Tip of the Week: Control Your Mouse with Your Keyboard (Really)

Have you ever heard of mouse keys? It’s an accessibility feature of Windows 11 that lets you control your mouse cursor using the keyboard. It’s helpful for when your mouse stops working, or if the batteries die and you don’t have another you can use. Here’s how you can make the most of mouse keys for your Windows 11 PC.

How to Turn Mouse Keys On or Off

To turn on mouse keys, you can use the following keyboard shortcut (which should work for all versions of Windows operating systems):

Press and hold the Left Alt, Left Shift, and Num Lock keys simultaneously. The Left Alt and Left Shift keys are the Alt and Shift keys found on the left side of your keyboard.

You’ll see a dialog box open asking you to turn on/off mouse keys. From here, just click Yes. If your mouse isn’t working, you can navigate to the button by using the Spacebar or Enter keys.

The process above can also turn off mouse keys.

To access mouse keys through the Accessibility settings of Windows 11, you can press the Windows key, type accessibility mouse settings into the field, and press Enter. From here, use the Tab key to navigate to the toggle, then hit the Spacebar to activate it. You can use the Alt + F4 shortcut to close the settings window.

How to Use Mouse Keys to Move Your Cursor

When mouse keys are turned on, you use the Num Lock key to enable them. You can tell if Num Lock is on by looking at the light on your keyboard. When you hit the key, you should hear a high-pitched beep sound, which is your sign that the keypad is controlling your mouse cursor.

You’ll control the cursor by using the 8, 6, 4, and 2 keys. These correspond to the directional arrows of up, right, left, and down. Each key moves the mouse cursor one pixel in the given direction.

To turn off the mouse keys, hit the Num Lock key again.

Pretty neat, right? Now you have a backup plan just in case your mouse stops working.

White Mountain IT

Related Posts

Tracking Your Technology Is Simpler Than You Thought

Managing all the gadgets in a modern office isn’t a walk in the park. The tricky part is keeping tabs on every device, figuring out who’s using what, and noticing any trends. If you’re not already tracking your tech, now’s the time to set up a system that does just that. Using an inventory management system can make this whole process a lot smoother. Why Bother with Inventory Management? It’s pre...

Maintaining Data Security Is the Most Important Tip We Can Give You

Tips are great as long as they actually work. Business owners need more technology tips than just about anything else, whether that is app-specific or general care of technology. We try to do our best to provide useful tips a couple of times a month, but this week we wanted to focus on what is probably the most important tip we can provide. The most important tip for business computing is to pr...

Tip of the Week: How to Make Your Remote Meetings More Impactful

We’ve seen firsthand how the shift to remote work has revolutionized business operations. However, one area still causes friction for many business owners: the virtual meeting. A poorly executed remote meeting isn't just a time-waster; it can drain productivity and disengage your team, damaging your company culture. Today, we outline a few tips that show that with the right strategy and tools, you...

Tip of the Week: Making Your Network VoIP-Friendly

We could go on and on about the benefits of using Voice over Internet Protocol (also known as VoIP) for your business telephone needs. However, it is important that you do everything you can to prepare your network for this kind of utilization. Let’s review a few tips to help make sure your network is properly optimized for VoIP. How to Prepare Your Network for a VoIP Implementation Ensure You...