When pixel precision is required, the trackpad or the USB mouse aren't that efficient. That's not because of the technical limitation, is it our hand that cannot do pixel precision movement correctly. This level of accuracy is required especially when you are designing something on your Mac. If you find yourself in such a situation, let me tell you that you can move and control the mouse pointer using the Mac Keyboard.
Mouse Keys is an accessibility feature included in macOS that allows you to do everything with the keyboard that you ideally do with the trackpad or the mouse. In this detailed guide, we will show you how to use it correctly and get the most out of it. Stay tuned.
'Control-F5' = Full Keyboard Access Highlight Toolbar 'Control-F6' = Full Keyboard Access Highlight Utility window (palette) 'Command-F5 or fn-Command-F5' = Turn VoiceOver on or off (Mac OS X 10.4 or later) 'Control-Option-F8 or fn-Control-Option-F8' = Open VoiceOver Utility (Mac OS X 10.4 or later). Makes new Powerbooks (bronze keyboard, FireWire) boot from internal drive. Hold down the 'T' key. Forces a recent G4 or FireWire PowerBook to start up in FireWire Target Disk Mode, which enables this 'Target Mac' to act as a FireWire-accessible hard disk. With the 'Host Mac' running, connect to the Target Mac with a 6-pin FireWire cable. As a long-time Mac user, I once had to rely on Key Caps, an early Mac helper that would show you where special characters hid on a keyboard. Holding down Option and Shift-Option would reveal the.
How to Move and Control Mouse Pointer with Mac Keyboard
Step #1. Head over to System Preferences → Accessibility → Mouse & Trackpad.
Step #2. In here, check the box beside 'Enable Mouse Keys.'
This will enable the Mouse Key feature on your Mac. But you will need to customize it a little to suit your requirement. To do so, follow the steps given below.
Step #3. In the same window, click on 'Options…'
Here you can customize the following things:
- Press the Option key five times to toggle Mouse Keys
- Ignore built-in trackpad when Mouse keys are on
- Initial delay
- Maximum speed
Now that you have customized the preferences as per your requirement let's see how you can actually use it.
How to Use Mouse Keys on Mac Keyboard
Once the Mouse Keys option is enabled, you can use it everywhere. The cursor controls are as given below:
- If you have a numeric keypad, you can use 2,4,8, and 6 number keys to move the cursor down, left, up, and right respectively. While the 1,7,9 and 3 number keys will allow you to move the cursor diagonally
- On a Mac keyboard without a numeric keypad, K, U, 8, and O keys will move the cursor down, left, up, and right respectively. While the J,7,9, and L keys will move the cursor diagonally
- To click anything, press 5 on the numeric keypad. On the standard keyboard, you need to press 'I'.
- In order to hold the mouse button, press '0' key on the numeric keypad and press '.' (period) to release it. On the keyboard, you need to press the 'M' key to hold the mouse button and '.' (period) to release
That's a lot of keys to remember, but with overtime and regular practice you'll master it and appreciate the precision it can achieve.
Signing off…
Mouse Keys feature is not for an average user that do regular work on the Mac. It is mainly for artists and designers who need extreme perfection. Besides that, this can come in handy if your trackpad isn't working and also you don't have a mouse; that's more of a patchwork rather than a permanent solution.
Whatever is the reason, you only need to follow the guide above to get started.
You may also like to refer to:
How likely are you to use Mouse Keys? Do you like it already? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Keyboard Typing on a Mac Keyboard is really fun, however when you do need to press a single keyboard key multiple times, a Mac Keyboard Automation Software can be of real help. Whether you need to press a key on keyboard multiple times with fixed or a random delay in between consecutive key presses can be really handy.
Download and use this Auto Key Presser on your Mac running any latest version like 10.9, 10.8, 10.7 or even 10.8. With Configurable Random Delay between Key Press, you can fully simulate human behavior and to the active Game or Application, it would appear that actually a Human is pressing the selected key on Mac Keyboard really fast.
Automate Keyboard with MurGaa Auto Keyboard Utility
Keyboard Typing on a Mac Keyboard is really fun, however when you do need to press a single keyboard key multiple times, a Mac Keyboard Automation Software can be of real help. Whether you need to press a key on keyboard multiple times with fixed or a random delay in between consecutive key presses can be really handy.
Download and use this Auto Key Presser on your Mac running any latest version like 10.9, 10.8, 10.7 or even 10.8. With Configurable Random Delay between Key Press, you can fully simulate human behavior and to the active Game or Application, it would appear that actually a Human is pressing the selected key on Mac Keyboard really fast.
Automate Keyboard with MurGaa Auto Keyboard Utility
Lots of games interact with users with keyboard and mouse and pressing a single key multiple times can require lots of efforts. Pressing a single key on keyboard multiple times can be handy to keep a webpage refreshed all the times. Destroyer (1986) mac os. Yes this Mac Keyboard Software can automate virtually almost any key on keyboard and this software can be quick and easy to use and handle.
Mac Os Keyboard Layout
This Mac Auto Keyboard Software works on mac OS X Intel 64 bit versions of Mac OS X 10.6 onwards. Lion, Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion, Tiger and other Mac OS X users can try out this Mac Keyboard Automation software for free. Just download the software, install it , locate the application icon in finder and launch it. The Mac Auto Keyboard has button to minimize the application and a quick button on the main screen of the software.
This Mac Auto Keyboard can be used even without minimizing the application and a progress indicator on the software can be used to time the automated keyboard actions. Any selected single key on keyboard can be sent to keyboard or to the active application / browser running on any Mac OS X version running on a Intel based 64 bit Computer. There are many more Mac Automation Software downloads on MurGaa.com providing Keyboard and Mouse Automation Utilities on a free to try out basis.