Everyone knows gaming mice and keyboards can make you barrel through fast-paced games with peak efficiency.

But with all those buttons and macros, they can actually help you work smarter, too.

Heres why I swear by them.

Why Use Gaming Peripherals?

Weve recommended a number of ways to automate tasks over the years.

AutoHotkey is excellent for mapping your own hotkeys.

With TextExpander, you canautomatically fill in blocks of text with just a few keys.

On their own, these tools are incredibly usefulbut witha gaming keyboardandmouse, they become even more powerful.

Because these peripherals weremadeto automate tasks.

Sure, they were designed for games, but they work just as well with normal work, too.

With a gaming keyboard, Ive got twelve new buttons that can do whatever I want.

With theG600I gotanothertwelve buttons I could press without moving taking my hands off the mouse.

When it comes to basic automation, however, Logitechs mouse and keyboard software is even easier.

LogitechsGaming Softwarehas many features RazersSynapsedoesnt, but theyre both worthwhile outside of video games.

Most mice have two, maybe three buttons that are all programmed for something.

Mine has twelve extra buttons that I can map to anything.

This is handy for commonly used shortcuts, or just for making complicated shortcuts easier to access.

Heres how to do it on Logitechs software:

pop kick open the Logitech Gaming Software app.

Choose the gear you want to program and pick the set of buttons.

Hover over the button you want to program, opt for dropdown menu and select Edit.

In the left-side pane, choose Keystroke (this may already be selected).

With your cursor in the first box, press Ctrl+Tab.

If youre using Razers software, heres how to do it:

bring up the Synapse software.

hit the tab for the gadget you want to modify (in this case, Mouse).

pick the button you want to program.

For some buttons, you may need to select left or right side view.

Choose Keyboard Function from the dropdown menu.

Press Ctrl+Tab to bind the shortcut to your mouse button and click Save.

Repeat steps 3-5 for Ctrl+Shift+Tab.

Now it’s possible for you to change tabs with just your mouse hand.

Of course, you could always map these shortcuts to your extra buttons on the keyboard as well.

Choose whatever works best for you!

you’re free to automateall kinds of taskswith simple scripts.

For example, Ive created a button thatempties the Recycle Bin.

In the left-side pane, choose Function.

Then, browse to find the executable file you want to launch.

Heres how to do the same thing in Razers software:

fire up the Synapse app.

go for the tab for the gear you want to modify.

go for the button you want to program.

From the dropdown menu, select Launch Program.

Razer doesnt have a method of selecting commonly used apps like Logitech does.

Both are handy options.

For my use, its extremely quick.

While inconvenient, Alt+F4 is hard to press on purpose.

Its not that I dont have repetitive tasks I could automate.

The Logitech software makes it stupid easy to record repetitive actions.

Theres a dedicated button on most keyboard models to record actions.

Perform the action you want to record as you normally would.

Press MR again to save the macro.

Razer keyboards have similar functionality, though without the dedicated macro recording button.

Instead, you could initiate on-the-fly recording by pressing Fn+F9.

To do this, run with this:

On the Razer keyboard, press Fn+F9.

Perform the action you want to record as you normally would.

Press Fn+F9 again to save the macro.

Press the programmable key you want to save the macro to.

It couldnt get much simpler.

I use this method for a lot of simple formatting tasks.

For example, on many Lifehacker articles, we have photo credits at the bottom.

The only thing I need to do then is change the name.

It would be easier to just press one button and past the whole thing.

Fortunately, Logitechs app has the ability to paste text blocks.

Heres how it works:

Launch the Logitech Gaming Software.

opt for machine you want to program and select set of buttons.

In the left-side pane, choose Text Block.

Write or paste the text you want to assign to the button under put in your text.

Give this shortcut a name under Name.

Optional: Enable Use Unicode playback for any special characters.

After youve created your text block, open up Notepad and give it a try.

Unfortunately, Razer doesnt have the ability to save entire blocks of text.

However, text expanders are always an option.