How to Change Mouse Primary Button to Left or Right in Windows 10
By default, Windows 10 is using the left mouse button as a primary button. The primary button is used for functions such as selecting and dragging your files, folders, paragraphs or text, and so on. In certain conditions, e.g. depending on the connected hardware, it can be useful to assign the primary mouse button to the right button instead of the left button. Here are three methods you can use to swap the button function.
In Mouse Properties, you can swap the mouse buttons, so the right button will become your primary button, and the left button would be used to open context menus. Besides the Mouse Properties applet, you can use Settings, or apply a Registry tweak.
To Change Mouse Primary Button to Left or Right in Windows 10,
- Open the Settings app.
- Navigate to Devices \ Mouse.
- On the right, select Left or Right in the Select your primary button drop down list.
- Close the Settings app.
You are done.
Alternatively, the primary button can be set in the classic Mouse Properties dialog.
Change Mouse Primary Button to Left or Right in Mouse Properties
- Open the Settings app.
- Navigate to Devices \ Mouse.
- On the right, click on the Advanced Mouse Settings link.
- In the Mouse Properties dialog, switch to the Buttons tab. It should open by default.
- Turn on the option Switch primary and secondary buttons.
Note. The classic Mouse applet can be found in the Control Panel under Control Panel\Hardware and Sound. There, click on the Mouse link.
Finally, you can swap the buttons with a Registry tweak.
Change Mouse Primary Button to Left or Right in Registry
- Open the Registry Editor app.
- Navigate to the following branch:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse
. See how to go to a Registry key with one click. - In the right pane of the Desktop branch, modify or create a new string (REG_SZ) value SwapMouseButtons.
- Set it to one of the following values:
0 = Set the left mouse button as your primary button.
1 = Set the right mouse button as your primary button. - To make the changes done by the Registry tweak take effect, you need to sign out and sign in to your user account.
Related articles:
- Enable Mouse ClickLock in Windows 10
- Change Mouse Scroll Speed in Windows 10
- Change Mouse Pointer Color in Windows 10
- Disable Touchpad when Mouse is Connected in Windows 10
- How To Enable Mouse Pointer Trails in Windows 10
- Apply Night Light to Mouse Cursor in Windows 10
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