If you have owned an affordable Windows laptop, you must have experienced a host of different hardware problems after using it for a few years. The battery and the speakers tend to go dead, there are problems with charging, but it’s all fine until your touchpad stops working. Yes, that’s when your computer needs to be fixed, doesn’t it? Sure, if you are well versed with the various Windows keyboard shortcuts, you can make do but it’s not a solution for everyone. You could also buy a USB mouse and get to work but if you need to do something urgently and your PC’s mouse or touchpad has stopped working, you can control the mouse pointer with the keyboard.
Yes, that’s right! Windows 10 offers a “Mouse Key” feature, which lets you control the mouse pointer with the num pad and other keys, which you don’t really use regularly. Well, here’s how you can control the mouse pointer with keyboard in Windows 10:
Note: The Mouse Keys feature is available in Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 as well.
Turn on Mouse Keys
To turn on Mouse Keys in Windows 10, you can go to Settings->Ease of Access->Mouse and enable all the three options under “Mouse Keys“.
Or you can go to Control Panel and search for “mouse keys”, and click on the option that says “move the pointer with the keypad using Mouse Keys“.
Then, check the option that says “Turn on Mouse Keys“. You can also press the keyboard shortcut Alt + Left Shift + Num Lock to turn on Mouse Keys.
Set up Mouse Keys in Windows
You will find the button “Set up Mouse Keys” under the option to turn on Mouse Keys in Control Panel. Click on it and you will see a host of options for Mouse Keys. You can set the pointer’s speed & acceleration, hold Ctrl to speed up, hold Shift to slow down and more.
Now that you have turned on Mouse Keys and set it up, here’s how you can control it with the Num Pad keys.
Moving the pointer and clicking
Here are the num pad keys you can use for different movements of the pointer and to click:
- 4 : Left
- 6 : Right
- 8 : Up
- 2 : Down
- 7 : Up to the left
- 9 : Up to the right
- 1 : Down to the left
- 3 : Down to the right
- 5 : Click
Select the Click
Before you start clicking on items in Windows, you will have to first select the mouse button you want to use.
- / : Select left click
- – : Select right click
- * : Select both clicks
- + : Double Click
It’s important to note that these are the keys from the Num Pad and not the number keys above the characters. Also, once you select the right or left click or both, the pointer will stay in the same click mode until you change it.
Dragging and Dropping items
- Drag: To drag an item, you can point at it, press “0” and the use the movement keys to move the item.
- Drop: To drop an item, you can point to the location and press “.” (decimal point).
SEE ALSO: How to Make Windows 10 More Accessible For People With Low Vision
Ready to control your PC’s mouse pointer with the keyboard?
If the touchpad or mouse in your Windows PC or laptop is not working, worry no more, Windows’ Mouse Keys feature is available to your rescue. While it’s certainly not as easy as using a mouse or a touchpad but you can make do, if you need to do something urgently. Plus, after we used it for some time, we did start getting the hang of it. So, try out Mouse Keys on Windows 10 and let us know your thoughts and doubts, if any, in the comment section below.
