tl;dr

Logitech’s software that allows you to customize your extra mouse buttons is a waste of time and space. All it does is crash on my work laptop, and with it goes my side buttons. Save yourself the trouble.

On Windows:

Don’t install it. Your side buttons will work by default. Read below for some advanced button bindings that you can try with Autohotkey.

On MacOS:

Don’t install it. Install SaneSideButtons instead to enable the side buttons. Your horizontal scroll will work by default.

I hate Logi Options+

Mice are mice, I will not download a half-gig app to enable my forward and back buttons.¹

With my (Windows) work laptop, I have a Logitech MX Master 3, which has a bunch of neat extra buttons that can be used to do things, but only if you install Logi Options+.

I tried to live with Logi Options+. It would sometimes (no, often) crash. It’s up in the air if it’s because of Options+ software, or the HP laptop, or from the company managed Windows install, but other stuff doesn’t crash very often, which makes Options+’s (in)stability notable. This doesn’t sound like it’d be too bad - maybe you’d lose some advanced logic - but actually, since Logi Options+ handles the back and forward buttons (and I believe side-scroll, I can’t remember too well), when Options+ crashes, my mouse decides that it’s effectively downgraded itself to 3-button mouse, at least until you re-open their app.

This is to say nothing of the intended behavior of Options+.

It asks you to sign in (reminder: it’s a mouse?!). There’s an AI feature that just pulls up a ChatGPT text box when you accidentally press down on the thumb rest. Lastly, with how big the app is, you’d think you could do literally any kind of fancy logic with your buttons.

For example, it has these profiles that can switch based on which app you have focused (I’m sure Options+ probably phones this information home), that can change things like sensitivity, what the side buttons do, and what the side-scroll is mapped to. For the complexity here, you’d think I’d also be able to do some relatively interesting things with all the extra buttons.

Computer users are pretty adaptable. Plenty of people have figured out how to hold Ctrl and C to copy, and Ctrl and V to paste. How about for your mouse? Imagine using one of those side buttons as a modifier key. For example, if I hold the back button and scroll, wouldn’t something like adjusting the volume be neat? However, since this feature doesn’t justify Options+ the excuse to collect more information for which to sell to advertisers, nor can it be bucketed as an ‘AI enabled’ feature, the work was likely put off for more stockholder-friendly priorities.

Since I’m not currently employed by Logitech, I was able to make these custom actions a reality by using Autohotkey.

Just make a text file and save it as a ‘.ahk’, so Autohotkey will run it. For convenience, create a shortcut to the file and place the shortcut in your Startup folder. You can find that folder by running shell:startup in the file explorer address bar, or in the Run dialog box.

Autohotkey Script

; uses the mouse side buttons to control common actions such as volume, undo/redo, and copy/paste


#NoEnv	; good idea
#InstallKeybdHook
SendMode Input	;
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%	; good for start directory


; volume control while holding back and scrolling
XButton1 & WheelUP::Send {Volume_Up}
XButton1 & WheelDown::Send {Volume_Down}

; copy/cut/paste while holding forward and clicking
XButton2 & LButton::Send ^c
XButton2 & MButton::Send ^x
XButton2 & RButton::Send ^v

; undo/redo while holding back and clicking
XButton1 & RButton::Send ^z
XButton1 & LButton::Send ^+y

; makes the side buttons work
; (assigning an '&' action would otherwise stop the side buttons from performing their default actino)
XButton1::Send {XButton1}
XButton2::Send {XButton2}

So, I’ve uninstalled Options+, which has freed up considerable space, lowered the active memory usage, and made my mouse more consistent to use for work. On Windows, the forward and back buttons, and the side scroll bar work just fine without having installed Options+ any way.

On my personal laptop, I have a Logitech MX Master. The side buttons technically work, but they’re both mapped to left click. Learning my lesson from Logi Options, I have installed SaneSideButtons. It took 20 seconds. The app weighs 700kb. My side buttons work now. This is how all software should be.

I know that Options+ is not meant for everyone, and it’s not inherently terrible software. It handles mice, and keyboards, and webcams, and laser pointers, and every other thing Logitech sells. However, when you only have one device from Logitech, using it to get your back and forward buttons working feels like driving a school bus just to drop off a letter to the post office.

¹ MacOS specific. Have not tried on any Linux distro.