Automate the Boring Stuff with Python was created primarily to help beginners learn Python or to help non-programmers reach another level of productivity with Python at work. I also have some suggestions on non-Python tools that I recommend using to improve office productivity.
The entire book is available to read for free online. It’s presented in a very approachable way with exercises along the way to test your knowledge. There are also mini-projects for you to apply what you just learned.
I went through the text version, which was great. Al Sweigart, the author, has also created a video course on Udemy, if you prefer learning with a video format.
To give you an idea of some of the things you will learn from the book or video course, here’s a list from the website of things you will be able to automate after completing the book:
- Search for text in a file or across multiple files
- Create, update, move, and rename files and folders
- Search the Web and download online content
- Update and format data in Excel spreadsheets of any size
- Split, merge, watermark, and encrypt PDFs
- Send reminder emails and text notifications
- Fill out online forms
Other helpful tools
Here are some tools that will help you improve your office productivity:
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a text expander, with user-defined abbreviations, inserts words, phrases, or even customized email templates that prompt you for input.
- TextExpander: Commercial, Mac, Windows, iPhone
- PhraseExpress: Free Personal, Mac, Windows, Android, iPhone
- Breevy: Commercial, Windows
- WordExpander: Free, Windows
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a clipboard manager saves a history of text that you copy, so you don’t accidentally overwrite your clipboard and irretrievably lose something.
- CopyQ: Free, Open Source, Mac, Windows, Linux
- 1clipboard: Free, Mac, Windows
- Ditto: Free, Open Source, Windows
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a password manager allows you to improve security by not using the same password or using randomized or long passwords without having to memorize them.
Originally published on Quora.