Online Teaching

1) General information

YOU WILL NEED TO INSTALL AUTOHOTKEY V. 1.1 FOR THE SCRIPTS BELOW. THE SCRIPTS WILL NOT WORK WITH THE MOST RECENT VERSION OF AUTOHOTKEY (V.2)

I have developed two simple programs to make my life easier now that my university has switched to virtual classes. They are available for free below. These programs may be of interest especially to people who are teaching online or are preparing tutorial videos. Note that the programs below can only be used on a PC.

At the bottom of this page, I also included some examples of AutoHotkey codes that show how powerful AutoHotkey can be to automate PowerPoint. For example, it can make editing slides much faster by creating keyboard shortcuts to simple PowerPoint functions and more complex routines.

Comments and suggestions for improvements are welcome on the YouTube pages or by email @

lboisvert@pugetsound.edu

Download, installation and use:

To address issues that came up with installing previous versions of the programs, I now make the programs available as AutoHotkey scripts (with a .ahk file extension) instead of executable .exe files. These .ahk scripts can be easily run by double-clicking on the .ahk files. For this to work, you will first need to install the free program AutoHotkey, which is available at the following address (you can just download the current version):

YOU WILL NEED TO INSTALL AUTOHOTKEY V. 1.1 FOR THE SCRIPTS BELOW. THE SCRIPTS WILL NOT WORK WITH THE MOST RECENT VERSION OF AUTOHOTKEY (V.2)

www.autohotkey.com

• • If you are not allowed to install programs on your computer, which is a common situation in industry,it's usually still possible to run .ahk scripts by using the portable version of AutoHotkey. See instructions here.

The first time you run one of the scripts below, a .ini file will be generated. This .ini file contains the customizable settings for the script, and should be kept in the same folder as the .ahk file. The .ahk and .ini files can be moved to any folder on your computer, but make sure it's a folder (such as your "Desktop" or "Documents") that has read/write access (for example, the folder "Program Files" doesn't have read/write access allowed by default).

To quit the programs, right-click on their tray icons.

To uninstall the programs:

Just delete the .ahk file and the accompanying .ini settings file (which will be generated when you first run the script). If you have no use for AutoHotkey, you may also want to uninstall it through your normal Windows settings.

2) PowerPoint Inking toolbar (version 3.1)

(LAST UPDATE: AUGUST 19, 2021) and PowerPoint add-in (version 1.1) (LAST UPDATE: APRIL 20, 2021):

The PowerPoint Inking Toolbar (PC only) is a free program that makes the annotation of slides easier during a PowerPoint slide show. It creates a hovering toolbar that provides quick access to pens of different colors, to the eraser, and to many other functions.

PowerPoint has some good annotation capabilities that can be used during a slide show but most annotation functions are several clicks away, which can break the flow of a presentation. The PowerPoint Inking Toolbar can prove to be especially useful during online lectures where a good flow is crucial when annotating slides. Almost every feature of the program can be easily customized by manually editing the .ini file in which the settings are saved. This includes changing the size of and adding/removing/reordering buttons, changing icons, adding a second toolbar, customizing menus, etc.

Starting with version 3.0, there is now a second toolbar that you can customize completely independently of the main toolbar. By default, this second toolbar is set to a "navigation" toolbar to make it easier to navigate between slides during a slide show.

You can use the program on its own, launching it manually by double-clicking on the .ahk file whenever you need it. Alternatively, it can optionally be used with the PowerPoint add-in: if you decide to use the add-in, the program will start automatically whenever a PowerPoint slide show starts (and the program will automatically get closed when you quit the slide show). See below for instructions to install the add-in and for a brief video showcasing the add-in and most recent features of the program. Version 1.1 of the add-in should be compatible with all recent versions of PowerPoint, including 2019, 365, and 64bit.

To use this program, you will first need to install the free AutoHotkey on your computer (www.autohotkey.com).

• If you are not allowed to install programs on your computer, it's usually still possible to run .ahk scripts by using the portable version of AutoHotkey. See instructions in this pdf file.

Then download the .ahk script below, which you can run by double-clicking on it. The first time you run the script, it will ask you to create a .ini settings file that will contain all the settings for the program. Make sure to keep this .ini file in the same folder as the .ahk script. Starting with version 3.1, when you first run the program you will have the option to open the program's instructions. These instructions are also available at all times through the toolbar's menu.

If the toolbar buttons are too small or too large for your needs, just open the .ini file in a text editor such as Notepad (I prefer the free Notepad++), change the dimensions of the buttons on lines 90-91 of the .ini file, save the .ini file, then relaunch the program.

Download the .ahk script for version 3.1 of the PowerPoint Inking Toolbar from Google Drive (can only be used on a PC): PowerPoint Inking Toolbar 3.1.ahk

Download the .zip file containing the instructions and files to install version 1.1 of the PowerPoint add-in from Google Drive (can only be used on a PC): PowerPoint Inking Toolbar Addin 1.1.zip

Here is a short demo video featuring v. 2.4 of the toolbar that highlights how to use and customize this program (it also includes the PowerPoint add-in v. 1.1). Below are two other videos highlighting the new features that were added to versions 3.0 and 3.1 of the toolbar.

What has changed since the previous version of the PowerPoint Inking Toolbar? See changelog.

3) Cursor Highlighter (version 2.2)

(LAST UPDATE: AUGUST 16, 2020):

Cursor Highlighter (PC only) is a program that makes the mouse cursor easier to track. There are three modes: the basic function is to create a colored "halo" around the mouse cursor. It can also be set to instead have a user-defined icon follow the mouse cursor, or to act as a "cursor focus" where the screen is darkened except for a region around the cursor. The program can be useful to make the mouse cursor more obvious for example during online lectures, or when recording tutorial videos, or when people with vision disabilities need to use a computer.

To use this program, you will first need to install the free AutoHotkey on your computer (www.autohotkey.com).

• If you are not allowed to install programs on your computer, it's usually still possible to run .ahk scripts by using the portable version of AutoHotkey. See instructions in this pdf file.

Then download the .ahk script below, which you can run by double-clicking on it. The first time you run the script, it will ask you to create a .ini settings file that will contain all the settings for the program. Make sure to keep this .ini file in the same folder as the .ahk script.

Download the .ahk script for version 2.2 of Cursor Highlighter from Google Drive (can only be used on a PC): Cursor Highlighter 2.2.ahk

Here is a great video from Kevin Stratvert highlighting some of the features of the program (see at the 7:55 mark):

Here is a demo video of some of the features of the Cursor Highlighter that I had previously uploaded:

What has changed since the previous version of the Cursor Highlighter? See changelog.

4) Examples of AutoHotkey codes to automate PowerPoint

AutoHotkey (PC only) can be very useful to increase one's workflow when editing PowerPoint slides by creating keyboard shortcuts to simple and more complex PowerPoint functions. Below is a short demo script that shows some of the kind of stuff that can be done. The scripts includes the following keyboard shortcuts that can be triggered when editing slides:

• "F3" to resize all selected object to 65%

• "Ctrl + Shift + 8" to select the % to resize the selected object

• "Ctrl + Shift + r" to change the color of selected objects or text to red

• "Ctrl + Shift + u" to change the color of selected objects or text to blue

• "Ctrl + Shift + k" to change the color of selected objects or text to black

• "Ctrl + 9" to decrease line thickness of selected object by 0.25

• "Ctrl + 0" to increase line thickness of selected object by 0.25

• "Ctrl + Shift + f" to insert a formatted textbox with predefined and editable text

• "Ctrl + Shift + y" to add all selected objects to the animation cue with "appear" entrance animation, with the first object set to "start" on click and others set to start with previous

• "Ctrl + Shift + z" to add all selected objects to the animation cue with "appear" entrance animation, with all objects set to start with previous

• "Ctrl + Alt + c" to align selected objects to horizontal center of slide

These are just a few examples of the kind of stuff that can be done when using AutoHotkey to automate PowerPoint. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or need any help!

To use this script, you first need to install the free AutoHotkey on your computer (www.autohotkey.com).

• If you are not allowed to install programs on your computer, it's usually still possible to run .ahk scripts by using the portable version of AutoHotkey. See instructions in this pdf file.

Then download the .ahk script below, which you can run by double-clicking on it. To quit the script, just right-click on its tray icon.

You can modify the shortcuts by opening the .ahk file in a text editor such as Notepad (I prefer the free Notepad++), but you may need some AutoHotkey knowledge to edit the script.

Download the .ahk script with example codes for the automation of PowerPoint from Google Drive (can only be used on a PC): PowerPoint Shortcuts Examples.ahk

Questions? Comments? Corrections? Suggestions?

lboisvert@pugetsound.edu