If your physical mouse suddenly breaks, its battery dies, or the trackpad on your laptop stops registering your fingers, navigating Windows 11 becomes incredibly difficult. While you can technically navigate the entire operating system using only the Tab and Arrow keys, doing so is slow and frustrating.
Fortunately, Windows includes a powerful accessibility feature called “Mouse Keys.” When activated, this feature transforms the physical Number Pad on the right side of your keyboard into a directional controller for your mouse cursor, allowing you to move the pointer pixel-by-pixel using the numbers.
How to Enable Mouse Keys
You can turn this feature on directly from the Settings app.
- Press the Windows Key to open the Start menu.
- Select the Settings icon (the gear).
- In the left-hand sidebar, click on Accessibility.
- Scroll down the main panel until you reach the “Interaction” section, and click on Mouse.
- At the very top of the screen, you will see a toggle switch labelled Mouse keys. Click it to turn it ON.
As soon as you turn the switch on, two slider bars will appear beneath it. These allow you to adjust the Speed (how fast the cursor moves) and the Acceleration (how quickly it reaches top speed when you hold a key down). It is highly recommended to increase both of these sliders to maximum, as the default speed is agonizingly slow.
The Instant Keyboard Shortcut
If your mouse is already broken, you cannot easily navigate to the Settings app to turn the feature on. You need the master keyboard shortcut.
Press Left Alt + Left Shift + Num Lock simultaneously.
A small window will instantly pop up on your screen asking, “Do you want to turn on Mouse Keys?” Press the Enter key to select “Yes.”
How to Use the Numpad to Move the Cursor
Once Mouse Keys is active, you must ensure the Num Lock key is turned ON for the directional controls to work.
The numbers on your keypad now correspond to directions:
- 8: Move Up
- 2: Move Down
- 4: Move Left
- 6: Move Right
- 7, 9, 1, 3: Move Diagonally
How to Click
Moving the cursor is only half the battle; you also need to click on things.
- To perform a standard Left-Click, press the number 5 in the centre of the keypad.
- To perform a Right-Click, you must first press the Minus (-) key at the top of the keypad to switch modes, and then press the number 5. (To switch back to left-clicking, press the forward-slash (/) key).
- To Double-Click, press the Plus (+) key on the right side of the keypad.