Tiny, portable Windows tray app
Put your keyboard shortcuts on your mouse.
Clicklet maps mouse buttons 4 and 5 to any shortcut you like: Ctrl+Enter, Ctrl+C, Win+Shift+S. One native app, an optional config file, no ads, no tracking. Free and open source.
Windows x64 376 KB Portable MIT All releases
Run it. Nothing to set up.
With no config file, button 5 sends Ctrl+Enter. Want something else? Put Clicklet.ini next to the executable.
[Mapping]
Button4=ctrl+c
Button5=ctrl+v- That’s the whole config. Up to two mappings, one shortcut per button.
- Leave a button out. It keeps its normal behavior.
- Edits apply on restart. Invalid settings are reported at startup.
Narrow on purpose.
One job
- Mouse buttons 4 and 5
- Each gets one keyboard shortcut
- The original click is swallowed when mapped
- Never remaps left, right or middle click
Small by design
- One native app, 376 KB
- Unzip and run, nothing to install
- Zero CPU when idle
Private by design
- No network connections
- No telemetry, no logging
- No file or registry writes
- Source is one C++ file, open to inspect
Supported shortcuts
One key, with or without modifiers.
Anything that fits this shape can go on a button.
Any mix of these, or none at all
Exactly one, from the list below
Keys you can send
- Letters
- A–Z
- Digits
- 0–9
- Function
- F1–F24
- Editing
- Enter, Tab, Esc, Space, Backspace, Delete, Insert
- Navigation
- Home, End, Page Up, Page Down, and the four arrow keys
Written in Clicklet.ini
ctrl+enterone modifierctrl+shift+vtwo modifierswin+shift+sWin counts as a modifierf5no modifier at all
People who press the same shortcuts all day.
Put them on buttons 4 and 5.
- Claude Code: approve a request Ctrl+Enter
- Claude Code: cycle permission mode Shift+Tab
- AI tools your pick
- Gmail and Outlook: send Ctrl+Enter
- JupyterLab: run the selected cell Ctrl+Enter
- Copilot in VS Code: accept the suggestion Tab
- Close a tab Ctrl+W
- Reopen the closed tab Ctrl+Shift+T
- Teams: mute or unmute Ctrl+Shift+M
- Screenshot a region Win+Shift+S
Specs
Clicklet 1.0.0.
- Platform
- Windows, x64
- Tested on
- Windows 11
- Size
- 376 KB, one file
- Language
- C++ / Win32
- Dependencies
- None to install
- Install
- Portable
- Admin
- Not required
- Config
- Optional
Clicklet.ini - Mappings
- Up to 2
- Startup
- Not automatic
- Price
- Free
- Code license
- MIT
Frequently Asked Questions
Which buttons can I map?
Mouse buttons 4 and 5, the two side buttons. One shortcut each, so two mappings at most. Left, right and middle click are never touched.
Does my Back button still work?
A mapped button sends its shortcut instead of its normal click. Buttons 4 and 5 are Back and Forward by Windows convention, so once you map one, it stops going back or forward. A button you leave unmapped is untouched.
What can a button send?
One key, optionally combined with Ctrl, Alt, Shift or Win. Supported keys are letters, digits, F1–F24, Enter, Tab, Esc, Space, Backspace, Delete, Insert, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down and the arrow keys. No macros, key sequences, media or volume keys, and no per-app profiles.
Will it work with my mouse?
If Windows reports your side buttons as buttons 4 and 5, yes. Mouse-vendor software can intercept them before Clicklet sees them.
Does it work on Windows 10?
Clicklet 1.0.0 was built and tested on Windows 11, x64. It hasn’t been tested on Windows 10, so we can’t tell you either way.
Does it work in apps running as administrator?
No. Clicklet doesn’t ask for admin rights, and Windows won’t let it send input to windows that have them.
How is this different from AutoHotkey?
Clicklet isn’t a scripting system. There’s no scripting language and no script to maintain. At most two lines in a text file, or no file at all.
How is this different from PowerToys?
PowerToys Keyboard Manager remaps keyboard keys and shortcuts. Clicklet does one thing: mouse buttons 4 and 5 to keyboard shortcuts.
Do I need my mouse maker’s software?
No. Clicklet works without a mouse-vendor configuration suite. It’s one small portable app.
Where are my settings?
In Clicklet.ini next to the executable, if you made one. Clicklet only reads it, and picks up edits when you restart it. If the first line isn’t recognized, save the file without a BOM.
Can I turn it off for a moment?
Uncheck Enabled in the tray menu. The tray icon has a separate disabled version, so you can see the state at a glance. Clicklet starts enabled every time it runs.
Does it start with Windows?
Not by itself. Put a shortcut to Clicklet.exe in shell:startup.
Why does Windows warn me on first run?
The executable isn’t code-signed, so SmartScreen flags it as unrecognised.
Does it send or write anything?
No network connections, no telemetry, no logging. Clicklet never writes files or registry entries. It only reads the optional Clicklet.ini. The source is one C++ file if you want to check.
How do I uninstall it?
Exit it from the tray menu and delete the files. Nothing was installed and nothing was written outside the folder.