Phil Bull
philbull@gmail.com
Shaun McCance
shaunm@gnome.org
Michael Hill
mdhillca@gmail.com
Ekaterina Gerasimova
kittykat3756@gmail.com 2013, 2015
Enable mouse keys to control the mouse with the numeric keypad.
Daniel Șerbănescu
daniel [at] serbanescu [dot] dk 2016, 2019

# Click and move the mouse pointer using the keypad

If you have difficulties using a mouse or other pointing device, you can control the mouse pointer using the numeric keypad on your keyboard. This feature is called mouse keys.

Open the Activities overview and start typing Accessibility.

You can access the Activities overview by pressing on it, by moving your mouse pointer against the top-left corner of the screen, by using Ctrl Alt Tab followed by Enter, or by using the Super key.

Click Accessibility to open the panel.

Use the up and down arrow keys to select Mouse Keys in the Pointing & Clicking section, then press Enter to switch the Mouse Keys switch to on.

Make sure that Num Lock is turned off. You will now be able to move the mouse pointer using the keypad.

The keypad is a set of numerical buttons on your keyboard, usually arranged into a square grid. If you have a keyboard without a keypad (such as a laptop keyboard), you may need to hold down the function (Fn) key and use certain other keys on your keyboard as a keypad. If you use this feature often on a laptop, you can purchase external USB or Bluetooth numeric keypads.

Each number on the keypad corresponds to a direction. For example, pressing 8 will move the pointer upwards and pressing 2 will move it downwards. Press the 5 key to click once with the mouse, or quickly press it twice to double-click.

Most keyboards have a special key which allows you to right-click, sometimes called the Menu key. Note, however, that this key responds to where your keyboard focus is, not where your mouse pointer is. See for information on how to right-click by holding down 5 or the left mouse button.

If you want to use the keypad to type numbers while mouse keys is enabled, turn Num Lock on. The mouse cannot be controlled with the keypad when Num Lock is turned on, though.

The normal number keys, in a line at the top of the keyboard, will not control the mouse pointer. Only the keypad number keys can be used.