Linux – Arch Linux KDE: How to get the mouse pointer / cursor to highlight

accessibilityarch linuxcursorkdeplasma

I'm running a current version of Arch Linux (KDE) on a Dell laptop.

When I press the Meta key (with the Microsoft logo) it brings up the application launcher menu+. So it's not a dead key. And Ctrl works as expected.

However, Ctrl+Meta does not highlight the pointer / cursor position, nor does clicking the mouse animate anything, despite having both "Mouse Click Animation" and "Track Mouse" checked in the Systems Settings / Desktop Effects configuration, and confirming that the key binding for "Track Mouse" has both "Ctrl" and "Meta" checked.

I tried a variety of other finger-yoga contortions, but was unable to locate whatever magic combination would work.

Is there some common application or setting that might be overriding the above? (I don't believe I'm running anything especially peculiar enough to override KDE / Plasma.0

Best Answer

I use KDE version 5.6 and in order for mouse tracking to work I actually need to do the following:

  • Go to the System settings.
  • search "Track mouse", it should be in the "Desktop effects" submenu.
  • Enable it by ticking the checkbox.
  • Mouse over the Track mouse and then click on the "configure" which should appear as settings icon on the left.
  • As shortcut, I have unchecked "meta" and everything else. Then I clicked "none" to set a shortcut. Then I pressed the F12 key. Then I clicked OK.

If it still does not work, then in System Settings, search for "compositor" and enable it. It happened to me that it was disabled automatically because it crashed.

That's it.

The screenshot is an example which uses different keys.

This is the settings screen:

Here is how the settings look for me

Cursor is highlighted like this:

highlighted cursor

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