Auto Hide mouse pointer/cursor

[ghost]

Auto Hide mouse pointer/cursor

Windows 10 already has this characteristic but it does not really work.

Possible options to add

• Hide mouse after a selected time
• Hide mouse after a key stroke

[crutkas]

neat idea!

[htcfreek]

This is an issue for the new lable mouse utilities.

[dbye]

This is something I'd love to see. The "hide pointer while typing" feature in the standard mouse properties only seems to be supported by apps that specifically look at the value of that setting, so it can be hit and miss as whether it'll actually work in a given situation. The ideal solution would work unilaterally once enabled - hide the pointer when I start typing, or if no input is detected for a configurable timeout period.

A similar utility is available in X11 (xbanish), and there are various 3rd party implementations for Windows (I'm using "Hide Mouse Cursor on Idle.exe") but it would be good to have this functionality bundled in Power Toys.

[oscarstankard]

If this is now the main 'universal hide cursor while typing' feature request issue what are the next steps for it? Is there anything I can do to progress it into the main build? It seems to be widely implemented in stand-alone projects and there doesn't seem to be much contention in how it should function within PowerToys so hopefully just a case of picking the best version to import or to start from?

[trulycool]

It would be sooo great if this were implemented in PowerToys!

Many different Windows forums, official and community, are filled w/ people who [rightfully] expect that the "Hide cursor when typing" option is Mouse settings should...well, hide the cursor when typing. Finding out that app builders have to opt in, and most don't, is deflating.

For years I ran the AutoHotkey version of this functionality, which worked. Showing that it can in fact be done w/out application makers opting in. Which is as it should be. As a user, I expect to be given ultimate control over my mouse and keyboard settings.

However, currently, the AHK method ends up mangling the cursor "image", so it's pixelated. Not the worst thing. But not optimal.

All the *.exe utility versions of this functionality come up w/ positives on VirusTotal.

Having a trusted PowerToy utility to implement this will be most excellent.

I don't speak C++, but am an experienced software developer in other languages, and could contribute to testing, documentation, and generally any other thing not related to C++ coding...

[oscarstankard]

Possible Refinements: Only hide cursor when it is near to/has possibility of masking entered text. E.g. supports not hiding when a keyboard key is pressed as part of a command etc, only when visible text entry is underway, or when mouse cursor is very far away from the text entry.

Allow cursor to gradually fade/use alpha channel value as the typing gets close to mouse pointer rather than instantly vanish as soon as any key is pressed anywhere. Potentially to change cursor to one that minimises the masking effect of any text it happens to sit on top of rather than just hiding/fading the default cursor.

Configure number of pixels of mouse movement needed to make mouse cursor visible again, potentially also the number of keystrokes taken to constitute typing and to require the cursor to hide. Useful when mouse is sensitive / high DPI and tiny inadvertent movements are received from it, esp when typing vibrations are happening.

To defer to per-application cursor hiding support in applications that do implement the feature and to allow per-app preferences potentially.

[oscarstankard]

Does anyone know what happens now? This has just had its second birthday and no indication of what is required to have it considered for inclusion in the app?

[aaronedev]

+1 please i want this with powertoys

[dyrok]

We need this please

[oscarstankard]

Another year another beg sorry. If anyone from the core team sees this message is there any information about the roadmap and things that are being considered for it that we can look at? This is so frustrating to resolve with the existing separate utilities and getting it built into powertoys would be so useful to so many. Would be great if it doesn't see out its 3rd year in status of 'nice idea'.

[ZacharyBohn]

Would love to have this feature without needed 3rd party software. But for anyone who wants it with 3rd party software: https://github.com/Stefan-Z-Camilleri-zz/Windows-Cursor-Hider

This successfully hides the cursor when typing on any application. You do need to either download their executable or AHK and run the script though. PowerToys should definitely have this.