Why I Started Using a Gaming Mouse and Keyboard to Get the Real Work Done

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Everyone knows that gaming mice and keyboards can get you to play fast-paced games at their best. But with all these buttons and macros, they can really help you work smarter. This is why I swear by them.

Why Use Gaming Peripherals?

We’ve recommended several ways to automate tasks over the years. AutoHotkey is great for displaying your own hotkeys . With TextExpander, you can automatically fill blocks of text with just a few keys . While these tools are incredibly useful on their own , they become even more powerful with a gaming keyboard and mouse . Why? Because these peripherals were designed to automate tasks. Sure, they were made for games, but they work just as well for normal work.

Here are some of the main benefits I’ve found:

  • Dedicated buttons mean less stress on your fingers: One of the most frustrating things to do when creating custom keyboard shortcuts is finding a shortcut that isn’t already in use by another program . With the gaming keyboard, I have twelve new buttons that can do whatever I want. Even if I need AutoHotkey, I can map them to a shortcut that I can never peel off with my fingers.
  • The mouse buttons are a revelation: I feel like it needs a separate item because I never realized how lazy my right thumb is. With the G600, I had twelve more buttons that I could press without moving, taking my hands off the mouse. It’s a little disorienting at first, but once you get used to it, you wonder how you can live without it.
  • The software is stupidly simple: AutoHotkey and TextExpander are already pretty easy to use once you learn the basics. However, when it comes to basic automation, Logitech’s mouse and keyboard software is even simpler. You can set your own shortcuts, record macros, launch applications, or insert entire blocks of plain text using a simple interface. The keyboard even has an on-the-fly macro recording button, so you can create a shortcut to some repetitive actions with just a couple of keystrokes.

There are tons of gaming mice and keyboards out there, but I’ll stick with Logitech and Razer as they are the most popular (and their software is pretty killer). Software is the Logitech Gaming Software has many features not found in the Razer the Synapse , but they were both helpful beyond video games. If you purchased your peripherals from one of these companies, be sure to install the accompanying software to keep track of them.

Test case: Switching between browser tabs using extra mouse buttons

I use both a gaming keyboard and a mouse, but the latter is my favorite. Most mice have two, maybe three buttons, and they are all programmed for something. I have twelve additional buttons that I can map to anything. This is useful for frequently used shortcuts, or simply to make complex shortcuts easier to access. One of my favorites is mapping the tab-switching shortcut (Ctrl + Tab and Ctrl + Alt + Tab) to the buttons on the side of my mouse.

Here’s how to do it in Logitech software:

  1. Open the Logitech Gaming Software app.
  2. Select the device you want to program and select a set of buttons.
  3. Hover over the button you want to program, click the drop-down menu, and select Edit.
  4. In the left pane, select Keystroke (it may already be selected).
  5. With the cursor in the first field, press Ctrl + Tab. Note: Any key you press in this box will be interpreted as part of the keyboard shortcut you want to use, so click outside the box when you’re done.
  6. Enter “Right Tab” under the name and click OK.
  7. Repeat steps 3-6 for the other button, using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + Tab and the name “Left Tab”.

If you’re using Razer software, here’s how to do it:

  1. Open the Synapse software.
  2. Click the tab for the device you want to change (in this case, Mouse).
  3. Select the button you want to program. For some buttons, you may need to select a left or right view.
  4. Select Keyboard Function from the drop-down menu.
  5. Press Ctrl + Tab to bind the shortcut to the mouse button and click Save.
  6. Repeat steps 3-5 for Ctrl + Shift + Tab.

You can now change tabs with your mouse. This works with just about any keyboard shortcut, making it ideal for complex keyboard shortcuts that challenge ergonomics (looking at you, Alt + F4), or mapping mouse buttons to apps that only support keyboard shortcuts (such as the Switcher window overview . similar to Exposé). Actually I still press Ctrl + Tab as usual to move between tabs when both hands are on the keyboard, but when my hand is on the mouse this method is much easier. Of course, you can always map these keyboard shortcuts to additional buttons on your keyboard. Choose what works best for you!

Test case: empty trash with one button

AutoHotkey isn’t just for keyboard shortcut remapping. You can automate any task with simple scripts. Pair this with a gaming peripheral and you can create your own customizable buttons that will perform whatever action you want. For example, I created a button that empties the cart . To get started, create and run the following script in AutoHotkey (if you’ve never used one before, check out our beginner’s guide ):

 ^! # q :: FileRecycleEmptyreturn

This script will automatically empty your trash when you press Ctrl + Alt + Win + Q. You can use a simpler shortcut if you like, but we made it complex on purpose so it doesn’t clash with anything. It doesn’t matter how complicated the shortcut is, since you activate it anyway with one of the game keys.

After running this script, follow the same steps as in the previous section to map Ctrl + Alt + Win + Q to one of the keys on your gaming keyboard. Now, instead of opening the trash can itself or pressing a complex shortcut, you have one dedicated task button on the side of your device. Everything you can do with AutoHotkey you can now do with one of these buttons.

Test Case: Launching and Closing Applications with a Mouse

From time to time I have to do some quick calculations – just not enough to keep the calculator app open all the time. I felt like I was wasting a bit of space by keeping it on the taskbar, so I decided to add it to my extra buttons. I already use my right hand on the numeric keypad when doing quick calculations, so I chose to launch it with a mouse button, but you can also use one of the keyboard buttons. Here’s how to set it up in Logitech software:

  1. Open the Logitech Gaming Software app.
  2. Select the device you want to program and select a set of buttons.
  3. Hover over the button you want to program, click the drop-down menu, and select Edit.
  4. Select “Function” in the left pane.
  5. Select “Calculator” from the list and click “OK”.

You can also use the Features panel to assign common functions such as opening the web browser, launching the media player, or opening My Computer. Of course, if you want to launch another application using one of the buttons, you can select Shortcut instead of Function in the steps above. Then find the executable you want to run.

Here’s how to do the same in Razer’s software:

  1. Open the Synapse app.
  2. Click the tab of the device you want to change.
  3. Select the button you want to program.
  4. From the drop-down menu, select “Run this program”.
  5. Click the folder icon under Run a Program and navigate to the executable file you want to run (the Windows calculator application can be found in the C: \ Windows \ System32 folder).
  6. Click Save.

Razer doesn’t have a method of selecting commonly used apps like Logitech does. However, you also have the option from this menu to launch the default website instead of launching the application. Both options are convenient.

To make the math smoother, I also bind Alt + F4 to one of the mouse buttons, as I mentioned in the first section. With one hand, I can launch the calculator app, type math, and close the app. It’s very fast for me. Of course, if you decide to make Alt + F4 a shortcut, make sure it’s not where you can easily accidentally click on it. Although inconvenient, Alt + F4 is difficult to press on purpose.

Test case: Recording complex macros on the fly

I’ll confess: I don’t use macros or frequent action recordings as often as I should. It’s not that I don’t have repetitive tasks that I can automate. It’s just that by the time I realized how much time I would actually save by re-learning AutoHotkey and creating a task , I had lost interest and needed to get back to work.

Logitech software makes it easy to record repetitive activities. Most keyboards have a dedicated button for recording actions. You can also do this in the Gaming Software app, where you can see how to modify each action individually to tweak it until it works exactly the way you want it to. To start recording on the keyboard, follow these steps:

  1. On a Logitech keyboard, press MR.
  2. Press one of the programmable buttons for which you want to record your action.
  3. Perform the action you want to record as usual. The keyboard cannot record mouse clicks, but it can record pauses between keystrokes if you find that the software is playing back actions too quickly for your computer.
  4. Press MR again to save the macro.

Razer keyboards have similar functionality, but without a dedicated macro record button. Instead, you can start recording on the fly by pressing Fn + F9. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. On a Razer keyboard, press Fn + F9.
  2. Perform the action you want to record as usual.
  3. Press Fn + F9 again to save the macro.
  4. Press the programmable key for which you want to store the macro.

It couldn’t be much easier. I use this method for a lot of simple formatting tasks. For example, many Lifehacker articles have a photo below. I have programmed my keyboard to automatically enter “Photo from [name].” Select the entire line and send Ctrl + I to italicize the line. The only thing I need to do is change the name. If I tried to program this task in AutoHotkey it might not even be worth my time, but since I can write it down while I am already doing it, it is very easy.

Test Case: Simplify Duplicate Emails with Quick Text Blocks

Replying to emails is tedious enough that you don’t have to repeat yourself a hundred times. You do not need to customize your “Thank you, but our company is not interested” or “I need these TPS reports on my desk by Friday” responses for each recipient. It would be easier to just press one button and skip it all.

Fortunately, the Logitech app has the ability to insert text blocks. While this method does involve lifting my hand while typing, I’ve personally found that having dedicated buttons for text boxes helps me mentally organize my shortcuts better than the text expander does. You can even turn on Unicode mode if you want quick access to some of the more eclectic emoji .

This is how it works:

  1. Launch the Logitech Gaming Software.
  2. Select the device you want to program and click on the set of buttons.
  3. Hover over the button you want to program, click the drop-down menu, and select Edit.
  4. In the left pane, select Text Block.
  5. Write or paste the text you want to assign to the button below “Enter Text”.
  6. Give this shortcut a name in the Name section.
  7. Optional: Turn on Unicode Playback for any special characters. Plain text shouldn’t have a problem anyway, but if you want special characters like these , you need to include it.

Once you’ve created your text block, open Notepad and try it out. In my experience, text blocks longer than one or two sentences work best if you enable “Use delays between characters” and set the delay to about 3 milliseconds. Unfortunately, Razer doesn’t have the ability to save entire blocks of text. However, you can always use text expanders.

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