Mouse Utlities Feature Request: Add feature for always-on mouse highlighter to the Mouse Utilities

[efav]

Description of the new feature / enhancement

Idea is to add a new feature to Mouse Utilities to allow for an always-on highlighter with mouse clicks optional.

In the settings, amended options would under appearance and behavior:

• highlight always on
• highlight only with mouse button press
• both

When always-on is selected, feature is activated with the existing toggle or existing keyboard shortcut.
Another color selector for this always-on feature, would also be needed.

Scenario when this would be used?

Premise

Following a mouse during any screenshare is a difficult task. Frames drop, white mouse on white backgrounds, etc.. The ability to follow the mouse is critical to many demonstrations. The ability to do this would be useful not only during a live screenshare, but also a recorded one.

Scenario 1

Imagine a mouse having a yellow aura during your screenshare, and when you click it flashes red and when you right-click it flashes blue. People can follow your mouse as you move it, and you can indicate where people should be looking on the screen without having to click on text.

Scenario 2

In PowerPoint, the mouse can become a laser pointer, performing the same purpose.;allowing people to see where the mouse is during presentations. Only this feature could do something similar for windows as a whole, not just PowerPoint. If people want a laser pointer of type, they could use a radius of 4 px, 100% opacity, and a color of red (for example), to turn the tip of the mouse into a laser pointer of type.

Workarounds

Right now, there's only workarounds, which come with their own pros and cons:

• The most customizable utility I found was https://sites.google.com/site/boisvertlab/computer-stuff/online-teaching/cursor-highlighter-changelog. While great free software, IMHO, this has pros and cons. Using autohotkey is not allowed in some organizations.
• Using the native mouse utilities of finding the mouse, using a mouse trail or the ctrl key. These look awful during a congested screenshare. However, neither require someone to click the mouse. Both can be used to find the mouse on the screen without clicking on something.
• The Microsoft store has a utility that may scratch the itch for some: https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/mouse-pointer-highlight/9P7SB9S4RQ7Z?hl=en-us&gl=us Many companies block access to the Microsoft store.
• The crosshairs PowerToy, while it could fit some needs, is distracting when on for the duration of a screenshare/presentation.
• Lastly, some may use the Find My Mouse powertoy, as a makeshift version of this feature request. Under presentation circumstances, it could require a lot of double-taps on the control key, but could work.

Fun fact: Depending on your screenshare software, increasing your mouse size, doesn't show through the screenshare software. I went to the largest mouse cursor I could, and while enormous for me, my coworkers only saw the regular-sized mouse. I tested each of these workarounds. The best workaround from this list was the first one. However, I am already using the PowerToys video conference mute , and don't want to install a new software for every missing feature.

Some might say it's a workaround to change the mouse cursor to one that includes a highlight as part of the cursor. However, in some screensharing software, colored mouse cursors, still appear as a white mouse within the screenshare. This wouldn't be a workaround for all people.

Supporting information

Web Search for "mouse highlighter", "cursor highlighter", "show mouse during screenshare", and you'll find blogs, youtubes, and more with people listing these and some other solutions. It points to the pervasiveness of a need, and the lack of a good, easy solution.

This is a great recap of some discussion had between people looking for the same thing:
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams/highlight-cursor-during-presentations/m-p/1602118

Showing clicks is great. Show me the mouse moving on the screen before the click. "Where are you looking?" "Oh, there?" "What are you reading on that page right now?"

Ultimately, a lot is accomplished by implementing this feature. It addresses a need in remote work that everyone just deals with, instead of being the best presenter they can be.

Looking through prior requests, this seems to be similar to what's being requesting in Issue 22818: #22818. It was vague in spots, so I thought it best to submit this.

[crutkas]

/dup #14137

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

Hi! We've identified this issue as a duplicate of another one that already exists on this Issue Tracker. This specific instance is being closed in favor of tracking the concern over on the referenced thread. Thanks for your report!