How to search multiple dictionaries with a single hotkey
To do this, you will need to install a custom scripting program called AutoHotkey. This program enables you to create your own hotkeys and macros. How to setup AutoHotkey is explained after the jump.
Below is my code for a script which opens eight browser tabs, looking up a word in:
(1) Wikipedia (encylopedia search for specific terms)
(2) Tatoeba (native-made example sentences)
(3) NIKL dictionary (concise word search)
(4) Neighbour Naver dictionary (detailed word search)
(5) Hanjadict (hanja search of the word)
(6) YouGlish (video search containing the word)
(7) Forvo (pronunciation of the word)
(8) Google (image search of the word)
F1:: {
Send("^c")
Sleep(50)
Run("https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/" . A_Clipboard)
Run('https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/search?from=&query="' . A_Clipboard . '"')
Run("https://krdict.korean.go.kr/eng/dicMarinerSearch/search?natio=eng&nationCode=6&ParaWordNo=&mainSearchWord=" . A_Clipboard)
Run("https://en.dict.naver.com/#/search?query=" . A_Clipboard)
Run("https://koreanhanja.app/" . A_Clipboard)
Run("https://youglish.com/pronounce/" . A_Clipboard . "/korean")
Run("https://forvo.com/word/" . A_Clipboard . "/#ko" )
Run("https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=" . A_Clipboard)
}
What this means
The first line is the hotkey. You can change it to whatever you want.
F1:: means this hotkey is F1.
+F1:: would mean the hotkey is shift+F1.
^f:: would mean the hotkey is Crtl+F.
There are endless options.
How does the script work?
Basically, when you highlight a word and press the hotkey, the text is copied.
Then there is a short delay because text isn’t instantaneously copied to the clipboard.
Then default browser tabs are opened, with the copied text pasted into the URLs.
How to modify the URL
To search sites other than the examples above, you will need to modify the URL yourself.
For example, the URL might look like this:
https://en.dict.naver.com/#/search?query=단어
or
https://en.dict.naver.com/#/search?query=%EB%8B%A8%EC%96%B4
To do this, you put the URL without the vocab word inside the quotation marks of Run(“”), and put . A_Clipboard between the second quotation mark and closing bracket.
Like so:
Run("https://en.dict.naver.com/#/search?query=" . A_Clipboard)
How to install AutoHotkey and create scripts
Instructions modified from here.
- Install the program from the AutoHotKey webpage.
- Create a script file:
– Right-click on your desktop (or wherever you want to save the script file).
– Find “New” in the menu.
– Click “AutoHotkey Script” inside the “New” menu.
– Give the script a new name. It must end with a .ahk extension. For example: MyScript.ahk
– Find the newly created file on your desktop and right-click it.
– Click “Edit Script”.
– A window should have popped up, probably Notepad. If so, SUCCESS! - Edit the script file:
– Copy-paste my example above or create you own.
– Save the file - Launch the script:
– Double click the script file - Test it works by pressing your hotkey
- If you like, you can place the script file in the directory below and it will automatically load upon startup.
AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup