{"id":29477,"date":"2022-02-15T15:00:05","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T15:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.n-able.com\/?p=29477"},"modified":"2022-02-17T12:20:55","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T12:20:55","slug":"5-automation-tools-you-should-use-or-look-into","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.n-able.com\/it\/blog\/5-automation-tools-you-should-use-or-look-into","title":{"rendered":"5 automation tools you should use or look into"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the questions I regularly get asked is what common automation tools do I use or what do I advise people to use for various use cases? I thought I\u2019d put this information into a blog for easy reference for our partners and others.<\/p>\n

Note: None of the recommendations below are commercial endorsements, but they are suggestions based on what I\u2019ve used personally in the past. You are welcome to use whatever you want since most of the things below have other options, free or paid.<\/i><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll start simple.<\/p>\n

Visual Studio<\/h2>\n

Everyone should at least have PowerShell ISE installed on their computer. This comes with Windows unless you choose to remove it. However, not everyone uses Visual Studio code. This is another IDE (integrated development environment) that allows you to write, modify, or read code in various languages, including PowerShell. In my opinion, everyone should install VS Code.<\/p>\n

You can get it for free at https:\/\/code.visualstudio.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Macrorecorder<\/h2>\n

This second one is something that I use from time to time. Did you ever come across a need to click \u201ctab\u201d twice then \u201center\u201d, and repeat 100 or more times to check a box on something on a website or in some tool. This is usually because the tool doesn\u2019t allow bulk processing. There are several RPA tools but Macrorecorder is one of the simplest and cheapest at around $50 USD\u2014it also has a completely free-to-use unlocked demo version that allows you to try\/use it for a short period of time too.<\/p>\n

Macrorecorder can be found here https:\/\/www.macrorecorder.com\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Power Automate<\/h2>\n

Power Automate is another Microsoft product. The company is starting to position it as a new platform that you can use to integrate with web services, desktops, databases, office, email, etc. If you\u2019re not familiar with it, you should definitely look into it. In fact, depending on your Office subscription, you may already own licenses to use some of it. The learning curve is fairly low, and you can start getting along with it fairly quickly.<\/p>\n

Go here to learn more: https:\/\/powerautomate.microsoft.com<\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n

Movemouse<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m going to change gears and talk about a use case that I have from time to time. Sometimes I need to run some conversion, or process on a server and need to prevent the screen from locking up. In those cases, I use tools like movemouse.<\/p>\n

Download it here: https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-ca\/p\/move-mouse\/9nq4ql59xlbf<\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n

Low-code development environment<\/h2>\n

Finally, I recommend using a low-code development environment. Depending on what RMM or internal IT management tool you use, you should look at whether they offer an option for this. For example, Automation Manager<\/a> in N‑able\u2122<\/sup> N‑central\u00ae<\/sup><\/a> and N‑able RMM<\/a> allows you to use pre-made code snippets to automate things in minutes instead of hours and reduces thousands of line of code in little building blocks.<\/p>\n

The takeaway here is to look for tools that will make your life easier. No matter what you need to do, options exist for it!<\/p>\n

Happy automating!<\/p>\n

Marc-Andre Tanguay is head automation nerd at\u00a0<\/i>N‑able<\/i><\/span><\/a>. You can follow him on Twitter at\u00a0<\/i>@automation_nerd<\/i><\/span><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his latest blog, Marc-Andre Tanguay suggests some of the most common tools he advises MSPs to use when they are looking for help automating tasks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-29477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","topic-automation","topic-head-nerds"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n5 automation tools you should use or look into - N-able<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read this blog for suggestion on some of the most common tools MSPs can use when they are looking for help automating tasks.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.n-able.com\/it\/blog\/5-automation-tools-you-should-use-or-look-into\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"it_IT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 automation tools you should use or look into - 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