Quick Evernote Template-based Note Creation with Launchy

Recently, I redesigned my GTD system based on Evernote as the main tool.

I believe strongly that the chosen tools should not “get in the way” of interacting with the system, so when I noticed that several of my Evernote workflows include too much repetitiveness and friction – I looked for ways to reduce that friction and enable me to concentrate on the content and not the meta.

Since I am already a fan of Launchy keyboard launcher, I sought for the ideal integration between Launchy and Evernote – something that would allow me to quickly create template-based notes in Evernote, whatever the active application is, in as frictionless way as possible, while still being flexible and powerful.

I found a couple of ideas, like Brandon’s My Simple Curiosity post on Evernote note templates, and Stephen’s Thought Asylum post on the same subject. These posts were inspiring and helpful, and I wound up developing my own solution, relying on stuff I learned from them.

The result is a collection of scripts and utilities I wrote, that does exactly what I want.

This Evernote-Launchy integration allows quick creation of parametrized template-based notes from Launchy on Windows!

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Launching the Command Prompt from Anywhere with AutoHotKey

When working on my Windows laptop, I often find myself needing to launch a new command prompt. The need usually arises in the active folder in Windows Explorer, or in Total Commander (my favorite file manager on Windows).

This happens pretty often, so I decided to create a keyboard shortcut to automate the process. To do this, I used AutoHotKey – the awesome Windows automation tool.

Properties and features of the AHK script I came up with:

  • Invoked with a keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+T (so it’s consistent with launching the terminal in Linux).
  • If in Windows Explorer – start the command prompt in the current directory.
  • If in Total Commander – start the command prompt in the current directory of the active pane.
  • Otherwise, use a default directory (e.g., the home directory).

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