If you are looking to use YouTube without a mouse, this article is for you. In this guide, we’ll go beyond the usual keyboard shortcuts provided by YouTube.
I spend a good chunk of my free time on YouTube on my laptop. Naturally, I end up doing a lot of scrolling, searching, skipping, speeding up videos, and a whole lot of other small tasks that YouTube browsing requires.
But after a while, I started noticing how much time (and energy) I was losing by constantly switching between the keyboard and mouse or trackpad. That repetitive movement wasn’t just slowing me down — it was getting tiring, too.
It started feeling like every time I reached for the mouse, it was just one more unnecessary step.
That’s when I decided to figure out how to use YouTube without a mouse. It turned out that YouTube’s native keyboard shortcuts could handle a surprising amount, allowing me to do things like scrolling, adjusting volume, and playing with playback speed.
If you’re ready to streamline your YouTube experience too, I’ll walk you through how to make YouTube fully keyboard-friendly.
A little later in this article, I’ll share an incredibly handy tool that lets you click on videos, subscribe or unsubscribe, and open the comments section using just your keyboard—no mouse required.
Also read: Awesome Arc Browser Tips and Tricks
Using YouTube Without a Mouse
The first step is to master YouTube’s built-in keyboard shortcuts. When you’re on YouTube on a laptop or desktop, you can press ? (by hitting Shift + /) to bring up a list of all available shortcuts. It’s like having a cheat sheet for quick navigation.
This is the cheatsheet for YouTube shortcuts:
Quickly Access the Search Bar
One of the handiest shortcuts, which oddly isn’t listed in YouTube’s official shortcut guide, is / (the forward slash key). Pressing / jumps straight to the search bar, so you can start typing your search right away.
👉 This / shortcut for focusing the search box is pretty popular across websites. You’ll find it works on platforms like Google and Twitter, too — it’s worth trying out on other sites as well!
Other YouTube shortcuts are listed here:
Playback
- Toggle play/pause:
k - Rewind 10 seconds:
j - Fast forward 10 seconds:
l - Previous video:
P(SHIFT + p) - Next video:
N(SHIFT + n) - Previous frame (while paused):
, - Next frame (while paused):
. - Decrease playback rate:
<(SHIFT + ,) - Increase playback rate:
>(SHIFT + .) - Seek to a specific point in the video (e.g.,
7advances to 70% of duration):0..9 - Seek to previous chapter:
OPTION + ← - Seek to next chapter:
OPTION + →
General
- Toggle full screen:
f - Toggle theater mode:
t - Toggle miniplayer:
i - Close miniplayer or current dialogue:
ESCAPE - Toggle mute:
m
Subtitles and Closed Captions
- Toggle captions ON/OFF (if available):
c - Rotate through different text opacity levels:
o - Rotate through different window opacity levels:
w - Increase font size:
+ - Decrease font size:
-
Spherical Videos
- Pan up:
w - Pan left:
a - Pan down:
s - Pan right:
d - Zoom in:
+on numpad or] - Zoom out:
-on numpad or[
Here’s the pdf containing all these shortcuts:
Feel free to download the PDF, print it out, and keep it near your laptop for easy access.
Also read: Awesome Excalidraw Keyboard Shortcuts (With Printable Pdf)
How to click YouTube videos and links without a mouse
YouTube’s built-in keyboard shortcuts are handy, but they only cover the basics for controlling the video you’re watching. You can pause, rewind, adjust playback speed, or turn on captions, but when it comes to navigating the rest of the site, these shortcuts fall short.
You still can’t do things like click on videos to play, subscribe or unsubscribe without the mouse, jump to the top or bottom of the site, or search for videos on the page without reaching for the mouse.
That’s where this section comes in. There’s a browser extension that lets you handle almost any browsing task — from clicking links and navigating back and forth, to managing bookmarks, tabs, and your browsing history. You can even copy URLs or search through open tabs, all without lifting your hand off the keyboard.
The extension is called Vimium which is based on the VIM editor, a keyboard-only text editor. Its still extremely popular in the developer community despite being so old.
What’s even better? This extension doesn’t just work on YouTube; it’s works across all websites and with all browsers, including Chrome, Edge, Opera, Firefox, and Safari. The best part is it’s completely free and open-source. The philosophy behind it date back nearly 50 years, designed back when computer mice didn’t even exist!
(There’s also a similar extension named Vimium C, but Vimium itself stands out for its clean, user-friendly design, so I’d recommend that you install the Vimium itself.)
Once you’ve added the extension to your browser, refresh your YouTube page, and you’ll unlock a whole new way to browse. Try pressing f, and you’ll see labels pop up on every clickable thing on your screen:
Just type the label’s letters to simulate a click—it’s that easy! You’ve just selected a YouTube video without needing a mouse or trackpad.
Also read: How to Open Multiple Apps with Raycast in One Click
Likewise, you can subscribe or unsubscribe, bring up comments, scroll super fast, and even copy a video’s link for sharing, all using just your keyboard. No need to reach for the mouse every time.
I’ve dived deep into this extension in my guide on how to navigate your browser without a mouse. Check it out if you’re keen!