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  • What Can I Tweak on my PC to Make it Left Handed Friendly?

What Can I Tweak on my PC to Make it Left Handed Friendly?

May 10, 2022 / Dave Taylor / Windows PC Help / No Comments

I’m giving my Windows 11 PC to my cousin. I already know how to remove my personal info, but are there any tweaks I can make so it works better for her since she’s left-handed?

There aren’t a lot of changes needed to adapt a PC from right-handed to left-handed, honestly. Your cousin still reads left-to-right which seems to have more impact on the on-screen user interface than which is your dominant hand. For example, moving the Start Menu to the right corner of the Taskbar would just be weird and undoubtedly confusing. There are still a few tweaks you can make, however, but I would recommend you let her know you’ve made the changes!

There are, however, quite a lot of accessibility features and options with Windows that might be worth exploring if she has any motor or sensory issues. Microsoft has a great introduction to all of them here: Introduction to Windows Accessibility Features.

But let’s get back to those left-handed features!

FINDING WINDOWS PC CHANGES FOR SOUTHPAWS

The easiest way to see what options there are is to search for “left” in Settings:

windows pc left handed southpaw settings tweaks - results

As you can see, you can change mouse buttons and stylus orientation, but that’s about it. Let’s check out both (along with the Taskbar)…

HOW TO CHANGE MOUSE BUTTONS FOR LEFT HANDED USERS

Choose “Change the primary button on your mouse” and you’ll get here:

windows pc left handed southpaw settings tweaks - left handed mouse buttons

The default is for a right-handed button layout on a mouse, hence the description of ‘click’ versus ‘right click’; change the “Primary mouse button” from left to right and those two switch. Every time she reads about a “right-click” she’ll have to reverse it as a left-click!

Easily done. Now, what about that stylus control?

CHANGE PC STYLUS FOR LEFT HANDED USE

Choose “whether you are right or left handed” from the Settings search results or just jump into Bluetooth & devices > Pen & Windows Ink:

windows pc left handed southpaw settings tweaks - pen and windows stylus left right

This might be more important for your cousin than the mouse buttons, actually. Choose “Left” or “Right” and it’s ready to go.

One more tweak, though it’s not really about left or right handedness:

HOW TO MOVE TASKBAR ICONS TO THE LEFT SIDE

I admit, your cousin isn’t going to find this better than the default, but in Windows 11 you can now decide if you want your Taskbar “aligned” to the left or centered, as it is by default.

What do I mean? Go to Personalization > Taskbar and you’ll see this:

windows pc left handed southpaw settings tweaks - taskbar icons left center

Most importantly, notice the Taskbar with its Win11 signature icons centered along the bottom. Change that Taskbar alignment from “Center” to “Left”, however, and it changes rather dramatically:

windows pc left handed southpaw settings tweaks - left aligned taskbar icons

All the icons rush to the left edge and the Start Menu button finally appears in the correct spot for us old-school PC users.

That’s it. Not a lot of left-handed changes, as I said, but hopefully these will help your cousin love the PC you’re poised to give her. Good luck!

Power Tip: I’ve been writing about Windows for many years and have an extensive Windows Windows 11 help area. Please check it out to find lots of additional tutorials and guides while you’re here. Thanks!

About the Author: Dave Taylor has been involved with the online world since the early days of the Internet. Author of over 20 technical books, he runs the popular AskDaveTaylor.com tech help site. You can also find his gadget reviews on YouTube and chat with him on Twitter as @DaveTaylor.

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Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!
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