After a year of alpha testing alongside our community, we’re proud to introduce ActiveWords 5 — and it’s a free upgrade for every existing user. This is the biggest step forward for ActiveWords in years.

ActiveWords has always been built around a simple idea: when you know what you want to do, you should be able to do it immediately. Type a Word, trigger an Action, and keep moving. ActiveWords 5 keeps that promise intact, but extends it into more of the way people actually work today.

This release is more than a cosmetic refresh. It is a broader, more capable version of ActiveWords: faster to reach, easier to explore, better organized, and more useful in the small moments where work usually slows down.

For long-time users, Version 5 should feel familiar in the right ways. The core philosophy has not changed. What has changed is the range of places where ActiveWords can help: searching, selecting, calculating, organizing, building Actions, and moving through the desktop with less friction.

A More Capable ActionPad

The biggest change in ActiveWords 5 is the expanded ActionPad. In earlier versions, ActiveWords was already powerful when you knew the exact Word you wanted to trigger. In Version 5, the ActionPad becomes a more flexible command space for searching, discovering, calculating, and acting from one place.

You can use it to trigger your Words, find applications and folders, search Start Menu items, work with Selected Text actions, run date calculations, and use the advanced calculator. Instead of feeling like a narrow launcher, the ActionPad now feels more like a working hub: a place where the next step is closer, even when you only know part of what you are looking for.

That matters because modern work is rarely linear. Sometimes you know the exact command. Sometimes you only remember part of a file name, need a quick calculation, or want to act on something you just selected. ActiveWords 5 is better at meeting you in that in-between moment.

Selected Text Becomes Central

Selected Text, previously called ActionText, is now easier to understand and more central to the ActiveWords workflow. Highlight text almost anywhere on your computer, then use ActiveWords to do something with it immediately.

Selected Text can support actions such as searching, looking something up, sending text into an Action you have created, or displaying it in Large Type. The important shift is that ActiveWords does not ask you to leave your context. It helps you act on information where you found it, while your attention is still on the work in front of you.

That is one of the clearest ways Version 5 feels different. ActiveWords is not only about triggering predefined Actions. It is also about staying in flow when something on the screen becomes useful.

Power That Is Easier to Manage

ActiveWords 5 also improves how users manage power. Hotkeys are more flexible and less confusing. The ActionPad hotkey is configured in one place, individual Actions can have their own hotkeys, and multiple Actions can share a hotkey when a Pick List is the better answer.

That gives users a cleaner way to group related Actions without memorizing an ever-growing list of shortcuts. It is a practical improvement, but it also says something larger about this release: ActiveWords 5 is adding capability while making that capability easier to control.

Tags also have a new interface in the main window, making it easier to manage larger collections of Actions. As ActiveWords becomes more useful across more parts of the day, organization becomes part of the experience, not an afterthought.

Useful Additions for Everyday Work

Some of the best improvements in ActiveWords 5 are the ones that quietly save effort. Date Calculations and the Advanced Calculator make the ActionPad useful for quick answers as well as quick launching. Large Type makes selected text easier to display and read. A confirmation beep can make text expansion more obvious when you want that extra bit of feedback.

These are not flashy features for their own sake. They are practical additions that make ActiveWords more useful in the middle of real work, where small interruptions add up.

A Better Path to Advanced Actions

The Wizard gives users a better way to build more advanced Actions with less guesswork. It can help insert syntax for scripting and prompted input, making powerful features more approachable for people who want to go further.

That matters because the hardest part of advanced automation is often not whether the feature exists. It is whether someone feels comfortable trying it. Version 5 gives curious users a clearer path from everyday use into deeper customization.

Local, Private, and Built for Windows Users

ActiveWords is also different in a way that matters more than ever: your ActiveWords data is local and private. Your Words and Actions belong on your computer. ActiveWords does not need to access a cloud service or even be online to work.

That gives users control and peace of mind, especially when their Actions include personal, professional, or client-related information. ActiveWords is designed to help you work faster without asking you to hand over the details of how you work.

Version 5 also continues the ActiveWords tradition of being carefully built by an independent team of Windows users who care about practical productivity. This is software shaped around real desktop work, not a generic automation trend.

What This Means for Existing Users

If you already use ActiveWords, Version 5 does not ask you to rethink the product from scratch. Your existing understanding still matters. The core idea is still speed through Words, Actions, and habits. But those habits can now reach further.

The difference will often be felt in small moments: opening the ActionPad instead of hunting for a file, acting on selected text without breaking concentration, assigning hotkeys more logically, finding a tagged Action faster, or getting a quick calculation without leaving the keyboard. Those moments are where ActiveWords 5 earns its value.

Looking Ahead

ActiveWords 5 is not just a checklist of new features. It is a stronger foundation for the way people use their PCs now: moving between apps, information, files, text, searches, and decisions all day long.

For long-time users, it offers more reach. For newer users, it offers more entry points. And for everyone, it keeps the ActiveWords promise alive: less friction, more control, and a shorter distance between intention and action.