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Using your keyboard one-handed in Gnome

This section explains how you can change Gnome settings to make using the keyboard one-handed easier

Step 1 for Gnome versions before 2.1:

  1. Click on the ' Applications ' menu and then click on ' Preferences ' or press ' Alt ' + ' F1 ' and then use the ' down ' arrow key to highlight ' Preferences ' .

Step 1 for Gnome versions 2.1 or newer:

  1. Click on the ' System' menu and then click on ' Preferences ' or press ' Alt ' + ' F1' to access the application menu and then press the ' right ' arrow until ' System' menu is highlighted and then press the ' down ' arrow until ' Preferences ' is highlighted.
  2. Click on or hover the mouse over 'Accessibility' and then click on ' Accessibility ' in the sub menu or use the ' right' arrow key to highlight 'Accessibility' and then the ' right ' arrow key again to bring up the third menu and with Accessibility ' highlighted on this menu press ' Enter '. See Fig 1.

Accessibility menu
Fig 1

  1. This will open the ' Enable keyboard accessibility features' window, The ' Enable keyboard accessibility features' checkbox must have a tick for ' Sticky keys' to work if it is not ticked as shown in Fig 2 then click on the checkbox or press ' Tab' to highlight the checkbox and then press the ' Spacebar' to tick the box.
  2. By default you should see the ' Basic ' tab at the front as in Fig 2, if it is not click on the ' Basic ' tab or press ' Tab' until the current ' tab ( ' Filters ' or ' Mouse Keys ' is highlighted then press the left arrow key until the ' Basic ' tab is brought to the front.

Basic tab of Enable Keyboard Accessibility Features dialog box
Fig 2

  1. Click on the the checkbox next to 'Enable Sticky Keys'. or press 'Alt' + ' S', to put a tick in the box.
  2. Click the ' Close ' button or press 'Alt' + ' C' to to save your changes and return to the Gnome desktop.

Note: If this does not work it could be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to local IT policies - contact your local IT support for further help.

See this page on:

  • Linux

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