Perhaps more importantly, controlling the mouse with a keyboard can be helpful for people with mobility issues in their hands, as pressing keyboard keys is easier than zipping your hand across a desk. Whatever your needs, we’re here to show you how to control your mouse with a keyboard in Windows 10. Note: Linux users can check out this article to use Mouse keys in Ubuntu.
Control Your Mouse with a Keyboard
The keyboard mouse control feature is actually built into the “Ease of Access” settings in Windows 10. Go to the Window Settings app. (You can just type “settings” into the Start menu to find it quickly.)
In the Settings window click “Ease of Access,” then “Mouse” in the pane on the left, and click the slider underneath “Control your mouse with a keypad” to “On.”
You’ve now switched on “Mouse Keys.” By default, you need to have Num Lock active for this to work, at which point you can use the Num Pad at the right side of your keyboard to use Mouse Keys. We recommend increasing the Pointer speed slider to maximum – otherwise the pointer is very slow. Ticking the “Hold the Ctrl key” box is also a good idea, as this lets you speed up and slow down the pointer speed using the Ctrl and Shift keys as modifiers.
Here are the numpad keys and their corresponding functions:
What If You Don’t Have a Numpad?
Not everyone’s lucky enough to have a numpad. The fact is that they’re not that frequently used, so many laptops and some standalone keyboards don’t include them.
Fear not, though, because you can get a third-party MouseKeys-type app that lets you set your own keys, and it’s overall much more robust than Windows Mouse Keys. Enter NeatMouse. Using this lightweight app you can set whatever keys you want to act as mouse directions. Click the icon marked below to reveal more options where you can change which keyboard buttons act as which mouse buttons, as well as the mouse speed and whether you want NeatMouse to switch on as soon as you boot your PC.
You can also change the key that activates the keyboard-as-mouse functionality, while the “Emulate only with” drop-down lets you set a button to hold in order for it to work. You can even set multiple profiles using the green “+” icon, having different setups depending on what software you’re using and so on.
Conclusion
Some people don’t like installing third-party apps when they don’t have to, but if you want a more customizable and smooth way of emulating your mouse functionality to your keyboard, then we’d pick NeatMouse over Windows Mouse Keys. Other than giving you more control, the mouse pointer runs much more smoothly as well, where the Windows option can be a bit choppy. It’s your call, though, and at least now you know you have options!
