Activewords and Anagram - getting [F]unc-y

I don't believe I've ever blogged about these two programs before, but I can tell you that Activewords and Anagram are two of the greatest programs I have ever used, and they save you a pile of time.

Activewords has been described (I don't know by who... one of those miscellaneous things I read on the web...) as "the scripting software that Microsoft should have included with Windows, instead of VBScript". Who knows, maybe I said that. This program rocks, though.

Very simply, it scripts keystrokes and lets you save a TON of time. Use Outlook? You can have canned replies that automagically forward responses by typing a word (ANYWHERE!!!!) and hitting F8. Want to send a generic thank-you e-mail in reply to one you received? Set up he script with the full text of the message so that it hits R, puts the text in, and then hits S. Call it "thanks". Then type thanks (ANYWHERE!!!!!) and hit F8. BANG! Surf to your favourite website, run any program, open your My Documents folder - whatever you want to do - without touching your mouse. Need to have a technical term replaced with a single keystroke? No problem. Hard to describe, but the developer gives you 60 days to try it, and you owe it to yourself to try it. The developer is also very responsive. I have been using ActiveWords for about a year, but had to install it on a new computer. Buzz e-mailed me after got my new key, and asked if I wanted an industry-specific wordbase they had developed for my industry. He sent it immediately, and it works like a charm - jut like the rest of the program.

It also has a nifty feature - the productivity feature. Fill in your typing speed and your rate per hour, and AW will tell you how much money it has saved you. Right now, I've saved $130.33. And I've had it installed for 2 weeks. Tres cool.

The other program is Anagram, which I used both when I had a Palm and now that I have a BlackBerry using Exchange. This program rocks. Highlight an addess in an e-mail and hit your command key (mine is F12, but it defaults to hitting +C twice) and it's in your contacts. Someone e-mails you an appointment time, highlight it and hit your trigger, and *bang* it goes into your calendar. Same for tasks, etc. It works with all sorts of PIMs and it is so cheap and so handy, you just have to try it.