microsoft / microsoft/PowerToys

Feature Request Mouse Pointer Crosshairs: Screen Edge "Indices"/"Notches"

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#49,005 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Needs-Triage Product-Mouse Pointer Crosshairs
Dominant language
C
Stars
139k
Forks
8.6k
PR merge metrics
PR metrics pending

Description

### Description of the new feature / enhancement

My suggestion builds on the request you have received in #45717 which specifies a "bound to edge" crosshair. I have fleshed out and mocked up the parameters and different options whether the crosshairs from the edge are "indexed to edge" or if they should "extend to pointer". The other user referenced this as the "fixed" or "dynamic" option.

These would have a similar parameterization as the existing feature, except instead of "emerging from" the pointer, these would either "index" the pointer at a fixed length from the edge or they would "extend" to the pointer. These could be parameterized as follows:

- Crosshair edge tick marks (toggle)
- Crosshair edge tick style
- Index
- distance from edge limit (px)
- Extend
- distance from pointer limit (px)
- Asymmetric Index
- distance from edge limit horizontal (px)
- distance from edge limit vertical (px)
- Asymmetric Extend
- distance from pointer horizontal (px)
- distance from pointer vertical (px)

I have mocked up this proposal below.

green: "index" style
red: "extend" style
blue: existing crosshairs

Image

I placed arrowheads to demonstrate the conceptual "direction" the lines are being generated. As programmed this would all be the same x line and y line on screen and simply be defining what portions are shown and whether to index the length calculation based on the edge position or the pointer position.

### Scenario when this would be used?

**Accessibility:**
- Visually impaired
- aging users

**Professional:**
- designers
- architects, engineers, CAD
- artists, graphic designers

**Unmet Needs:**
- large screens
- high resolution screens

Suggestion #45717 existing shows that there is already a desire for this type of functionality. We are making this suggestion based on very similar professional use case needs.

**High Resolution & Ultra Wides (Asymmetric use-case):**
If a fixed length from the edges, on an ultrawide monitor the horizontal crosshairs might end up being difficult if they do not sufficiently extend across the width of the screen. It would be nice to have a toggle which controls if the tick mark lengths are equal in length or extend to a fix distance from the pointer.

### Supporting information

Thank y'all for developing the mouse crosshair feature, I absolutely love it. I do a lot of detailed work in Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and some 3D programs and being able to visualize whether I am clicking in direct alignment with elements across the screen is absolutely fabulous.

I also use the tool to help me locate my mouse/cursor on my HiDP and multiple monitor setup. I had already turned my mouse bright lime green and increased it's size, however this has the unintended impact of blocking me from reading file popup annotations and block small text under the mouse. With crosshairs, I never have an issue.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

No source files, tests, or entry points are identified in the issue. Start by reviewing the existing mouse crosshair feature and related request #45717, then clarify the edge-index and pointer-extend behavior, configuration options, and acceptance criteria before implementation.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
c
Domain
desktop
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
38/100

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