General settings
The General page holds the settings that apply to every gesture and every action: which buttons draw gestures, when a gesture starts and ends, what happens when one matches, the safety hotkey, AutoHotkey, startup, and where the configuration file is. Changes take effect when you choose Apply or Save and close.
Finding a setting
- The filter box ① shows only the rows whose label or description contains every word you type (case doesn't matter). "No settings match the filter." appears when nothing does.
- All / Changed ② narrows the page to the rows you changed from their defaults. In Advanced mode a third choice, Advanced only, shows only the rows Simple mode hides. The count beside it ("2 changed") counts the rows that differ from their defaults.
- The changed dot ③: a row whose value differs from its default has a dot beside its label ("Changed from its default").
- Each row is one line; its description opens from the chevron beside it and shows on the label's tooltip.
Advanced mode. The Fine-tuning and Config file cards, and several rows in the other cards, are hidden in Simple mode. A banner at the foot of the page counts them and says when one holds a non-default value. The tables below mark them "Advanced".
Some settings that belong with these are on the pages where they are used:
| Setting | Page |
|---|---|
| Match threshold, stroke smoothing quality and the other gesture matching settings | Gestures, Settings tab (Gesture library) |
| Text expansion on or off, and expanding on Space, Tab or Enter | Text expansion, Settings tab (Text expansion) |
| Timeouts and limits for running actions | Scripts (Script settings) |
| Recording and replay settings | Recorder, Settings tab (Macro recorder) |
| Console and engine fonts | Console (Console) |
| Theme and language | Appearance (Appearance) |
| How long a password is remembered | Security (Security) |
Starting a gesture
| Setting | What it does | Default | Range | Mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw buttons | The mouse buttons that start a gesture: Left button, Right button, Middle button, Side button 1, Side button 2, in any combination. The left button is unusual but valid, for example for a pen or tablet with no separate second button. With none chosen, the mouse draws no gestures, and Input.Observer watches the mouse only if something else needs it (such as a mouse global event). | Right button | Any combination | Simple |
| Ignored modifier keys | Holding any of these keys when you press a draw button makes that press an ordinary click or drag: no gesture starts. See Modifiers and timing. | Ctrl | Ctrl, Shift, Alt, in any combination | Simple |
| Minimum gesture movement | How far the pointer must move with a draw button held before the press counts as a gesture. A shorter movement is passed on as a normal click — for example, a right-click still opens the window's menu. At 0, the slightest movement makes it a gesture. | 5 px | 0–200 px | Advanced |
| Wheel modifier window | A wheel turn this soon before you press a draw button counts as part of the gesture, the way a key held before it does. | 500 ms | 0–10000 ms | Advanced |
When Windows has the left and right mouse buttons switched, a note on this card says so. The names here follow Windows: Right button is the button that opens context menus, which is the physical left button on your mouse.
Ending a gesture
| Setting | What it does | Default | Range | Mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cancel timeout | Cancels a gesture you are still drawing after this long without input, and hands the button press to the window under the pointer. Switched off, a gesture stays open until you release the button. At 0, every gesture is cancelled the moment it starts, so no gesture can be drawn. An app group can set its own value (App groups). | On, 500 ms | 0–10000 ms | Simple |
| Drawing extends the cancel timeout | While on, any mouse or keyboard input during a gesture starts the cancel timeout again, so the timeout only ends a gesture when the pointer stays still. Off, the whole gesture must be finished within the cancel timeout, counted from the press — a slow gesture is cut off while you are still drawing it; the row warns about this. | On | On or off | Advanced |
| Maximum gesture duration | Ends a gesture still being drawn after this long, even while you keep drawing. It exists for the rare case where the button release never reaches Input.Observer (for example, the release happened on the Windows sign-in screen): until a gesture ends, Input.Observer holds back your keys and other buttons. 0 means no limit. | 10000 ms | 0–600000 ms | Advanced |
When a gesture matches
| Setting | What it does | Default | Mode |
|---|---|---|---|
| Activate the window under the gesture | Brings the window you drew over to the front before its action runs, so anything the action types goes there. Mouse gestures only. | On | Simple |
| Fall back to Global | When an app group has nothing for a gesture, hotkey or typed text, or doesn't apply in the active profile, the Global group's actions are tried. Each app group can also turn this off for itself. Off, no group ever falls back, and a window that belongs to no app group gets no actions at all. See Scope and fallback. | On | Simple |
Fine-tuning
Advanced mode. The whole Fine-tuning card is hidden in Simple mode.
| Setting | What it does | Default | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Release keys let go during a gesture | Keyboard input is held back while you draw a gesture. If a key that was already down is let go during the gesture, its release is sent afterwards, so the window doesn't think the key is still held. | On | On or off |
| Remember each window's program | Looks up which program a window belongs to once, so app groups that match a program name or path don't slow clicks and keystrokes down. Remembers up to 32 windows. It changes speed only, never which app group a window gets. | On | On or off |
| Wheel throttle | The least time between two wheel-tick global events of the same kind, Vertical and Horizontal separately. The same values are on the Global events page (Global events). 0 means no throttle. | 0 ms, 0 ms | 0–60000 ms each |
Scripts & actions
| Setting | What it does | Default | Range | Mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop all actions hotkey | Stops every running action, including a stuck one, then switches off gestures, hotkeys, text expansion, timers, folder watches and serial monitors until you choose Reload Config from the tray menu. Works even while a gesture, a recording or gesture training is in progress. The switch turns the hotkey off; the key combination is kept. The combination must include Ctrl, Alt or the Windows key. | On, Ctrl+Shift+Alt+F9 | — | Simple |
| Enable AutoHotkey | Lets actions run as AutoHotkey scripts (Action engines). Off by default: turning it on lets Input.Observer start an AutoHotkey program you choose. | Off | On or off | Simple |
| AutoHotkey executable | The AutoHotkey v2 program, chosen with Browse…. "Not set" until you choose one. Disabled while AutoHotkey is off. The builds whose name ends in _UIA (such as AutoHotkey64_UIA.exe) can't run scripts for Input.Observer; choose the plain build, such as AutoHotkey64.exe. | Not set | — | Simple |
| Windows notifications | Lets actions show Windows notifications (the Show a notification step). Showing one needs a Start menu shortcut for Input.Observer, which it creates the first time if setup didn't; turning this off also stops it from adding that shortcut. | On | On or off | Simple |
The stop-all hotkey
Press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+F9 (or the combination you chose) when an action runs away. Everything stops and stays off until you choose Reload Config from the tray menu, which starts gestures, hotkeys and the rest again with your configuration as saved. If Windows or another program already uses the combination, Input.Observer shows "Configuration Warning" at startup and runs without it; choose a different combination here.
If AutoHotkey is on but the chosen program can't be found when Input.Observer starts or reloads its configuration, it asks whether to browse for it or leave it; AutoHotkey actions don't run until it's fixed.
Startup
| Setting | What it does | Default | Range | Mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start with Windows | Starts Input.Observer when you sign in to Windows. Saved with the rest of the page; it is stored in Windows, not in your configuration file, so it is never exported or imported. | Chosen during setup (on unless you cleared it) | On or off | Simple |
| Splash screen duration | The shortest time the splash screen shows when Input.Observer starts. The splash always appears, even briefly: while it is the active window, Windows lets Input.Observer give other programs (the configuration window, plugins, your actions) permission to bring their windows to the front. At 0 it shows only while startup work runs. | 1000 ms | 0–10000 ms | Advanced |
Config file
Advanced mode. The Config file card is hidden in Simple mode.
Effective config file shows the configuration file the running engine actually uses, with "(redirected)" after it when the usual file points to another one, and whether it is Encrypted or Plain text. Reveal opens File Explorer with the file selected. To change where the configuration lives, see The configuration file.