The Context menu will open as if you right-clicked the items. o Select one character at a time by holding down the … You can adjust the pointer speed if you find it too slow or fast and you can also check a box to use CTRL and SHIFT to make the cursor move faster or slower, respectively. I’ve already mentioned this program in my list of tools to tweak your mouse, so I won’t go into much detail here about it. For example, Alt+F opens the File menu. How to select without using the mouse Press Windows key + E to open File Explorer. There are few reasons that you’ll want to thin… Obviously, the first step to navigating without a mouse is using the arrow keys and pressing Enter and Tab to move between and open items. Once you’ve finished with the selection or movement, click the primary mouse button again. Try using basic keyboard shortcuts. Use the Tab, arrow and Enter keys to use the Properties window. To go “Up” a directory, press Alt+Up arrow. However, if for some reason you don’t like Mouse Keys or can’t get it to work, you can download and install a third-party program called NeatMouse. There are standard keyboard shortcuts to select and deselect checkboxes and radio buttons. Select another window without the mouse. For example, the “Advanced” button appears as “Advanced…” with the “d” underlined. Many times we stuck on the situations when our Mouse stops working or gets broken, in that situation, it’s very hard to use any software in windows with keyboard, especially browsers like Google Chrome. For example, if I navigate to a box with the arrow keys and start typing, it deletes the contents of the box and starts over. Use the arrow keys to move to the file or folder you want to select. If you press Alt+H, Alt+S, or Alt+V to select the Home, Share, or View tabs, you’ll see a list of keyboard shortcuts for the actions on that section of the ribbon. You can also press Ctrl+A to select all files in the current folder. We hate spam too, unsubscribe at any time. Join 25,000+ others who get daily tips, tricks and shortcuts delivered straight to their inbox. How to Use File Explorer Without a Mouse on Windows 10, The usual keyboard shortcuts for text editing, How to Mute Your Google Smart Speaker or Display’s Microphone, How to Reduce Twitter Data Usage on iPhone and Android, How to Create and Insert a Pyramid in Microsoft PowerPoint. Pressing a letter on your keyboard will prompt the selection to jump … Recently I wrote an article on how to right-click using your keyboard and many people found it useful. Most people know how to select multiple ranges in Excel using the Ctrl key and the mouse, but there are other methods that can be more efficient. RELATED: Get Help With File Explorer on Windows 10. If it’s the third icon on your taskbar, you can press Windows+3 to activate it. Chris Hoffman is Editor-in-Chief of How-To Geek. RELATED: 42+ Text-Editing Keyboard Shortcuts That Work Almost Everywhere. It basically works exactly like Mouse Keys except that you can change the hotkeys to something else if you like. Note that you have to use the left SHIFT key as the right one will not work. As usual, Ctrl+C copies a file, Ctrl+X cuts a file (removing it from its current location), and Ctrl+V pastes the file into a new location. To select non-continues cells without using your keyboard follow these simple steps. Moving windows with keyboard shortcuts. You can also use other keyboard shortcuts—for example, if File Explorer is the first icon from the left on your Windows 10 taskbar, you can press Windows+1 to activate that taskbar button. My name is Aseem Kishore and I am a full-time professional blogger. © 2021 LifeSavvy Media. It takes time to move one hand from the keyboard to the mouse, locate the item you want to click at, move the mouse there, adjust it finely so it’s pointing at the exact spot, and then click it. The Dock and App Menu Bar App menu bar is easy to select and navigate with arrow keys and you can choose an item by pressing Enter or Space. Windows Alt+Space, M, then use cursor keys, hit Enter to set position. And Go To Special lets you quickly find and select all the cells of a specified type. Checking and unchecking a … Hi, For me, it's much easier to use the arrow keys, compared to the mouse, to move up/down and left/right on an Excel spreadsheet. Press Shift+Tab to cycle in reverse. For example, with the main content pane selected, you can press Shift+Tab to focus the left sidebar, use arrow keys to select a folder, and press Enter to open it. All Rights Reserved. On laptops, you will probably have to enable Num Lock or press and hold the function key before pressing the numbers. Press Enter to select an option. Now click on the Turn on Mouse Keys box. That requires additional steps, which I document below. To select a file or folder in a directory, start typing its name. This feature is also available in Windows 7, Vista, and even XP. Split or Divide Your Desktop Screen into Multiple Parts, Ultimate Guide to Removing or Resetting a BIOS Password, How to View Your Credit Report and Credit Score for Free, How to Check if Your VPN Connection is Actually Encrypted, How to Find the Most Viewed Videos on YouTube, Best Shows and Movies on HBO Max to Watch Now, How to Fix a Discord RTC Connecting Error, 14 Great Gifts for the Nerd or Geek in Your Life. To undo an action, press Ctrl+Z. (period) to drop it. You can also enable Mouse Keys without having to go through the Control Panel by pressing ALT + Left SHIFT + NUM LOCK at the same time. Press Tab until you're in the section of the window containing the files or folders you want to select. Use your arrow keys to highlight other files or folders and press Space to add them to your selection. ALT + F4 will allow you to close programs. Move the mouse to select the text or move the item. ESC. The Dock is accessed with Fn + Ctrl + F3 combination on newer iMacs. Obviously, the first step to navigating without a mouse is using the arrow keys and pressing Enter and Tab to move between and open items. You can then type a new name for the file and press Enter. Then, hold the SHIFT key down and use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move in the direction of the last cell in the range of cells you want to select. To select multiple files, press and hold the Ctrl key. However, I kept getting more questions asking me how they could control the mouse cursor using the keyboard. Founder of Online Tech Tips and managing editor. Welcome to Online Tech Tips – A blog that provide readers with daily computer tutorials, technology news, software reviews, and personal computing tips. If you find yourself using Windows without a mouse or simply prefer using the keyboard for task switching, here are the keyboard combinations you'll need: CTRL+ESC. But mice are the most important part of using a computer or laptop and you really need to look at how comfortable the mouse is because it can cause strain on your hands. Then press 5 to either click or right-click depending on which button you chose. To go to the first or last file in a directory, press the Home or End keys. You’ll see letters appear over the buttons on the ribbon. You can select more than one file … Join 350,000 subscribers and get a daily digest of news, geek trivia, and our feature articles. ALT + F4 will allow you to close programs. Now you can navigate the taskbar using LEFT, RIGHT and TAB keys. To open and close the details pane, which shows you details about the selected file, press Alt+Shift+P. The above article may contain affiliate links, which help support How-To Geek. ; Note that Alt+Space, X will maximise a window to fill the current viewport; useful if your window is completely off screen and you don’t know where. To select a range of files, hold down the Shift key and use the arrow keys. File Explorer will open to the Quick Access view when you launch it. Thankfully, there is a feature built into Windows called Mouse Keys that allow you to use the numeric keypad on your keyboard to move your mouse around the screen. You can then use the arrow keys to move around. To focus the location bar at the top of the window, press Ctrl+L or … The obscure technique Add to Selection lets you select many ranges without ever using the mouse. Alternatively, click twice in the left margin … To delete a file permanently, skipping the Recycle Bin, press Shift+Delete. CTRL+A: Select all items in a window, on the desktop, or all text in a document; Shift+Any Arrow Key: Select text within a document (e.g., one letter at a time) or one item at a time in a window; CTRL+Shift+Any Arrow Key: Select a block of text (e.g., a whole word at a time) Although selecting non-adjacent cells can be done solely with the keyboard, it's easier to do when you use the keyboard and mouse together. You can then type an address (like “C:\Users”) and press Enter to go there. Simply put, you don’t have to plug in your mouse and hassle with a cable. Release the Ctrl key when you’re done. Type the name for the directory and press Enter. You can then type a search phrase and press Enter. Press the right arrow key to select the word to the right, or press the left arrow key to select the word to the left. It even allow you to simulate a right-click, double-click and left-click. Enjoy! Why go through all that stress when you can fix this error automatically? How to select words without using the mouse, in Microsoft Word. If you keep pressing tab, it will move you to the items pinned to the taskbar and then finally over to the notification area before going back to the desktop icons. You can launch File Explorer and use it entirely with your keyboard—without ever touching a mouse. That sounds appealing, and so why would anyone choose a wired mouse? Note: While trying to select non-adjacent range without … The usual keyboard shortcuts for text editing work while editing a file name, so you can press Ctrl+Left arrow to quickly navigate between words in a file name that has multiple words. Hold down the "Ctrl" key and the "Shift" key. Windows 10’s file manager is packed with keyboard shortcuts. This is Part 2, how to select text from entire paragraphs to the whole document. To focus the search bar, press Ctrl+F or Ctrl+E. This will enable Mouse Keys in Windows. Updated 2010-10-18. This means you can press Alt+D to activate it. To directly access the app menu, press Fn + Ctrl + F2, then move ahead with arrow keys as described. Chris has written for The New York Times, been interviewed as a technology expert on TV stations like Miami's NBC 6, and had his work covered by news outlets like the BBC. You can also press Alt along with an underlined character displayed in the Properties window to activate an option. To make a different window active without clicking on it, hold [Alt] while you press [Tab] as many times as it takes until the program you want is selected. After tabbing to a radio button field, the arrow keys can be used to make the selection. Move the active cell (that's the cell currently selected) to the start of the range of cells you want to select. Access Spotlight. Navigate to the range you want to include in your selection, Press Shift + F8 again. Typing Directories and Searching. To close the current File Explorer window, press Ctrl+W. As usual in Windows applications, you can also repeatedly press the Tab key to cycle between parts of the interface, using the arrow keys and Enter key to navigate and activate buttons. ALT + TAB will also allow you to switch between programs and get back to the desktop. To do this without a mouse, select the icon or move the cursor to the text you need to right-click. To delete a selected file, press Delete. Since we launched in 2006, our articles have been read more than 1 billion times. You can also press Alt+Enter to open the Properties window for a selected item, skipping the context menu. A good place to start when making your mouse decision is determining whether you want to go with a wired or wireless mouse. To enable Mouse Keys in Windows, open the Control Panel and click on Ease of Access. Now, how can we do all this without the mouse? What Does “RN” Mean, and How Do You Use It? Then, press and hold the Shift and F10 keys at the same time. Spotlight is one of the most useful tools on the Mac to locate files, applications, … Well choosing a mouse can be hard because most people just go with the cheap $15 mice. … So, today I am sharing this post which contains a list of all Google Chrome Shortcuts through Which you can easily use Chrome without Mouse. Online Tech Tips is part of the AK Internet Consulting publishing family. Now that you can navigate around a bit, let’s talk about controlling the mouse with the keyboard. You can press Alt along with whatever letter is displayed here to activate a button. Join 350,000 subscribers and get a daily digest of news, comics, trivia, reviews, and more. It took me 5 seconds with a mouse. To go Back and Forward, press Alt+Left arrow and Alt+Right arrow. Use the arrow keys to select files and folders and press Enter to enter folders or open files. When I navigate to a box that already has text in it, is there any way to edit that text (without using the mouse to click on the box)? And, so-on. To rename a file with your keyboard, select it with the arrow keys (or by starting to type its name) and press F2. ALT + TAB will also allow you to switch between programs and get back to the desktop. To launch File Explorer from anywhere on your Windows system, press Windows+E. To turn off the ClickLock feature, simply uncheck the “Turn on ClickLock” check box on the “Mouse Properties” dialog box. After confirming that the cursor is in front of the first letter of the word or phrase … The other main setting to note is under Other Settings. You can also drag and drop items by first moving the mouse cursor over the item and then pressing 0 to start the drag and . Press shift + F8 to activate “Add To Selection” Mode. To select a paragraph, click three times in the paragraph. For example, when you’re on the desktop, pressing TAB will move you to the Start button where you can then press Spacebar or Enter to open the Start Menu. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time. Fix the Error Automatically. You can change this to Off if you like. To focus the location bar at the top of the window, press Ctrl+L or Alt+D. Launch System Preferences, go to the Keyboard preference pane, choose the Keyboard Shortcuts tab, and then click on Application Shortcuts. It’s no Norton Commander, but it’s extremely keyboard-friendly. By submitting your email, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Select one word by placing your cursor at one end of the word. 1) Without activating the Filter option, right-click on “New Orleans” 2) Select “Filter” 3) Select “Filter by Selected Cell’s Value” And we would end up with the same result as above. On desktops, you will use the keypad at the far right of the keyboard. If your touchpad dies on your laptop or your mouse stops working on your desktop, it’s worth knowing how to move the mouse cursor around until you can get your system back to normal. Press Escape to cancel renaming the file without saving any changes. To open and close the preview pane, which shows you a preview of the currently selected file, press Alt+P. For example, when you’re in the C:\ directory and you type “Win”, File Explorer will select the “Windows” directory. The process of installing macOS or OS X only requires a few clicks of the mouse--unless you have to work from just the keyboard. Copyright © 2007-2021 Online Tech Tips.com, LLC All Rights Reserved. ADD TO SELECTION If you just need to select a program or a file on your desktop, you can use the arrow keys to select the item and then press ↵ Enter to open it. Since 2011, Chris has written over 2,000 articles that have been read nearly one billion times---and that's just here at How-To Geek. He has over 15 years of industry experience in IT and holds several technical certifications. How to Choose a Mouse. TAB. By default, Mouse Keys will work only when NUM LOCK is On. How-To Geek is where you turn when you want experts to explain technology. Click on Set up Mouse Keys to configure all the options and settings. Firstly, When my cursor is in the entry box (entrybox.focus()), I would like to using F4 key on keyboard (GUI.bind('', directselection)) to select the first data in my treeview directly instead of using mouse. If your mouse is broken or your window has disappeared off-screen or for whatever reason …. So the next time you are stuck without a mouse, no need to worry! For example, to insert text without formatting, I’d just go Alt-E, S, enter. Navigate between options in the menu using the Up and Down arrow keys. Towards the bottom under Explore all settings, you will see a link called Make the mouse easier to use. To expand a collapsed section (like “Devices and drives” under “This PC”), select it and press the Right arrow key. Well, there are a few options. I would like to set the "use Mousekeys" option in Accessibilty options of control panel, but how do I click on the checkbox without a mouse. Selecting the "Use MouseKeys" check box without a mouse..? Size Matters. It takes half a second. The spacebar can also be used for this but it has limited functionality in that it cannot be used to make a different selection. Without Using Mouse. You should now be able to move the cursor around with just the keyboard. By far the best option for controlling your mouse is Mouse Keys since you don’t have to install anything and it pretty much lets you fully control the mouse. If you are having any issues using Mouse Keys, feel free to post a comment. To open the Context menu for your currently selected items, press Shift+F10. It also has a keyboard modifier for scrolling, which Mouse Keys does not have. Use the arrow keys and the ↵ Enter key. In order to click on something, you first press /, –, or * to select the appropriate button on the mouse. Witthaya Prasongsin / Getty Images The information in the article applies to Excel versions 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, and Excel for Mac. If you need to refresh a folder and see updated contents, press F5. He's written about technology for over a decade and was a PCWorld columnist for two years. Now you can close that program as instructed above. Here are the controls, provided that you have a numeric keypad, to run Mouse Keys. File Explorer will automatically highlight the file’s name, excluding the file extension. To open a new File Explorer window, press Ctrl+N. You can use your computer's arrow keys and the ↵ Enter key to move the selection around the currently open window and select things, respectively, and typing a letter when on the desktop or in a Windows app (e.g., File Explorer) will cause the selection to jump to an item starting with that letter. You can go wireless and achieve complete freedom of movement – as long as you stay within wireless range. You can easily control your mouse pointer using the number keys on your keyboard. For more help, press Alt and release it. If Mouse Keys is being used, you should see a small little mouse icon in the system tray, otherwise it will have a red X over the mouse. Read Aseem's Full Bio. To double-click on something, you have to select the left mouse button (/) and then press the + (plus) sign. I graduated from Emory University with a degree in Computer Science and Mathematics. To create a new folder in the current directory, press Ctrl+Shift+N. To redo an action you just undid, press Ctrl+Y.