Welcome to My Blog at Enabling Automation!
My goal with this blog is to help normal people automate repetitive tasks with built-in tools in your OS and office applications!
Ideally the automation will be implemented with minimal external libraries and without installing any new applications.
The primary audience for this blog is
- non-"coders"
- use Microsoft Windows, since it makes up some 77% ^1 of desktop operating systems
- use Microsoft Office or other office suites that allow user automation
- work on machines where they don’t have administrator privileges
What this means to readers
PowerShell, Visual Basic (.vb/.vbs), Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), and batch files (.bat/.cmd) are the primary tools that enable built-in automation in Windows.
Because Linux and Mac already have a lot of information about automation available, they’re not my primary focus; however, with .NET Core 3 and PowerShell 7 being cross-platform I will certainly cover using PowerShell for different environments!
I will not target outdated software or any OS that is no longer supported, so no Windows 7, or PowerShell less than version 5.1 (the default for Windows 10). Anyone using office suites which are over a decade old: you should really upgrade; the new stuff is much better.
If you work in an enterprise/corporate environment and still have extremely outdated software, your IT department is putting your company at risk by using things that are so old and full of vulnerabilities! Be an advocate for updating to newer, supported software!
I am highly biased!
However, I don’t want to alienate people who are trying to make their, and probably their co-worker’s, lives’ easier. The intent is utility over perfection, with considerations for maintainability and customization.
If you are really trying to get something done, hopefully I can provide an interesting perspective on how to complete it with the most powerful and flexible tool ever created by humans.
Feel free to contact me, nate@enablingautomation.com, and let me know if you need help or if anything I’ve written has helped you!
If you’re concerned about starting automating, I say "Don’t be Afraid, Do be Patient"
Automation is driving the decline of banal and repetitive tasks. — Amber Rudd