# Mouse buttons

This article or section needs language, wiki syntax or style improvements.

Reason: style still to fix, unclear sections (Discuss in Talk:Mouse buttons#)

Related articles

- Mouse acceleration
- Mouse polling rate

This article describes how to configure a mouse with more than 3 buttons.

## Prerequisites

Note: These are helper comments, and can be ignored if you are looking for nothing but raw information. Due to community feedback, I decided to add a bit more commenting that describes what's going on "behind the scenes" with this configuration.

We will be using the `evdev` driver for Xorg. EVentDEVice is an advanced driver for USB input devices which offers much greater power over the standard Xorg `mouse` driver. It is also more "direct" than the `mouse` driver, allowing lower latency and less translation issues.

- Note that `evdev` is both a kernel module and an Xorg input driver. All the Arch kernels come with the `evdev` module.

With the newer Xorg 11R7.0 it seems only the following changes to `/etc/X11/xorg.conf` need to be made with nothing else needing to be done.

## Finding the mouse name

Note: To get accurate information it is sometimes required to execute this command from a boot where no Xorg or mouse drivers have been loaded.

The first step is to find the name of the mouse / mice. To do this, execute the following command:

    $ egrep "Name|Handlers" /proc/bus/input/devices | egrep -B1 'Handlers.*mouse'

This should output something like this:

    N: Name="Logitech USB Gaming Mouse"
    H: Handlers=mouse0 event0 ts0

Or this if you have more than one mouse:

    N: Name="Kensington Kensington Expert Mouse Wireless"
    H: Handlers=event0 mouse0
    --
    N: Name="Logitech USB Receiver"
    H: Handlers=kbd event2 mouse1

The mouse is the one that has the `Handlers=mouse0`, so the name of the device is `Logitech USB Gaming Mouse`.

Note: My mouse is a Logitech G5; your mouse is probably different, and therefore the `Name` will be different.

Copy the name of the device, and open up `/etc/X11/xorg.conf`.

## Configuring Xorg

Now, we need an entry in `xorg.conf` that tells X how to use this mouse. It should look something like this:

    Section "InputDevice"
      Identifier      "Evdev Mouse"
      Driver          "evdev"
      Option          "Name" "Logitech USB Gaming Mouse"
      Option          "evBits"  "+1-2"
      Option          "keyBits" "~272-287"
      Option          "relBits" "~0-2 ~6 ~8"
      Option          "Pass"    "3"
      Option          "CorePointer"
    EndSection

Replace the `Name` option with the name you copied from above. You may also omit the `CorePointer` option if you use multiple mice or experience errors when attempting to load Xorg. The other options are all basic mouse configurations for evdev and should work with most mice.

Next, we need to tell X to use the mouse, so look in `xorg.conf` for `ServerLayout`.

Modify the `ServerLayout` section to use "Evdev Mouse" as the device. When you are done, it should look something like this:

    Section "ServerLayout"
      Identifier     "Default Layout"
      Screen 0       "Monitor0" 0 0
      InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
      InputDevice    "Evdev Mouse" "CorePointer"
    EndSection

The only thing you should change in the layout is the `InputDevice` line that refers to your mouse.

That should be all that is required.

- Edit by: xxsashixx

This is for Logitech G5 Mouse users. I have not tested this for other mice, but if you do not add this, your mouse MAY not work. If you do not need to add this, then do not.

Put

    Option "Device" "/dev/input/event[#]"

in the `InputDevice` section or else the mouse will not be picked up.

[#] = The number you got from:

    egrep "Name|Handlers" /proc/bus/input/devices

- Edit by: bapman

With the above method, your mouse might not to work after reboot (event number changes). To fix this, you can use symlinks in `/dev/input/by-id`. For example:

    Option      "Device" "/dev/input/by-id/usb-Logitech_USB_Receiver-event-mouse"

To find the appropriate id, do:

    ls /dev/input/by-id/

- Edit by: Diamir

This article or section is out of date.

Reason: The udev rule will not work, the `SYSFS=` and `BUS=` keys have been removed [1]. (Discuss in Talk:Mouse buttons#)

With a Desktop type keyboard-mouse, this does not work because there is only one USB attachment and `/dev/input/by-id` contains only the keyboard. In this case, we can create a udev rule to get a consistent link. The following rules create the link `/dev/input/usbmouse` which points on the correct event entry:

    KERNEL=="event[0-9]*", BUS=="usb", SYSFS{modalias}=="usb:v045Ep008Ad7373dc00dsc00dp00ic03isc00ip00", SYMLINK+="input/usbmouse"

You can call it `z10_usb_mouse.rules` and put it in `/etc/udev/rules.d`

The cryptic value to use for `SYSFS(modalias)` can be gotten in the following way:

enter the command `cat /proc/bus/input/devices`

You will find the keyboard and the mouse and see event4 is the mouse in this case:

    I: Bus=0003 Vendor=045e Product=008a Version=0111
    N: Name="Microsoft Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop� 1.00"
    P: Phys=usb-0000:00:10.0-2/input0
    S: Sysfs=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.0/usb1/1-2/1-2:1.0/input/input3
    U: Uniq=
    H: Handlers=kbd event0
    B: EV=120013
    B: KEY=1000000000007 ff800000000007ff febeffdff3cfffff fffffffffffffffe
    B: MSC=10
    B: LED=107

    I: Bus=0003 Vendor=045e Product=008a Version=0111
    N: Name="Microsoft Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop� 1.00"
    P: Phys=usb-0000:00:10.0-2/input1
    S: Sysfs=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.0/usb1/1-2/1-2:1.1/input/input4
    U: Uniq=
    H: Handlers=kbd mouse0 event1
    B: EV=17
    B: KEY=3000000000000 0 1f0000 f8400244000 601878d800d448 1e000000000000 0
    B: REL=7c3
    B: MSC=10

So I enter the following command (adapt event # to your particular case):

    udevinfo -a -p $(udevinfo -q path -n /dev/input/event4) | grep modalias
    ATTRS{modalias}=="input:b0003v045Ep008Ae0111-0,1,2,4,k71,72,73,74,83,86,8A,8C,8E,8F,9B,9C,9E,9F,A3,A4,A5,A6,AB,AC,B5,B6,CE,D2,D5,E2,E7,E8,E9,EA,EB,110,111,112,113,114,1B0,1B1,r0,1,6,7,8,9,A,am4,lsfw"
    ATTRS{modalias}=="usb:v045Ep008Ad7373dc00dsc00dp00ic03isc00ip00"
    ATTRS{modalias}=="pci:v00001106d00003038sv00001043sd000080EDbc0Csc03i00"

grab the ATTRS which becomes with usb: to complete "SYSFS{modalias}== " entry

And finally, use `usbmouse` as the Device Option in `xorg.conf`:

    Option "Device" "/dev/input/usbmouse"

## Post Configuration

### Google Chrome

It works. Horizontal scroll works out of the box - push the scroll wheel left or right. Thumb buttons also work as next/previous page.

### Opera

It works. Note: buttons can be mapped to functions easily in `Preferences > Advanced > Shortcuts > Mouse set-up`. For example, to bind button 8 to back:

1. Navigate to mouse set-up and expand the Application drop-down
2. In the input column, type: Button 8
3. In the actions column, type: Back

### Firefox

#### Horizontal scroll

##### Firefox 20 and Newer

(Tested in version 32) To get back and forward enabled, instead of scroll left/right, change the following settings in `about:config`:

    mousewheel.default.action.override_x         2
    mousewheel.default.delta_multiplier_x       -100

##### Older Versions

By default, left right scroll on a FX/MX mouse translates into back/forward, respectively. If you do not like this, open `about:config` and change a few values:

    mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.action      0
    mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.numlines   -3

OR (tested on Logitech G5)

    mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.action      2
    mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.numlines    2

NOTE: If you use a positive value for numlines, your left/right will switch, ie: pressing left scrolls the window to the right.

### Firefox 3

OR (tested on Microsoft Wireless Intellimouse explorer 2.0)

    mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.action         2
    mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.numlines      -1
    mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.sysnumlines   false

Note: If you use the true value for numlines, your left/right will be inverted.

#### Thumb Buttons - forward and back

Note: The following maybe redundant depending on whether xev detects all your mouse buttons correctly (functions can be mapped on a per-app basis) or you want to change the default behaviour.

To do this we need to map keystrokes to the desired mouse buttons and install xvkbd and xbindkeys.

In most modern applications which use back/forward features, XF86Back is mapped to back and XF86Forward is mapped to forward by default. On most MX mice the thumb buttons resolve to 8 & 9. If your mouse is different, check button numbers using xev and replace the numbers used in the example (b:8 & b:9).

So if you have an MX mouse you would create the file ~/.xbindkeysrc, containing:

    # Mouse Buttons
    "xvkbd -xsendevent -text "\[XF86Back]""
    m:0x0 + b:8
    "xvkbd -xsendevent -text "\[XF86Forward]""
    m:0x0 + b:9

Now to test... Run the following command and if it works as expected remember to add xbindkeys to `.xinitrc` or somewhere where it will be executed each time X starts. Also, this should work with Epiphany and Konqueror without any additional configuration or use of Imwheel.

    xbindkeys

The above info and more help may be found in the MX1000 Buttons wiki.

### xmodmap tweaking

This article or section needs language, wiki syntax or style improvements.

Reason: Says how, but not why. (Discuss in Talk:Mouse buttons#)
Note: None of the below is necessary with evdev, but it's here for non-evdev users. Unless something does not work on your mouse, ignore this whole section!

If you use .xinitrc to load X, then add this to `.xinitrc` (change for the number of buttons you have):

     xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 2 3 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 4 5" &

Note that buttons 4 and 5 must go on the end or else your scroll wheel will not work.

If you use GDM/XDM/KDM instead of .xinitrc, then create the file `~/.Xmodmap` and add this to it (change for the number of buttons you have):

     pointer = 1 2 3 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 4 5

- GDM/XDM/KDM read the `~/.Xmodmap` file if it's present, whereas `startx` does not. Another solution would be to add this to your ~/.xinitrc: `xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap`. This would allow you to use *DM and `startx` while only having to edit `~/.Xmodmap` when you need to make changes.

You may have to play with these numbers a bit to get your desired behavior. Some mice use buttons 6 and 7 for the scroll wheel, in which case those buttons would have to be the last numbers. Keep playing with it until it works!

You can also check to see which buttons are being read with a program called 'xev', which is part of XOrg. When xev is run, it will show a box on your desktop that you can put the cursor into and click buttons to find out what buttons have been mapped.

### xinput tweaking

For debugging purposes `xinput` can be used as it is able to change the button map on the fly in userspace. The following line corrects the button mapping (there have been reported cases with Logitech M505/B605 mice and possibly others) so the received events are mapped correctly:

     $ xinput set-button-map "$(xinput | awk -F'[=]' '/Logitech M505\/B605/ {print $2}' | awk '{print $1}')" 1 2 3 4 5 8 9

## Alternate methods

The following methods use standard X.org mouse input driver (xf86-input-mouse) instead of using the evdev driver. It works on mice up to 7 buttons. Edit `/etc/X11/xorg.conf` InputDevice section for your mouse to reflect the changes shown below. Then restart X and you are done.

### IMPS/2

This has been tested on an IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0. Your mileage may vary, as this does not seem to work for all said mice.

       Driver      "mouse"
       Option      "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
       Option      "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
       Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"

### ExplorerPS/2

This has been tested on a Logitech MX400 and MX518 and should work on any mx series mouse with up to 7 buttons.

       Driver         "mouse"
       Option         "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
       Option         "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
       Option         "Buttons" "7"
       Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
       Option         "ButtonMapping" "1 2 3 6 7"

Settings from above also works for Microsoft InteliMouse Explorer 3.0 that connects through USB.

### Auto

This has been tested on a Logitech MX400 and should work on most mice with up to 7 buttons.

       Driver         "mouse"
       Option         "Protocol" "auto"
       Option         "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
       Option         "Buttons" "7"
       Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
       Option         "ButtonMapping" "1 2 3 6 7"

This has been tested to work with Logitech MX1000.

       Driver         "mouse"
       Option         "Protocol" "auto"
       Option         "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
       Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
       Option         "Buttons" "12"
       Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 7 6 8 9"

### easystroke

easystroke is a gesture-recognition application for X11

easystroke is a mouse gesture application, but it can be used to manage mouse buttons as well. It's main advantage o-ver btnx is that it's more versatile. On the other hand, it's user-based, so any user has to configure it to reflect his own needs.

In order to set up easystroke to manage your extra mouse buttons, you will need to do this (example features Back/Forward mouse buttons) : run:

    easystroke -g

Go to Preferences tab > Additional buttons > Add, and add any special button.

Note: In case of easystroke does not automatically detect mouse buttons, you can specify it manually. Button identifiers (numbers) can be viewed by xev.

Go to Action tab > Add action, give the new action a name, as Type choose "Key", as Details set "Alt+Left" for Back button, "Alt+Right" for Forward button, as Stroke click the proper mouse button (confirm if a warning is displayed), and voilà! Your mouse button is configured.

Note: Since Firefox 3, buttons 6 + 7 are no longer mapped to back and forward as in Firefox 2. Therefore, if using the above methods in Xorg, refer further to corrective methods below if necessary.

### Firefox 3 button 6 + 7 correction

For MX518, try changing the above ButtonMapping Option to:

    Option         "ButtonMapping" "1 2 3 8 9"

And restart X. (Successfully tested on MX518)

Another method:

Leave back/forward mapped to 6+7 in xorg. In Firefox 3 about:config change the following keys:

    mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.action = 2
    mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.numlines = -1
    mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.sysnumlines = false

## Binding keyboard to mouse buttons

### xvkbd and xbindkeys

Let us say we want to bind some mouse buttons to keyboard ones. The problem we will encounter is that we do not know how to emulate a key press. Here comes in handy xvkbd. We can use it along with xbindkeys.

    $ xbindkeys --defaults >> ~/.xbindkeysrc
    $ xbindkeys

To restart xbindkeys type:

    $ pkill -f xbindkeys
    $ xbindkeys

Here is example `~/.xbindkeysrc` config:

    "xvkbd  -text "\[F8]""
           m:0x0 + b:8
    "xvkbd  -text "\[Shift]\[Left]""
           m:0x0 + b:9
    "xvkbd  -text "\[Shift]\[Right]""
           m:0x0 + b:10
    "xvkbd  -text 2"
           m:0x0 + b:11
    "xvkbd  -text 3"
           m:0x0 + b:12

If you want to check your mouse buttons number use xev. Do not forget to type capital letters in xvkbd -text usage and to escape opening bracket with \ or you get simply [Shift] written.

Here is an example for xbindkeys to enable x selection paste(third click pasting), you need both xsel and xvkbd installed, What it does it executes that command whenever button 13 of the mouse is pressed (in ~/.xbindkeysrc) :

     "xvkbd -no-jump-pointer -text "\D1$(xsel)" 2>/dev/null"
     b:13

This is an example for a keybinding for Meta+M:

     "xvkbd  -text "\{+Super_L}m\{-Super_L}""
     b:10

### evrouter

Some programs, especially games, use different methods of reading input, so another program is needed: evrouterAUR.

For the `evrouter` command to be able to read the input devices, it will have to be run in the `input` group (or as root). This can be achieved by adding yourself to that group:

    # gpasswd -a user input

Now we can use the `--dump` option to display what the button to be changed is called:

Tip: For USB devices udev will usually create symbolic links in `/dev/input/by-id/` which can be used to refer to specific devices.

    $ evrouter --dump /dev/input/event*

    device  0: /dev/input/event0: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard
    device  1: /dev/input/event1: Microsoft Microsoft Trackball Explorer®
    device  2: /dev/input/event2: Sleep Button
    device  3: /dev/input/event3: Power Button
    device  4: /dev/input/event4: Power Button
    device  5: /dev/input/event5: PC Speaker
    Display name: :0.0

Now press the buttons that you wish to change:

    Window "(null)": # Window title
    # Window "(null)": # Resource name
    # Window "(null)": # Class name
    "Microsoft Trackball Explorer®" "/dev/input/event1" none key/275 "fill this in!"

    Window "(null)": # Window title
    # Window "(null)": # Resource name
    # Window "(null)": # Class name
    "Microsoft Trackball Explorer®" "/dev/input/event1" none key/276 "fill this in!"

The line that ends with "fill this in!" can be copied into the config file which by default is `~/.evrouterrc`. For example, using the X11 key event emulator built into evrouter:

    ~/.evrouterrc

    "Microsoft Trackball Explorer®" "/dev/input/event*" any key/275 "XKey/1"
    "Microsoft Trackball Explorer®" "/dev/input/event*" any key/276 "XKey/2"

The 'event1' was changed to 'event*' in case udev gives it a different device number at boot. The 'none' was changed to 'any' so that the rule works even if any modifier keys are pressed when the button is pressed. See `man 1 evrouter` for a full explanation of the fields.

Tip: Rules can apply only to specific windows, see `man 1 evrouter` for details.

After setting up the config file, run it as a daemon:

    $ evrouter /dev/input/event*

To stop the daemon:

    $ evrouter -q
    $ rm -f /tmp/.evrouter*

Note: `evrouter` will fail to start if the `/tmp/.evrouter:0.0` file exists but does not delete it when exiting, so you will have to delete it yourself.

### Binding + and - in Logitech G5 mouse

If you want to bind the buttons `+` and `-` in G5/7 mouse, which normally changes DPI, you have to use `g5hack` [2] released by a lomoco author.

    wget http://piie.net/temp/g5_hiddev.c
    gcc -o g5hack g5_hiddev.c
    ./g5hack /dev/usb/hiddev0 3

This will change your DPI to 2000, light the 1st LED and disables DPI on-the-fly changing, so you can use it with evrouter. If you would use it frequently I suggest you to copy it to the `/usr/bin` directory:

    # cp g5hack /usr/bin/

If you want to bind your `+` and `-` buttons you must copy the line at the bottom (one with the comment '"-" button does not function anymore' above) to the mode you will be using, like, for example, under the "case 3:" you can put it on the line with the comment 'turn on third led' above (deleting the old one before of course).

For the newest G5 mouse which is reported as "product 0xc049" original hack does not work. You have to simply change the `#define MOUSE_G5 0xc041` to `#define MOUSE_G5 0xc049` and recompile.

You can execute the g5hack tool at system start up using systemd unit. See Systemd#Writing unit files for detail.

## User tools

imwheelAUR provides configurable mouse wheel and button mapping. It can be configured globally or for individual processes.

Sample `~/.imwheelrc` to enable back/forward thumb buttons for all applications and increased scroll speed in Chromium:

    "^chromium$"
    None, Up, Button4, 3
    None, Down, Button5, 3

    ".*"
    None, Thumb1, Alt_L|Left
    None, Thumb2, Alt_L|Right

lomoco for Logitech MX mice will help you set the proper resolution, enable or disable smart scroll (with boot time support too!), etc. lomoco is available from the `[community]` repository and can be installed with the following command:

Be sure to look at `/etc/udev/lomoco_mouse.conf` and set up the the options you want to be automatically applied when the mouse gets loaded by udev.

Note: The lomoco package may be out of date. There is a hack for newer Logitech mice: [3]

## Device Specific Configuration Files

### Logitech G600

It is known that in xorg-server 1.18.0-3 side buttons of G600 are not recognized as a separate keyboard device, but another mouse which causes strange (moving mouse cursor to an edge of screen when one of main mouse buttons are clicked) behavior. To force xorg to recognize them as a keyboard buttons, add following section to your `/etc/X11/xorg.conf`:

    Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "G600 misconfiguration fix"
        MatchProduct "G600"
        # Match just the keyboard section of the G600
        MatchIsKeyboard "true"
        # evdev assumes it's a mouse when it sees the absolute axis. Stop that from happening.
        Option "IgnoreAbsoluteAxes" "on"
    EndSection

### Mad Catz Mouse

Mad Catz Mouse

### Logitech M560/M545/M546

These mouse is designed for Windows 8, and has a non conventional behavior: the mouse appears as a pair of mouse and keyboard and some buttons don't emit the standard mouse button event, but instead a combination of keyboard and mouse button. This prevent a "confortable" use of this mouse under Linux.

This driver allow to use this mouse like an ordinary mouse. It's recommend use it with xbindkeys to mapping buttons.

This article or section needs language, wiki syntax or style improvements.

Reason: should be packaged in AUR (Discuss in Talk:Mouse buttons#)

kernel module for M560(already merged into kernel v4.2)

kernel module for M545/M546

## See also

- http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/HOWTO_Advanced_Mouse

For similar setup, specially for Logitech MX, see:

- http://lotphelp.com/lotp/lotp-guide-logitech-mx-mouse-ubuntu

Categories:

- Mice
- X server

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