Hold right-click.
Draw a line.
Mousetroke adds mouse gestures to every window on Windows. Hold the right button and drag: ← goes back, ↓→ closes the tab, ↙ minimizes the window. A plain right-click still opens the menu.
In the demo area, draw ← for back, → for forward, →↓ for a new tab, ↓→ to close the tab, ←↑→ to refresh, ↙ to minimize, ↗ to maximize. The buttons below play each gesture.
Draw this, get that
About fifty gestures come built in, covering browsing, editing and window management. Change, turn off or delete any of them, or draw a new one once in settings to record it.
Browsing
- BackIn browsers and File Explorer←
- Forward→
- New tab→↓
- Close tab↓→
- Reopen closed tabClick the left button at the end→↓ + Left
- Refresh←↑→
- Previous tabOr hold right and scroll↑←
- Next tab↑→
- Scroll to top←↑
- Scroll to bottom←↓
Editing
- Copy↑
- Paste↓
- Cut↑ + Left
- Paste & Enter↓ + Left
- Web searchSearches the selected text↑↓
- Enter↓→↓
- Backspace←→
- Delete→←
- Cancel (Esc)→↑←
- SnipDraw a square↑→↓←
Windows and media
- Minimize↙
- Maximize / restore↗
- Fullscreen↗ + Left
- Close window↓←
- Kill processFor a program that hangs↓← + Left
- Always on top↑→↑
- Zoom in / out↑ + Wheel
- Next trackHold the middle buttonMiddle →
- Previous trackMiddle ←
- Next desktopHold a side buttonSide →
While you draw, the gesture name appears near the bottom of the screen; anything it doesn't recognize does nothing. The same gesture can do different things in File Explorer, the terminal and on the desktop.
Push into a corner
No button needed: push the cursor into a corner, or along an edge and then scroll, middle-click or rub up and down. A corner fires again only after you leave it, so it doesn't repeat by accident.
More than shortcuts
Each gesture runs one of eight kinds of action. Actions can use variables: %MS_SELECTED_TEXT% is the selected text and %MS_PID% is the process under the cursor.
- Send keys
- Any shortcut or sequence of keys, such as
Ctrl+Shift+T. - Window actions
- Minimize, maximize, keep on top, close or kill the window under the cursor or the active one.
- Open an app
- Start any program or file with arguments, such as
notepad.exe. - Open a URL
- In the default browser, optionally with the selected text:
https://www.bing.com/search?q=%MS_SELECTED_TEXT% - Run a command
- Any command line, such as
taskkill /F /PID %MS_PID%. - Media & system
- Volume, mute, play / pause, previous / next track, screen brightness.
- Show a menu
- One gesture opens a menu of actions next to the cursor; click one to run it.
- Lua script
- A few lines of Lua when you need conditions or several steps in a row.
Out of the way when it should be
Remote desktop, 3D and design apps use right- and middle-drag for themselves. On first run, Mousetroke finds the ones you have installed; tick them to turn gestures off inside them.
- Right-click still worksPress without drawing and the context menu opens as usual; hold still for a moment and it becomes a normal right-drag.
- Pauses for fullscreenGames, video and presentations in fullscreen don't trigger gestures or corners.
- Pause any timePress Win + Esc to pause or resume; the tray icon turns gray.
- Adding an app is quickDrag its exe or shortcut into the settings window, or click “Pick a window” and click that app's window.
Barely there
The gesture engine is written in Rust and talks to Windows directly, with no browser engine and no runtime. The settings window is a separate process that opens only when you need it.
- Resident memory
- 19MB
- Download
- 12.8MB
Measured working set, about 10 MB private; no CPU when idle.
One exe that runs from anywhere. Nothing goes in the registry unless you turn on start with Windows.
Questions
Does the right-click menu still work with Mousetroke?
Yes. A right-click without dragging is passed back to Windows unchanged, so the context menu opens as usual. Holding still past the drag timeout (0.5 seconds by default, adjustable) also becomes a normal right-drag.
Will it misfire in games or remote desktop?
Fullscreen games, video and presentations pause gestures automatically. Programs that need right- or middle-drag themselves, such as Remote Desktop, AnyDesk, Blender or AutoCAD, can be excluded in one click on first run. Win+Esc pauses at any time.
Which versions of Windows are supported?
Windows 10 1809 or later and Windows 11, 64-bit. The gesture engine has no runtime dependencies; the settings window uses Microsoft Edge WebView2, which ships with Windows 11 and comes with Edge on most Windows 10 PCs.
Is Mousetroke free?
Yes. It is open source under the MIT license, with no ads, no account and no network access.
How much memory and CPU does it use?
The resident gesture engine uses about 19 MB working set (about 10 MB private) and no CPU when idle. The settings window is a separate process that only runs while it is open.
Can I make my own gestures?
Yes. Create a gesture in settings and draw it once on the pad in the editor. You can also combine mouse buttons, the wheel, keyboard keys and screen edges, and set gestures separately for each app.
Where are the settings stored, and how do I back them up?
In %APPDATA%\mousetroke\config.json. Settings has import and export. Saved changes take effect within about a second, without a restart.
How do I uninstall it?
Turn off start with Windows in preferences, choose Quit from the tray icon menu, then delete mousetroke.exe and the %APPDATA%\mousetroke folder. Nothing else is left behind.
Download, double-click, done
No installer. An icon appears in the notification area: left-click it for settings, right-click to pause or quit. A four-step guide walks you through the first run.