Basic Info| App Name | AlomWare Toolbox |
| App URL | https://www.alomware.com/index.html |
| App Version Reviewed | 6.1.0.0 |
| Test System Specs | Windows 11, 16Gb RAM, Intel evo |
| Supported OSes | Windows 7 or later, 64-bit |
| Support Methods | Contact via website |
| Upgrade Policy | Free version is nagware, yearly license or lifetime |
| Trial Version Available? | Free version nags every day for a registration code but is fully functional |
| Pricing Scheme | Free is nagware, yearly license is $24 and reverts to free on expiry, lifetime license $49 down from $79 |
| Screencast Video URL | https://www.alomware.com/videos.html |
| Relationship btwn. Reviewer and Product | REVIEWER: No relationship. |
Intro:AlomWare Toolbox is a collection of Useful Gadgets, all bundled up together in a relatively small app, designed to be running permanently.
I don't have a good catch-all description, but the core of the most useful parts of it is a sort of self-contained programming environment like a cross between Autohotkey and an environment manager.
The website says: Auto-typing. And you've already thought of text expansion programs that'll replace some bit of shorthand with your email address or phone number or some such, and so it is. But it can be a bit less single-minded than that: you can ask it to pop up a menu of relevant possibilities -- email addresses, say -- and it'll type in your choice from that list.
The website says: Automated actions. Like, it'll do calculations for you, or case conversions. I haven't done much with this yet, but I like the idea of not having to load a calculator and the gadget I currently use for case conversions (not going to name it) is clunky and unreliable: my limited experimentation in this area is that it's fast and accurate.
The website says: App arrangement. You can ask it to look for particular apps and have them open exactly how and where you want them. Not the most useful to me but I like the idea, there have been times where I needed something like this to manage a recalcitrant bit of software and found myself spending a while reminding myself of how to use Skrommel's WinWarden. AT looks to have similar functionality.
The website says: Clipboard history. Yes, lots of possibilities here. AT is portable, though, so you can carry your clipboard with you. It's searchable, but perhaps more limited than many separate clipboard management tools.
The website says: Reminders/Tasks. That's reminders for you, or tasks for the computer. Again, the portability of this gives it some potential that many automation tools don't have, but it's also a function of the software I haven't experimented much with.
The website says: Window control. Another area I haven't touched, but from the look of it, while there's nothing unique here, the ability to lock windows in place or dock them together so they can be moved as a group is occasionally useful and generally requires another third-party product.
The website says: PC Tweaks. All sorts of little gadgets in this category, my favourite of which is the auto-close of quotes and brackets, which I've got used to having in various text editors but having it everywhere is lovely. And the tray indicators of keyboard locks is scarcely unique to this but it's yet another external gadget otherwise.
The website says: That's just the beginning. And so it is.
My current favourite thing is the ability to make a pop-up menu, from text input.
But there's so much stuff, and I haven't really scratched the surface.
The automation tab is where I'm spending most of my time. One thing I discovered early is that it starts out relatively empty, but there's a command to re-add the default actions that populates the system with loads and loads of autotypers and tools and gadgets, all of which can be modified, deactivated or removed according to user preference.
AlomWare Toolbox, mini-reviewWho is this app designed for:OK, so this is more awkward to define. It's a bunch of useful tools that certainly appeal to me, as a bit of a computer nerd, but whether I could convince a normal computer user that this is a good way to improve their computing experience is perhaps questionable.
The GoodMuch like many of the best automation tools, the core of the functionality is close to being a full macro language. The program holds your hand through quite a lot of it, though, so its nothing like as intimidating as sitting down with a text editor and knowing almost nothing about how to get there from here. You define an action, little more than a name and an optional trigger, and a series of steps that are picked off a menu.
It's very configurable, there are a few "how to" videos on the website and it's clear that a lot of time and effort has gone into making this product solid, stable, useful and attractive. The developer is helpful and responsive too.
The needs improvement sectionThere's a clear learning curve. Although there's an online manual, I think the "little wins" that are necessary to get the user into working out how the product will work well for them aren't made enough of: the "re-add default actions" instantly clutters up the available actions in the Automation tab, for instance, but it needed me to spot it and click it. Up to that point, the learning curve felt all but insurmountable. Afterwards, a lot of the structure and uses just opened up. Maybe a few tutorials are needed.
Why I think you should use this productThis feels to me like a great way to solve a lot of little problems that would otherwise require a handful of different tools from different sources, or a significant degree of expertise in Autohotkey or similar, or maybe both.
How does it compare to similar appsAnother slightly awkward question. There are better clipboard managers, more powerful automation tools, window and environment managers, reminder and notes tools, and so on. But the convenience of having all this stuff in a single environment; I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like it.
ConclusionsAs you'll probably be able to tell, I am a relatively new user. I played with it in free mode for a while, enough to decide it had enough potential for me to buy a licence, and I've spent quite a while tinkering with it, mostly in the more program-y automation tab. It feels like I'm sitting on a motorbike and I'm only just working out how to get it out of first gear. That's both a good and a bad thing: if I had trouble understanding how to drive it, others will too. But it's worth learning to drive it, I think, because it feels like it has the potential to replace quite a few of the gadgets I routinely have littering my notification area with one thing with useful functions under my control; the developer is actively working on it (the last new version was yesterday, as I type this) and I don't feel like this is a "so far and no further" type of tool.
The fact that you can use it -- with nags -- for free means there's little reason not to try it. And I think quite a few of the folk here might well find it useful.
