Press the Down Arrow key (or any other key)

[Russ]

You could use this to advance your Powerpoint slides for instance, if you had something like this setup.

Save this text to c:\scripts\key.vbs:

Dim Wsh
Set Wsh = Wscript.CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
Wsh.SendKeys "{" + WScript.Arguments.Item(0) +"}"

Then create a command that runs this:

wscript c:\scripts\key.vbs down

You could also make a batch file script that types things like this:

wscript d:\scripts\key.vbs T
wscript d:\scripts\key.vbs R
wscript d:\scripts\key.vbs I
wscript d:\scripts\key.vbs G
wscript d:\scripts\key.vbs G
wscript d:\scripts\key.vbs E
wscript d:\scripts\key.vbs R
wscript d:\scripts\key.vbs c
wscript d:\scripts\key.vbs m
wscript d:\scripts\key.vbs d

Or you could use a vbs script like this:

Dim Wsh
Set Wsh = Wscript.CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
Wsh.SendKeys "{T}{R}{I}{G}{G}{E}{R}{c}{m}{d}"

This article has more info about special keys.
Also this article is helpful:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/language/reference/user-interface-help/sendkeys-statement

EDIT 3/28/2021: I've since learned about nircmd's sendkeypress feature which is nice and easy to use. For example you could send ctrl s with this command:

nircmd sendkeypress ctrl+s

[kellanist]

How would I do something like Ctrl+Tab?

[Russ]

@kellanist, in theory this script would do it, but I don't have any app that would respond to CTRL-TAB, so I didn't test it.

Dim Wsh
Set Wsh = Wscript.CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
Wsh.SendKeys "^{TAB}"

[kellanist]

@Russ Chrome!

Ctrl+tab = move to the next tab to the right.
Ctrl+Shift+Tab = move to the previous tab to the left.
Crtl+W = close tab.

I use those programmed into my mouse to navigate around the browser.

[Russ]

@kellanist, duh, I use that CTRL-TAB key combo in chrome. It just didn't register in my brain.

Anyway, I just tested it from my phone and it worked for me - my PC switched chrome tabs when I ran it. Let me know if it works for you please.

[kellanist]

This post is deleted!

[kellanist]

@Russ Ctrl+tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab work perfectly.

Ctrl+W for some odd reason causes Chome to close entirely instead of just closing a tab.

I've tried "^(W)" and "^W" and they both close the window instead of a single tab. I'm a bit confused as to what is going.

One other thing. Tried to setup Alt+Tab for switching windows and it works but triggers NUM lock for some odd reason. Using "%{TAB}".

[Jcjcc]

Can you hold down a button?

[Russ]

@Jcjcc, tell me more - what are you trying to accomplish?

[Daniel Millan]

Can I run this in a background command?

[Russ]

@Daniel-Millan, you could, but it wouldn't do any good. The command would run, but as Local System, not the user, so it wouldn't press any buttons for the logged in user.

If you make it a foreground command it might do what you're trying to accomplish though - you don't actually see the command running, you just see the results of the button(s) being pressed.

[Daniel Millan]

@Russ I want to run it before I am logged into the computer.

[Russ]

@Daniel-Millan, don't think that's possible.

[Daniel Millan]

@Russ
Okay, thanks.

[Russ]

@Daniel-Millan, sorry. I think it would be a security flaw to allow any process to simulate key presses at that point. That said, there might be some way to do it.

[João Paulo Pugialli]

Hello,

Do you know if it is possible to press a F-media key? For example, I wanted to make alexa press f9 key because that is my shorcut for keyboard lights off. I tried this code:

Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.SendKeys "{F9}"

But it just keeps pressing numlock.

Regards,

[Russ]

@João-Paulo-Pugialli, according to this article, {F9} is correct, so maybe your keyboard is doing something in hardware to toggle its own light off.
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/5169.vbscript-sendkeys-method.aspx

[Russ]

FYI, I found that Wsh.SendKeys can't do ALT+1 (or any other digit), but I was able to make it work with this AutoHotKey script.

Send, !1

! means hold the ALT key (while pressing 1). You can see examples like this in the Tutorial page in AutoHotKey's help.

My TRIGGERcmd command is this: start d:\tools\AutoHotKey\pressAlt1.ahk

Let me know if you need me to do a video on this.

[Gerfesson Alves de Oliveira]

How could I press windows key + "P" so I can open up the projection options?

[Russ]

@Gerfesson-Alves-de-Oliveira, for this one I'd use AutoIT.

I like AutoIT because it can do almost anything in Windows, and it allows you to compile your script to a stand-alone .EXE file. After you install it, look for SciTE Script Editor, that's the actual AutoIT script editor.

You can see here how simple it is to make an AutoIT script that presses Windows+P:

Send("{LWINDOWN}") ; Holds the Windows key down
Send("{p}")       ; Presses the p key
Send("{LWINUP}") ; Releases the Windows key

This is a good reference page for pressing keys: https://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/docs/appendix/SendKeys.htm