How to add mouse gestures in Windows 11

What counts as a mouse gesture, and how did we pick these apps?

A mouse gesture is a held button plus a movement: hold, flick left, and an action such as Undo or Back runs. Touchpad gestures are finger swipes on a laptop touchpad. They are a separate feature, and this page does not cover them.

We make mouzeclick, one of the six tools below, so read its section as ours. It is not first in the list. We checked every other product on its maker's own page on 3 November 2026 and wrote down only what those pages say. Where a page gives no price, no Windows 11 support or no release date, we say "Not published" rather than guess.

Two of the six, X-Mouse Button Control and Microsoft PowerToys, don't list gestures. They are here because both are free, and sometimes a per-app button or key remap is all a gesture setup was meant to do. We left out gestures built into a single browser, because we did not verify any browser's gesture settings for this page.

Which mouse gesture apps for Windows did we compare?

Six tools, checked on 3 November 2026. Prices are written as each maker's page shows them.

Is Logi Options+ the best mouse gesture app for Logitech mice on Windows 11?

If your mouse is a supported Logitech model, try Logi Options+ first, because gestures are built in. Logitech's page says you can assign gestures to any mouse button, then hold it and move up, down, left or right to navigate windows, control songs and more. Gestures can also go on touchpads.

What the Logi Options+ page lists:

• App-specific settings. Presets, or your own actions, for apps such as Chrome, Edge, Safari, Zoom, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro and Microsoft Teams.
• Actions Ring. A customisable on-screen overlay that brings tools to the cursor. Its bubbles can be used for Easy-Switch on any MX mouse.
• Other features. Smart Actions, a Marketplace, Flow for controlling several computers, Easy-Switch, Spotlight effects, and pointer and scroll adjustment. Haptics works only with MX Master 4 for now.
• Devices. Featured models include MX Master 4, MX Master 3S, Lift and Signature M650. The full list sits behind a "View all supported devices" link.
• Downloads. Windows 10 or later, macOS 14 or later, and Googlebook. IT teams can deploy it with SCCM, Intune or Jamf.

Three things are not published on the page we checked: the price, which button is the gesture button on a given mouse, and how many app profiles you can make. The app is built for supported Logitech devices, so it does not cover a mouse from another brand.

Editors with an MX mouse can read our MX Master setup for Premiere Pro and After Effects. For the same per-app buttons on a mouse from another maker, see our Logi Options+ alternative comparison.

Best for: anyone whose mouse is on Logitech's supported list and who wants gestures without a second app.

Is StrokesPlus.net still a good mouse gesture app?

Not for a new setup: StrokesPlus.net is no longer developed, and its own page names Input.Observer as the successor. The final release is StrokesPlus.net 0.5.8.0, marked "No longer updated".

The page still offers that final release as an installer .exe, a portable .zip, and trace builds of both. The old forum is a read-only archive, and new questions go to the Input.Observer forum.

If you already run StrokesPlus.net, the maker says Input.Observer brings your setup over. Gestures, hotkeys, app groups and settings come across. Scripts are translated where possible, so a setup built on many scripts needs some hand work after the move.

The page does not publish the price of StrokesPlus.net, its supported Windows versions (Windows 11 included) or the release date of 0.5.8.0. We have not checked Input.Observer's price or features, so it is not in our table.

Best for: existing StrokesPlus.net users who want to carry their gestures and app groups to the successor.

Does WGestures work on Windows 11?

Its maker does not say. The WGestures README on GitHub describes it as a simpler, more modern global mouse gesture tool for Windows 7/8/10. Windows 11 does not appear, and the README is written mainly in Chinese.

The project is published as source code on GitHub. The README does not state a price, whether the project is still maintained, or when it was last released, and we did not infer a status from the repository. If you try it on Windows 11, test the gestures you rely on before you build habits around them.

Best for: people comfortable testing a GitHub project on Windows 11 themselves and reading a Chinese README.

Where mouzeclick fits (we make it)

mouzeclick is our own app, so weigh this section as ours. It puts gestures, chords and wheels on any mouse your computer sees, set per app, on Windows and Mac.

• Gestures on any button. Hold a button and move up, down, left or right, or scroll. Any button can be the gesture button, left and right included: a quick tap still clicks, and holding and moving runs the gesture.
• Eleven slots per button. Tap, hold and move in four directions, a chord with another button, or hold and scroll.
• Per app. Mouse 4 can cut a clip in Premiere, switch tabs in Chrome and paste everywhere else. It changes the moment you switch windows.
• Any mouse. Wired, wireless or Bluetooth, using up to five standard buttons (left, right, middle, Back and Forward) plus scroll and tilt. There is no driver. It does not change DPI, polling rate or lighting; those stay with the mouse maker's software.
• Three wheels. The Options wheel (F8) holds 48 favourites per app. The Orbit switch (F9) puts every open app on a wheel. The Tool wheel opens with F10 or a held right button and works only in Premiere Pro and After Effects. See how the three wheels work.
• Shortcut library. 309 built-in shortcuts on Windows, for Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve and CapCut. Any of them can go on a gesture.

Platforms, plainly. The mouse app, gestures and wheels run on Windows 10 and 11 and on macOS 12 or newer. The After Effects and Premiere Pro workspaces, auto, styled and Hinglish captions, Retakes, cloud sync and in-app updates are Windows only. Apple has not notarized the Mac app yet, so macOS asks you to allow it the first time; the Mac install guide has the four steps.

Limits. mouzeclick needs an internet connection while it runs, because the licence and profiles live in your account. If the connection drops, the shortcuts pause and the mouse acts normally until it returns.

Price. One plan, everything included: $25 a month, $249 a year, or $499 once for one of the first 100 lifetime keys. The trial is 3 days with no card, and every Premiere Pro and After Effects tool works fully during it. Details are in the pricing section.

Where another tool is the better pick. If you own a supported Logitech mouse and only want gestures, Logi Options+ is the maker's own app: gestures are built in, it also handles pointer and scroll settings, and it adds haptics on MX Master 4. If you already have a StrokesPlus.net setup, its successor Input.Observer brings your gestures and app groups across. If you want free per-app buttons and can live without gestures, X-Mouse Button Control costs nothing.

Best for: video editors who want gestures, wheels and per-app buttons on any mouse, across Windows and Mac. Editors can start with Premiere Pro shortcuts on a mouse.

Can X-Mouse Button Control do mouse gestures?

Gestures are not in its published feature list. X-Mouse Button Control (XMBC) is a free per-app button remapper for Windows, on this page for readers who want button remaps more than gestures.

• Price and systems. Free for anyone to install and use. It supports Windows 10 and 11 and Windows Server 2012 R2, 2016, 2019 and 2022, on 32-bit and 64-bit. No Mac version is listed.
• Profiles. Application and window specific profiles switch on automatically as the mouse moves over the app, window or region.
• Layers. Up to 10 layers of button settings per profile, switched with hotkeys or mouse buttons.
• Actions. Simulated keystrokes, button chording, timed button actions, launching apps, clipboard and media control, screen or window capture to the clipboard, sticky click-drag buttons, and Windows 10 and 11 virtual desktops.
• Setup. It runs at Windows logon by default, and there is a portable version beside the installer.

The maker lists two limits. XMBC supports up to 5 mouse buttons, because the Windows mouse message queue it relies on supports only 5. It also depends on the standard driver sending the 4th and 5th button messages: if those buttons do nothing by default, XMBC may not be for you. It is a hobby project with no guaranteed support, and the author focuses on bugs that stop current features rather than on new ones.

Our X-Mouse Button Control setup guide covers layers in detail, and the XMBC alternative page covers options that also run on a Mac.

Best for: free, per-app button remapping on Windows when you don't need gestures.

Does PowerToys add mouse gestures to Windows 11?

Not from what Microsoft lists. Microsoft PowerToys is a free, open-source set of Windows utilities, and none of its listed mouse utilities is a gesture tool. It still works well beside a gesture app.

• Mouse utilities. Auto Hide Cursor, CursorWrap, Find My Mouse, Mouse Button Lock, Highlighter, Jump and Crosshairs. Mouse Highlighter toggles with Win + Shift + H by default.
• Mouse Button Lock. Keeps a button held without pressing it, for long drags. It is off by default and set for the right button. Hold time runs from 200 to 2200 ms, default 1200 ms. For the left button, Microsoft points to Control Panel > Mouse > Buttons, where you select Turn on ClickLock.
• Keyboard Manager. Remaps keys and shortcuts and can map keys to text. A remap with no target app applies across all of Windows. Win + L and Ctrl + Alt + Del can't be remapped.

More keyboard options are in our keyboard remapping roundup.

Best for: free keyboard remaps and cursor helpers, alongside whichever gesture app you pick.

How do I enable mouse gestures in Windows 11 with mouzeclick?

Install the app, press each button once, then assign actions to the four directions of a held button for each app. These are the steps on Windows; the Mac adds a permissions step covered in the Mac guide.

1. Start the 3-day trial. No card is needed. The key and the Windows and Mac download links arrive by email.
2. Install the app and paste the key. There is no driver. It runs from the tray.
3. On first run, press each mouse button once. The settings page is then built around the buttons your mouse really has.
4. Pick the app the gestures are for. Each app has its own profile, and the editors come with ready-made ones.
5. Choose the gesture button. Any button works, left and right included; a quick tap still clicks.
6. Give each direction an action: up, down, left, right, and hold-and-scroll. Pick from the shortcut library, or use a hotkey or macro you recorded.
7. For an editing app, press Add editing gestures to fill the empty directions: up plays, down splits, left undoes and right moves one frame forward.
8. Switch to that app and test: hold, move, release. The gesture set changes as soon as you switch windows.

If you'd rather start with button remapping before gestures, our guide to remapping mouse buttons on Windows 11 covers the basics.

Why are my mouse gestures not working in Windows 11?

Common causes are an app running as administrator, side buttons that send nothing, or the gesture sitting on the wrong app's profile. Check them in this order.

• The target app runs as administrator. On Windows, games and apps running as administrator ignore apps that are not elevated. In mouzeclick, pick Restart as administrator in the tray menu. Microsoft notes the same for PowerToys' Mouse Button Lock, which may not work over admin apps unless PowerToys runs as administrator.
• A game uses raw mouse input. Microsoft says Mouse Button Lock might not work in games that use raw or exclusive mouse input.
• The side buttons do nothing. XMBC's page says it relies on the standard driver sending 4th and 5th button messages. If Back and Forward do nothing in a browser either, start with fixes for mouse side buttons that don't work.
• The mouse has more than five buttons. XMBC supports up to 5, and mouzeclick uses up to five standard buttons plus scroll and tilt.
• The wrong profile is active. Options+ app-specific settings, XMBC profiles and mouzeclick profiles all change by app. A gesture set for Premiere Pro won't run in Chrome.
• Two remappers answer the same button. Turn one off while you test, so you know which one is responding.
• No connection. mouzeclick pauses its shortcuts while offline, and the mouse acts normally until the connection returns.

If a gesture misfires mid-edit, Ctrl + Alt + F12 stops mouzeclick at once on Windows.

How do I choose a mouse gesture app for Windows?

Start with the mouse you own and whether you also use a Mac, then weigh maintenance and price.

• Supported Logitech mouse: try Logi Options+ first. Gestures are built in, with app-specific presets for Premiere Pro, Photoshop and Final Cut Pro.
• Existing StrokesPlus.net setup: follow the maker to Input.Observer, and budget time for scripts that don't translate.
• A GitHub project on Windows 11: WGestures, tested by you, since its README stops at Windows 10.
• Free, no gestures needed: X-Mouse Button Control for buttons, PowerToys for keys.
• Any brand of mouse, Windows and Mac, editing apps: mouzeclick, with gestures, chords and three wheels per app. A radial menu like its Options wheel holds 48 actions per app, against four gesture directions.

For a wider view, see the best mouse button mapping software. On a Mac, mouse gestures on Mac with any mouse covers the other side.

Questions people ask

Sources

Checked on 2026-11-03. Prices and features change: each link goes to the maker's own page.

1. Logi Options+ (Logitech India)
2. StrokesPlus.net archive notice and final release
3. WGestures README on GitHub
4. X-Mouse Button Control (Highrez)
5. Microsoft PowerToys overview
6. PowerToys Keyboard Manager
7. PowerToys mouse utilities

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