I am thinking of doing a search and replace as a first pass, inserting a string with non occuring character at the position for the varable text, followed by a search and insert using hot keys programmed with suitable strings?
Last edited by: sherlock47 on Sat 6 Feb 16 at 08:01
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Nah, that was deliberate as people will tell me to use a different product... :-)
It's iTunes. I want to add some data to the detail which is arrived at by right clicking on a song in the list. It's a repetitive change but it isn't a global one - there will be about 6 variants. So I was thinking a script for each variant triggered by a different key combo. Just highlight a record and press the right combo. Even doing it that way is going to take me some hours to do it.
I used to be able to program stuff like this on a minicomputer in the 80s, it was really quite simple. I'm pretty sure there was something built into old Windows too but can't see it.
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>> Nah, that was deliberate as people will tell me to use a different product... :-)
>>
>> It's iTunes. I want to add some data to the detail which is arrived at
>> by right clicking on a song in the list. It's a repetitive change but it
>> isn't a global one - there will be about 6 variants. So I was thinking
>> a script for each variant triggered by a different key combo. Just highlight a record
>> and press the right combo. Even doing it that way is going to take me
>> some hours to do it.
Is it to change the meta data? there are tools around to do this
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I want to put the decade in the composer field. I use Tag and Rename to update the meta data for everything that's added anyway but this is a retrospective change to around 5000 tracks.
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Have you tried MP3 Tag? It can search and replace and retag in batch mode.
www.mp3tag.de/en/
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I guess that's similar to the functionality in Tag and Rename, and also even iTunes, where you can select multiple records and change a single or multiple fields at once. That will be the answer I think, but it's not the way I envisaged doing the job. (It actually could be quicker, now I think about it!!)
I'll need to use iTunes though as if I change the tag using another product then the iTunes catalogue won't be updated (I think). And if I remove the songs to edit then re-add, they will be deleted from playlists.
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>> I guess that's similar to the functionality in Tag and Rename, and also even iTunes,
>> where you can select multiple records and change a single or multiple fields at once.
No, its much more powerful and versatile than that, you can search on various tag fields, (much more than iTunes) batch export to csv import to spreadsheet,apply or write your favourite spread sheet macro, export same and write tags.
Download it and try it, - its my tool of choice for tag management.
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I echo all that Zero.says about mp3tag.
The key is to sit and think logically about the best approach before actually starting. Also best to try it on a copy of your files.
However you may well have a point about the difficulty in getting those updated tags noticed in iTunes.
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I've had a look and it does pretty much the same as Tag & Rename, which is way more than i really need for this operation. I am going to start using it as there are reasons for me to not use the version of T&R I have.
However it doesn't serve the purpose here. As above, if I change the tags not using iTunes then the new info will not get displayed unless I re-add the music, which I can't do as it would remove it from playlists.
Even with being able to multi-select tracks for batch changes there are quite a few keystrokes to perform to make the change, and it really is that which I was trying to save (and the scope for typos)
All I'm trying to do is have a rough guide to which decade so I can easily find music in a hurry. The more I think about it the less important it actually is... :-)
(btw if you are wondering why I can't use the Year field in the tags, this is often set to the year of the album release whereas I want the rough time when the track was "current")
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>> However it doesn't serve the purpose here. As above, if I change the tags not
>> using iTunes then the new info will not get displayed unless I re-add the music,
>> which I can't do as it would remove it from playlists.
I changed the tags on my iTunes library, (not using iTunes) and and all changes were available on the fly without having to reload the library or playlists.
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I use AutoIT for this sort of stuff, has an easy to understand BASIC syntax.
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That doesn't work for me, I used MP3Tag to change a track name but no change in iTunes. I was pretty sure iTunes only read the tag when you import the track.
AutoIT looks possible, will have a play with it.
This is going to be another of those "projects" where the actual purpose and outcome is insignificant but I'll quite enjoy trying to get there...
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>>That doesn't work for me, I used MP3Tag to change a track name but no change in iTunes. I was pretty sure iTunes only read the tag when you import the track.
I think there is an option in iTunes something like "Make a copy of the track in the iTunes Library when importing".
Essentially that may mean that iTunes is holding a copy of the track in its own directory structure, and you may be changing the tag on the original copy of the file.
Perhaps you should consider deleting everything and re-importing it? It may be, and I have no idea, that exporting and importing the playlists will be easier than manipulating the music files within iTunes?
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Windows macros (free) - No FM2R
