Can we disable the side buttons on a mouse?

Help
1

I just posted the below on Vivaldi’s forum and thought I would ask here if there is anyway to disable the side buttons either in Plasma, the OS, or simply in Chrome based browsers. Thanks

I just got a Cherry Storm keyboard and mouse combo that compared to my past Logitech products I’m just loving. The only issue I’m having is the back and forward buttons on the side of the mouse. They are way too sensitive and I honestly have no need for them. There must be away to disable them either from within the browser (I know in Firefox based browsers it’s pretty straight forward to do so) or on the OS level in any OS. I’m currently running both Garuda and Arch both with the Plasma desktop.

2

Hi - I was curious to see if Plasma’s built-in Configure Extra Buttons feature could be of use here, and I think it might work for your case to bind those buttons to a modifier like Ctrl:

image
image1283×777 103 KB

image
image1285×776 79.8 KB

When I did this, pressing the Back button on my mouse, on its own, no longer functionally does anything. It does also get picked up as an actual Control key, as holding that down and pressing B on the keyboard made the Bookmarks pop up, as I have it configured (hello fellow Vivaldi user).

There might be a way to workaround binding it to a null/non-existent key or something like that, but that approach seemed to work using nothing but GUI tools.

Hope that helps,

2 Likes
3

if you are using wayland you can use the GUI settings as suggested to basically neuter the button, but if you are still using X11 you can do something similar using a program called input remapper that should be available in the software store.

1 Like
4

Can’t speak for the OP, but I was looking for something as well. So thanks

5

using input remapper, you can also type “disable” into the mapping editor to completely disable a key/button.

the GUI is a bit finicky, but it works and if you toggle the autoload option, then add the program to your autostart under settings, it will be a fairly seamless experience.

i remapped my side buttons to copy and paste… copy on the top button because i keep hinting that one by accident causing the browser to go BACK a page (very annoying).

1 Like
6

My biggest takeaway from this topic is that mouse manufacturers might do well to reconsider how much pressure it takes to click in these side buttons! :slight_smile:

2 Likes
7

Yea any less pressure needed and I swear you could blow on the to activate them.

8

On X11 you can also use ‘~/.xbindkeysrc’ –

## Logitech M500 additional keys:
# 
"xte 'key Page_Down' &"
  b:8

"xte 'key Page_Up' &"
  b:9
#
9

i don’t understand what that does, and the more i looked into it the more confusing it became since none of the definitions on my machine lined up with the text of is snipit.

i’m not a computer programmer and would much prefer a GUI solution.

also X11 is the past and wayland is the future, so spending time learning X11 specific things is a waste when a GUI for this is built right into plasma wayland now.

10

No it’s not. The above is a simple cheat and nothing more. The GUI program that actually works to program or deactivate the buttons is still only x11.

11

there is a new setting in plasma 6 under wayland where you can edit these mouse buttons on the mouse settings page… the new configure button is not available under X11 so i have to resort to image remapper to achieve the same result

12

Yes, OK, for an awful number of human beings, reading and understanding “man pages” is something that will remain as the preserve of those few human beings who indulge in the administration and programming of computers.

  • For the majority of human beings, a GUI application to set such system variables is, and will remain, the preferred method.