HomeHardware

How to Change Your Cursor

This wikiHow teaches you how to adjust your computer's cursor properties, and customize your pointer for your personal needs. If you're a PC user, Windows allows you to choose from a selection of stock cursor sizes, colors, and schemes. On...
Method 1 of 7:

Using PC Settings on Windows

  1. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 1How to Change Your Cursor Picture 1
    Open the
    How to Change Your Cursor Picture 2How to Change Your Cursor Picture 2
    Start menu on your computer. This button looks like the Windows icon in the lower-left corner of your screen. It will open your Start menu.
  2. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 3How to Change Your Cursor Picture 3
    Click the
    How to Change Your Cursor Picture 4How to Change Your Cursor Picture 4
    gear icon on the bottom-left. This is your Settings button in the lower-left corner of the Start menu. It will open your PC Settings in a new window.
    1. On some older versions of Windows, you can open Control Center from the Start menu, select Ease of Access here, and click Change how your mouse works. This will give you the same options as here.
  3. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 5How to Change Your Cursor Picture 5
    Click Ease of Access in the Settings window. This will open your accessibility options on a new menu.
  4. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 6How to Change Your Cursor Picture 6
    Click Mouse on the left-menu. You will find a navigation menu on the left-hand side of the Ease of Access menu. Select Mouse here to see your mouse and cursor options.
  5. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 7How to Change Your Cursor Picture 7
    Select the size of pointer you want to use under "Pointer size." Click one of the three options here to change your cursor's size.
    1. You can select a small, medium or large cursor here.
  6. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 8How to Change Your Cursor Picture 8
    Select a color for your cursor under "Pointer color." Just click the option you want to use under this heading to change your cursor's color. You can select a:
    1. White pointer, which will always be white.
    2. Black pointer, which will always be black.
    3. Inverting pointer, which will automatically adapt to the background color to look white on darker backgrounds, and black on lighter backgrounds.
Method 2 of 7:

Using Mouse Properties on Windows

  1. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 9How to Change Your Cursor Picture 9
    Open the
    How to Change Your Cursor Picture 10How to Change Your Cursor Picture 10
    Start menu on your computer. This button looks like the Windows icon in the lower-left corner of your screen. It will open your Start menu.
    1. Alternatively, you can click the search or Cortana button next to the Start menu icon.
  2. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 11How to Change Your Cursor Picture 11
    Type Mouse on your keyboard. This will search your system, and show the matching results on the menu.
  3. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 12How to Change Your Cursor Picture 12
    Click the Mouse Settings (Win 10) or Mouse option at the top. Your mouse settings should be the top result in the search.
  4. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 13How to Change Your Cursor Picture 13
    Click Additional mouse options (Win 10 only) at the bottom. This is a blue link at the bottom of the Mouse Settings window on Windows 10. It will open Mouse Properties.
    1. You can skip this step if you're using an older version of Windows.
  5. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 14How to Change Your Cursor Picture 14
    Click the Pointers tab at the top of Mouse Properties. This button is next to Buttons at the top of the Mouse Properties window.
  6. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 15How to Change Your Cursor Picture 15
    Click the drop-down menu below "Scheme." This will open all your cursor options in a drop-down menu.
  7. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 16How to Change Your Cursor Picture 16
    Select the cursor set you want to use. You can select an option on the menu here to preview the entire set.
    1. If you have a custom, third-party cursor or cursor set downloaded to your computer, click the Browse button on the bottom-right of this window, and select the custom cursor on your computer.
    2. You can find free cursor packs at various web sites such as http://www.rw-designer.com/cursor-library and https://www.deviantart.com/customization/skins/windows/cursors/popular-all-time.
  8. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 17How to Change Your Cursor Picture 17
    Check the
    How to Change Your Cursor Picture 18How to Change Your Cursor Picture 18
    "Enable pointer shadow" box (optional). This option is in the lower-left corner of the pop-up window. When it's checked, your cursor will always have a tiny shadow beneath the cursor icon.
  9. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 19How to Change Your Cursor Picture 19
    Click the Apply button. This button is in the lower-right corner of the pop-up window. It will apply your new settings, and change your cursor to the selected scheme.
Method 3 of 7:

Changing Mouse Size on Mac

  1. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 20How to Change Your Cursor Picture 20
    Open the
    How to Change Your Cursor Picture 21How to Change Your Cursor Picture 21
    Apple menu on the menu bar. This button is in the upper-left corner of your screen. It will open a drop-down menu.
    1. MacOS only allows you to change the cursor size; it does not offer custom cursor designs. However, you can download and use third-party cursor icons.
  2. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 22How to Change Your Cursor Picture 22
    Click System Preferences on the menu. This will open your Mac's settings panel in a new window.
  3. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 23How to Change Your Cursor Picture 23
    Click the Accessibility option in System Preferences. This option looks like a white human icon in a blue circle. You can find it on the fourth row of options.
    1. On older Mac versions, this option may be named Universal Access.
  4. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 24How to Change Your Cursor Picture 24
    Click the Display option on the left-menu. In the Accessibility menu, find and click the Display option on the sidebar on the left-hand side.
  5. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 25How to Change Your Cursor Picture 25
    Click and drag the Cursor size slider. This slider allows you to manually adjust your cursor's size to your liking.
    1. Your new settings will be saved automatically. You can close System Preferences when you're done adjusting.
  6. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 26How to Change Your Cursor Picture 26
    Check the
    How to Change Your Cursor Picture 27How to Change Your Cursor Picture 27
    "Shake mouse pointer to locate" option (optional). You can find this option below the "Cursor size" slider.
    1. When this option is enabled, you can quickly shake your mouse to temporarily make it bigger, and easily find its location on your screen.
Method 4 of 7:

Downloading Custom Cursors on Mac

  1. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 28How to Change Your Cursor Picture 28
    Open http://www.rw-designer.com/gallery in your internet browser. Type or paste this URL into your browser's address bar, and press ⏎ Return to open the RW-Designer cursor gallery.
    1. This is an online, community-driven cursor gallery. You can find and download a variety of popular cursor icons here.
    2. Alternatively, you can check out other websites and online galleries to find different cursor icons.
  2. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 29How to Change Your Cursor Picture 29
    Click a cursor to see its details. When you find a cursor pack you like, click on it to see the pack details on a new page.
  3. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 30How to Change Your Cursor Picture 30
    Scroll down and click the cursor you want to download. You can download and use any cursor that ends with the ".cur" format extension.
    1. Make sure to select a ".cur" cursor here. Animated cursor designs with the ".ani" format will not work on Mac.
  4. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 31How to Change Your Cursor Picture 31
    Click the Download button. This will download the selected cursor design to your Downloads folder.
    1. You will now have to use a third-party app to apply this custom design to your cursor.
    2. You can use Mousecape - a tiny, free, open-source app to use these custom cursor images on Mac. You can check out the following methods to find out how.
Method 5 of 7:

Creating a Mac Cursor in Mousecape

  1. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 32How to Change Your Cursor Picture 32
    Open https://github.com/alexzielenski/Mousecape/releases/tag/0.0.6b2. Type or paste this link into your browser's address bar, and press ⏎ Return to open the Mousecape page on GitHub.
    1. Mousecape is a free, open-source app for Mac OS computers to use custom cursor designs.
    2. This link will open the latest version of Mousecape available (0.0.6b2). You can always check the https://github.com/alexzielenski/Mousecape/releases page to see if a newer version comes out.
  2. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 33How to Change Your Cursor Picture 33
    Click Mousecape_0.0.6b2.zip under the "Assets" heading. You can find it at the bottom. This will download the Mousecape app to your computer in a compressed ZIP file.
    1. If you don't see anything under "Assets", click the
      How to Change Your Cursor Picture 34How to Change Your Cursor Picture 34
      drop-down icon to expand the "Assets" list.
  3. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 35How to Change Your Cursor Picture 35
    Open the "Mousecape_0.0.6b2.zip" file in your Downloads folder. This will extract the Mousecape app to your computer.
  4. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 36How to Change Your Cursor Picture 36
    Double-click the Mousecape app. After extracting the downloaded ZIP file, open the Mousecape app to use it on your Mac.
  5. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 37How to Change Your Cursor Picture 37
    Click the File tab on the menu bar. After opening the Mousecape app, click this button on the menu bar in the upper-left corner of your screen.
  6. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 38How to Change Your Cursor Picture 38
    Click New Cape on the "File" menu. This will create a new "Unnamed" entry in the Mousecape window.
  7. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 39How to Change Your Cursor Picture 39
    Right-click the new "Unnamed" entry in Mousecape. This will open your right-click options.
  8. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 40How to Change Your Cursor Picture 40
    Click Edit on the right-click menu. This will open the new entry's properties in a dialogue box.
    1. This will open a new window to customize this new cursor cape.
    2. Make sure to check out the following methods in order to find out how to customize and use new cursors with Mousecape on Mac.
Method 6 of 7:

Customizing a Cursor in Mousecape

  1. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 41How to Change Your Cursor Picture 41
    Enter a name for your new cursor in the "Name" field. In the editing window, you can delete "Unnamed" in the Name box, and give a custom name to your new cursor.
  2. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 42How to Change Your Cursor Picture 42
    Click the + button on the bottom-left. This will add an "Unknown" cursor to this entry on the left menu.
  3. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 43How to Change Your Cursor Picture 43
    Click Unknown on the left menu. You can add your custom cursor design here.
  4. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 44How to Change Your Cursor Picture 44
    Click the Type drop-down. This will open a list of all the different cursor types and functions you can customize.
  5. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 45How to Change Your Cursor Picture 45
    Select Arrow in the drop-down. When this option is selected, you can change your pointer cursor arrow's design.
  6. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 46How to Change Your Cursor Picture 46
    Drag and drop your downloaded ".cur" cursor design to the "1x" box. Find the ".cur" custom cursor you downloaded on your computer, and drag it to the "1x" box at the bottom of the Mousecape editing window.
    1. The new cursor design will now show up in the "1x" box here.
    2. Optionally, you can change the numbers in the "Size" box here, and adjust your custom cursor's size.
  7. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 47How to Change Your Cursor Picture 47
    Click the red close button on the top-left of the editing window. You will be asked if you want to save changes to your new design.
  8. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 48How to Change Your Cursor Picture 48
    Click Save in the pop-up. This will save your new cursor design to Mousecape.
    1. You can now apply this new cursor, and start using it any time you want.
Method 7 of 7:

Using Mousecape

  1. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 49How to Change Your Cursor Picture 49
    Find the cursor you want to use in the Mousecape window. All your custom cursors are saved and listed here.
    1. Once you create a custom cursor design, it's saved in Mousecape. You can always go back and switch between different cursors any time you want.
  2. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 50How to Change Your Cursor Picture 50
    Right-click a cursor entry in the Mousecape window. You will see your right-click options on a drop-down menu.
  3. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 51How to Change Your Cursor Picture 51
    Click Apply on the right-click menu. This will instantly change your cursor to the selected design.
  4. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 52How to Change Your Cursor Picture 52
    Click File on the menu bar. This will open a drop-down menu.
  5. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 53How to Change Your Cursor Picture 53
    Click New Cape on menu. This will create a new, blank "Unnamed" entry in the Mousecape window.
  6. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 54How to Change Your Cursor Picture 54
    Right-click the new "Unnamed" cursor entry. This will open your options on a right-click menu.
  7. How to Change Your Cursor Picture 55How to Change Your Cursor Picture 55
    Click Apply on the right-click menu. This will switch your cursor to Mac's default design.
    1. You can also right-click a cursor entry here, and select Remove to delete the selected design from your computer.
4.2 ★ | 6 Vote
cursorclickmenuopen

You should read it

Maybe you are interested

Hardware