Moving my cursor within System Settings without a mouse

[Howard Brazee]

I wanted to see how to change a System Setting on my Sonoma 14.3.1 iMac without a mouse.

I hit option F2 (also ⌥ F2 or alt F2) and System Settings opened.

"Displays" is showing, but it is only half-gray. I tried to move the cursor or to select even that setting by pressing Return. I can't navigate around the System Settings menu.

I tried Ctl-Fn-F2, and the cursor went to the apple menu, moved to view and was able to select a different System Setting.

But that didn't help me. I still couldn't figure out how to get from the left side of the menu to the right side to actually make a change.

I've tried variations of ⌘ + fn + F7 and control + fn + F8 and all sorts of things I've Googled, but so far without any luck.

 

[MacInWin]

Is the mouse still attached while you are doing this experiment? I suspect if it is that might be interfering with the non-mouse inputs. Also, what are your settings under Accessability? There is a setting for Mouse Keys that lets you use the arrow keys to move the pointer, and even settings for head movement, sensed by the camera, or facial expressios to move the pointer. But you have to turn them on to allow them to to work.

 

[IWT]

@Howard Brazee

I think this is what Jake was referring to in Settings > Accessibility > Pointer Control

An even quicker route is by typing "mouse keys" as in my example.



Look under Mouse Keys - the pointer can be controlled using KB etc

Ian

 

[Howard Brazee]

I had my mouse turned on. Let me try it with it (and my track pad) turned off. I needed my mouse to turn Mouse Keys on (that wouldn't help if my mouse broke and I had default settings). I turned it on, then quit System Settings, then turned my mouse off. I opened System Settings and tried moving the cursor with my arrow keys. Hitting Option 5 times turned Mouse keys off, and hitting it again 5 times turned on. But I don't see how to move my cursor and select stuff using my keyboard.

 

[pm-r]

But I don't see how to move my cursor and select stuff using my keyboard.

Hopefully, this article and the illustrations may help which shows which keyboard keys to use depending on your keyboard type:

Control the pointer using Mouse Keys on Mac​

Control the pointer using Mouse Keys on Mac

On your Mac, control the pointer using the numeric keypad or the keyboard.

support.apple.com

- Patrick
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[Howard Brazee]

I found my problem. I was impatient. I hit the keys in my numeric keyboard and didn't see anything happening. It starts off very slowly. I see I can change the settings to speed things up. And after I set it up to switch on and off by hitting option 5 times, I see it changes the System Setting. I normally want my keyboard and mouse. Oh, this setting doesn't care if I have my mouse on or not.

 

[pm-r]

I found my problem.

Thanks for the feedback and reply and it's nice to hear things seem to be working the way you want now.



- Patrick
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