A guide to the manual

Where to find the AutoHotkey help file?

AutoHotkey comes with a great help file that explains a lot of things. This comes with the installer and is usually located at C:\Program Files\AutoHotkey\AutoHotkey.chm. There’s also an online version at www.autohotkey.com/docs/.

For AutoHotkey_L, the online version is at www.autohotkey.net/~Lexikos/AutoHotkey_L.

For German, there’s a complete translation of the AutoHotkey_L manual available in the german forum.

Some (incomplete) IronAHK docs are here. For most undocumented cases, you can use the AutoHotkey classic helpfile.

There are no helpfiles for AutoHotkey v2 and AutoHotkey_H v2 right now. Users should check out the Autohotkey v2 thread for changes.

AutoHotkey_H docs are also available online at autohotkey.net.

How to use the help file

Running the above file gives you the usual WindowsHelp window. You can navigate to the right using the content tree, entering keywords in the index or the search tab, and save the most used pages in the Favorites tab.

When you have a problem, try searching with different keywords. Also check out the FAQ page.

A typical help page has on the top the name of the command, directive or function it is about, followed by a short summary. In the yellow box, there’s a description of the syntax to use.

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Note:

If parameters are enclosed in square brackets (“[” and “]”), this does not mean you have to copy the brackets. Instead it means the parameters inside the brackets are optional and can be left out.

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After the syntax, there’s a table describing the parameters and what to use for them. More information on the command’s / function’s / directive’s behaviour can be found below.

Also common is a list of related stuff that helps you if the current page is not what you’re looking for.

Last but not least, there are examples almost everywhere. Remember to read the comments, as they sometimes contain instructions how to use the sample.

Also very useful is the alphabetical list of commands, functions and directives (AutoHotkey_L, IronAHK).