How To Use Mouse Keys To Control the Cursor With Your Keyboard On Your Mac

Mouse Keys are an accessibility feature of your Mac that allows you to control the position of the cursor and click the mouse button using only your keyboard. It can work with the numeric keypad, or with some of the keys on a keyboard without a keypad. This can come in handy if you have trouble with your mouse or trackpad and need a way to access things on your Mac.

Comments: 5 Responses to “How To Use Mouse Keys To Control the Cursor With Your Keyboard On Your Mac”

    Devin The Great
    6 years ago

    This is an excellent tip. I'm sure I'm not alone in having run into situations where my wireless mouse is not working or syncing and I need the ability to move the cursor to access a menu item, open/close a window, etc. This is a perfect 'emergency' solution to have in the back pocket - a mouse built into the keyboard. I'm leaving 'click Option 5 times' checked so I can have access to it if needed. Thanks Gary!

    Philip
    6 years ago

    Hi Gary,

    I found your tip on mouse keys to be intriguing, but have not been able to get it to work on my iMac. I configured the Option key to turn Mouse Keys on and off and that works. But with Mouse Keys "on," I can't get the cursor to move at all (I'm using 789, UIO, JKL). Nothing happens. I'm running MacOS 10.13.6, and my keyboard is a third-party (Kinesis) ergonomic keyboard for Mac (wired directly to USB). Can you think of why Mouse Keys isn't working for me?

    Many thanks,
    Philip

    6 years ago

    Philip: Could be the third-party keyboard. No way for me to test since I don't have that model.

    Ravi
    6 years ago

    this is a nice tip. One thing where you stated about using Fn+F2 to go to sys prefs. Just wanted to highlight that if using a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, then in keyboard prefs would have to select the option "Show F1, F2, etc keys" in the "Press Fn key to" field. I had it set to expand control strip and pressing Fn was not bringing up the F2 key for me :)

    Carol
    6 years ago

    And if I encounter this problem and forget the tip, I suppose I can get my iPhone and ask Siri. But it is nice to know there is a solution.

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