How to Use a Keyboard Without a Mouse

Whether you are tight on money or need to save space on the desk, building a PC with no mouse is not something new. Most people prefer using their computer with no mouse. And if you are wondering whether it is possible, the good news is that it certainly is.

And all you need to do is learn some shortcuts and enable the media keys. Doing this is pretty easy and doesn’t need any technical knowledge. And to help you with this, I am here with this complete guide on how to use a keyboard without a mouse. So, dive right in for more.

Basic Keyboard Shortcuts with No Mouse for Windows

Windows and MacOS keyboards come with built-in accessibility functions that help you in using your PC with no mouse. All you need to know is some basic shortcuts to facilitate some operations. And here is how you can do pretty much everything with the keyboard.

Find the Text

Moreover, sometimes while reading and writing, you often come across the need to find some specific things. And it is absolutely easy with the keyboard. For this, all you need to do is track the text finder. And to do this, click the Ctrl+F keys simultaneously and type the word you want to search within the text. This will highlight the exact matches for the word, so you can scroll down to find the right sentence.

Select the Text

Selecting text is usually an operation most people associate with the mouse. To select the entire text on the page, press Ctrl+A. However, if you only want to select some text from the writing, navigate to the place where you want to select the paste and press the right arrow key to highlight the text. You can also go to the end of the text and press the left arrow key.

Copy/ Paste the Text

Likewise, press the Ctrl+C keys to copy the text. Before this, you need to highlight the characters you want to copy, as explained above. Pasting this text is pretty similar. All you need to do is go where you want to paste the text. For this, press / and 5 together from the number pad to click. Next, press the Ctrl+V keys at the same time.

Switch Between Tabs

I can bet that the majority of people are not aware of this shortcut. By pressing Ctrl+Tab, you can easily switch between the pages and tabs within a browser. You can also move between unique elements on the browser by pressing Tab. Now, if you are working on any other browser and need to navigate between different programs, press Alt+Tab.

Open Any Program

Similarly, in order to open any program from your desktop, press the Tab key and select the icon you want to open. Next, navigate between these icons using the arrow key, and once you have selected one, press the Enter key. This will open any sort of icon. In order to track and open File Explorer, press the Windows+Ekeys. You can also use the Tab button to navigate different areas of the windows.

Open/ Close Windows

You need to press the Ctrl+N keys simultaneously to open any new window. This also works for files or documents. Likewise, to close the window, file, or document, press the Ctrl+F4 keys at the same time. You can also minimize the windows using the Windows and down arrow keys on your keyboard twice.

Scrolling

The most common use of a mouse is to scroll the page up and down. This is why some people think that it is impossible to do this without the mouse keys. But the good news is that you can easily go up and down using the keyboard, irrespective of the layout. For this, find the PgUp and PgDn keys on your keyboard and press them to do this. To activate this, press the Fn key before this step.

Keyboard Shortcuts for MacOS

The majority of keyboard shortcuts are pretty similar for both Windows and MacOS. So, you can try out some of the above-mentioned keys on your Macbook also. All you need to do is replace the Ctrl key with the Command key. For instance, Cmd+C for copy, Cmd+V for paste, Cmd+A to select all, and Cmd+S to save the document. Likewise, you can press Cmd+W to close down the current browser tab.

In addition, arrow keys are also the same in both Windows and MacOS. These keys are used to navigate the pop-up menus, dialog box, and other sorts of menus. Some basic things you need to know are that the Tab key is to jump from one field to another, while the Space key will be used to scroll down the pages and documents. Also, use the Esc key to exit any program and Enter to confirm the commands.

Now, if you have opened apps within any Apple OS and you need to switch between them, press Cmd+Tab. You can also use the Cmd+Space key to search your Mac menu. To open the dock, you can press Ctrl+F3 and Ctrl+F2 to switch places on the menu bar. Some keyboards have touch bars, and for these, you need to press Ctrl+Fn+F3 and Ctrl+Fn+F2, respectively.

Moreover, selecting the text within any page is pretty easy and is similar to Windows. For this, you need to hold Shift and Arrow Keys at the same time. To select one word at a time, press Shift+Option and Arrow keys at once. Likewise, Cmd+M keys will minimize the selected Windows page. However, the Mac keyboard lacks built-in buttons for managing web pages.

Note: Do consider that some programs on the Macbook come with their own keyboard shortcuts. And to access these shortcuts, you can navigate the menu, as all of these will be displayed either on the top or bottom. And if you can remember these shortcuts, it is definitely better and will save you so much time and effort.

Setup Mouse Keys

Another way you can use a keyboard without a mouse is by setting up some keys and dedicating them to certain operations. Here are some tips that can help you use your computer with no mouse.

How to Set Up Mouse Keys?

• Go to the control panel and press the Windows button to open the Start menu. Now, within the search finder, type Mouse Keys and start enabling the keys you want to use. And here is how you can do it.
• If you have the mouse while you are setting these keys, go straight to the Start option and click the Turn On Mouse Keys.
• In case you only have the keyboard, press Tab and go up and down the menu to track the Mouse Keys option. Then, press Enter to set these keys up. Next, press Alt+F4 simultaneously to close the window.
• After this, a pop-up menu will appear with which you can activate the Alt, Left Shift keys and Num Lock.

What are Some Basic Mouse Key Functions?

Here is what operation each key is dedicated to;

• 0- drag an item
• 1- move the cursor down to the left
• 2- move the cursor down
• 3- move the cursor down to the right
• 4- move the cursor left
• 5- clicks an item
• 6- move the cursor right
• 7- move the cursor up to the left
• 8- move the cursor up
• 9- move the cursor to the right
• /- left mouse button
• -, right mouse button
• +- double click function
• *- both mouse buttons

FAQs

What does Ctrl Esc do?

On Windows, the Ctrl+Esc key is used to open the start menu. The Esc key alone is used to exit any program or video. And Ctrl+Shift+Esc is used to open the Task Manager. Within the Manager, you can use Tab to switch between icons and Enter key to confirm anything.

Can you use just a keyboard?

Yes, you can just use the keyboard if you encounter some issue with the mouse keys or want to cut down the space of the computer system. This is because it has dedicated mouse keys specially designed to take cursor actions. All you need to do is enable them and enjoy a seamless experience.

Can a keyboard do everything a mouse can?

Yes, you can pretty much do everything with a keyboard, which a mouse is designed for. The only thing you need to know is some basic shortcuts for your OS. Apart from this, you can also set up some mouse keys to navigate the keyboard. You can consult Microsoft Support to check which mouse key does what.

Conclusion

Thinking about whether it is possible to use a keyboard with no mouse? Well, the simple answer would be yes, rather, it is pretty straightforward as long as you know some basic keyboard shortcuts. Also, you can set up some mouse keys to activate some basic cursor actions.

Finally, I hope this guide has been helpful in figuring out how to use the keyboard without a mouse.