You do not always need a macro engine. Sometimes you just want one key combination to open a folder, paste your email address, or bring up the tool you use forty times a day. Clavier+ does exactly that, in a single executable under 200 KB, with no background service and no account.
It is written by Guillaume Ryder, released under the GNU GPL v3, and free for any use — personal or commercial. The current version is 11.4.1, published in November 2023. There has been no release since, which for a tool this small usually means “finished” rather than “abandoned”, but it is worth knowing.
Clavier+ at a glance
| Latest version | 11.4.1, published 12 November 2023 |
|---|---|
| Licence | Free, open source (GPL v3), commercial use allowed |
| Platform | Windows 7 and above, 64-bit only since version 11.1.0 |
| For 32-bit Windows | Version 11.0.1 is the last 32-bit build; 10.8.4 the last for Windows XP and Vista |
| Dependencies | None — native Win32, no .NET and no Java |
| Portable | Yes: unpack and run, nothing is written to the registry |
| Interface languages | About 15, including English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese |
What a shortcut can do
- Launch a program, a Start-menu entry or a Microsoft Store app.
- Open a folder in Explorer, or a URL in the default browser.
- Type text: an email address, a signature, a support template, special characters such as © or €.
- Simulate keystrokes, and also mouse moves, clicks and wheel scrolls.
- Remap single keys that Windows normally ignores: the backtick, F11, and F13 through F24 on larger keyboards.
- Use the Windows key in combinations, which most simple hotkey tools cannot do.
- Focus an already-running window, or focus it and launch the program if it is not running yet.
Conditions: the feature that makes it useful
A shortcut can be limited to a specific program, so the same key does different things in different applications. It can also depend on the state of Caps Lock, Num Lock or Scroll Lock — a neat way to get a second layer of shortcuts out of one keyboard without any extra software.
Download and install
- Click the Download button at the top of this page and unpack the archive.
- Either run the small installer, or use the portable route: unpack the files anywhere, including a USB stick, and start the executable. Settings live in a plain text file next to the program.
- Open the configuration window, press New, press the key combination you want, and choose what it should do. Drag a file into the window and Clavier+ creates a shortcut for it automatically.
- Tick the autostart box in the configuration dialog if you want it available after every login.
Shortcuts worth setting up first
- Win+E variants: open the two or three folders you actually live in — the ticket share, the log directory, the deployment folder.
- Your email address and standard reply on a key each. Saves more time than it seems.
- The admin tools you launch by typing their name every day: Event Viewer, Services, Device Manager.
- A remote-desktop session to a specific server, opened by one combination.
- Special characters your keyboard layout hides.
Honest limitations
The author documents these openly, and they save a lot of wasted time:
- Print Screen, Pause and F12 cannot be captured at all.
- Windows system shortcuts cannot be overridden — most Win+letter and Win+digit combinations belong to Windows since Windows 8.
- Media and browser keys are only partly supported and appear as numbers rather than names.
- Typing text is unreliable in some applications: Java programs, OpenOffice, Firefox and Thunderbird, Opera, games, and inside emulators or virtual machines such as VNC sessions.
- Conditional shortcuts intercept the key press unconditionally, which adds a small delay and can break other low-level keyboard utilities running at the same time.
- No fast repetition: modifiers have to be released before the shortcut fires again.
- It is a hotkey launcher and text typist, not a macro recorder and not a scripting language.
Recent changes
| 11.4.1 | Japanese translation; fixed a backslash-escaping bug when typing text |
|---|---|
| 11.4.0 | Traditional Chinese; left and right variants of the same modifier in one shortcut; typing non-ASCII Unicode characters |
| 11.3.0 | Installer rebuilt — it dropped from 1.7 MB to about 176 KB; layout fixed for display scaling above 100 % |
| 11.2.1 | Proper DPI awareness, so the window is no longer blurry on high-resolution screens |
Clavier+ vs. alternatives
| Tool | How it compares |
|---|---|
| AutoHotkey | A full scripting language — far more powerful, far more to learn, and everything is code |
| Microsoft PowerToys Keyboard Manager | Remaps keys only; cannot launch programs or type text |
| TinyTask | Records and replays mouse and keyboard; no hotkey management |
| Actiona | Visual automation of whole sequences, cross-platform; heavier for a single shortcut |
FAQ
Is Clavier+ free for company use?
Yes. It is GPL v3 software and the author states explicitly that it may be used for any purpose, personal or commercial, without payment.
Does it work on 32-bit Windows?
Not the current version. From 11.1.0 onward only 64-bit builds are produced; 11.0.1 was the last 32-bit release.
Is there a portable version?
Yes. Unpack it and run — nothing is stored in the registry, so it works from a USB stick.
Why does my shortcut not work in a particular program?
Some applications, notably Java-based ones, browsers like Firefox and Opera, games and remote sessions, do not accept simulated keystrokes reliably. That limitation is documented by the author.
Can I use the Windows key in a shortcut?
Yes, that is one of its strengths — but combinations Windows reserves for itself cannot be overridden.
Is the project still maintained?
The last release was 11.4.1 in November 2023. The source repository is public and not archived, but there have been no new versions since.
What can I use instead of Clavier+?
AutoHotkey if you need a full scripting language, Microsoft PowerToys Keyboard Manager if you only want to remap keys, and Actiona for automating whole sequences of actions.
