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[MouseUtils] Implement MouseScrollRemap for horizontal scrolling (Fixes #44137)

Open navuxneeth opened this issue 2 months ago • 3 comments

Summary of the Pull Request

This PR implements a new PowerToys module, MouseScrollRemap, which addresses the inconsistency in horizontal scrolling behavior between different applications.

Many applications (Chrome, JetBrains, GIMP) use Shift + MouseWheel for horizontal scrolling, while Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel) require Shift + Ctrl + MouseWheel. This module introduces a global utility that intercepts Shift + MouseWheel and injects the necessary Ctrl key event to ensure consistent horizontal scrolling across the OS, specifically targeting the Office suite behavior.

PR Checklist

  • [x] Closes: #44137
  • [ ] Communication: I've discussed this with core contributors already. If the work hasn't been agreed, this work might be rejected
  • [ ] Tests: Added/updated and all pass
  • [x] Localization: All end-user-facing strings can be localized
  • [x] Dev docs: Added/updated
  • [x] New binaries: Added on the required places
  • [x] Documentation updated: Documentation added to module folder.

Detailed Description of the Pull Request / Additional comments

Implementation Details:

  • Created a new C++ module src/modules/MouseUtils/MouseScrollRemap.
  • Implemented a low-level mouse hook that monitors mouse wheel events.
  • Logic: When Shift is pressed (and Ctrl is not), the hook intercepts the scroll event and injects a Ctrl key press + Mouse Wheel + Ctrl key release sequence.
  • Includes proper ETW telemetry tracing and error handling.
  • Integrated into the PowerToys runner module list and solution file.

Security:

  • A SECURITY_REVIEW.md has been included in the module folder.
  • The hook is designed to be lightweight and only active when the module is enabled.

Validation Steps Performed

⚠️ Note to Maintainers regarding Testing: Due to current environment limitations, I was unable to compile and run the full PowerToys solution locally to verify the runtime behavior.

However, the code has been implemented following PowerToys coding standards and C++ best practices. I have provided a detailed IMPLEMENTATION_SUMMARY.md in the codebase with a proposed test plan for the maintainer who picks this up.

Proposed Verification Steps:

  1. Build solution with Visual Studio 2022.
  2. Enable "MouseScrollRemap" in PowerToys settings.
  3. Open Microsoft Excel or Word.
  4. Hold Shift and scroll the mouse wheel (ensure the sheet scrolls horizontally).
  5. Verify that standard Shift + Scroll behavior in Chrome is not negatively impacted.

navuxneeth avatar Dec 08 '25 04:12 navuxneeth

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@check-spelling-bot Report

:red_circle: Please review

See the :open_file_folder: files view, the :scroll:action log, or :memo: job summary for details.

Unrecognized words (1)

MOUSESCROLLREMAP

These words are not needed and should be removed CLITo CVS Notavailable toolgood

To accept these unrecognized words as correct and remove the previously acknowledged and now absent words, you could run the following commands

... in a clone of the [email protected]:navuxneeth/PowerToys.git repository on the main branch (:information_source: how do I use this?):

curl -s -S -L 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/check-spelling/check-spelling/c635c2f3f714eec2fcf27b643a1919b9a811ef2e/apply.pl' |
perl - 'https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/actions/runs/20016456646/attempts/1' &&
git commit -m 'Update check-spelling metadata'
Forbidden patterns :no_good: (1)

In order to address this, you could change the content to not match the forbidden patterns (comments before forbidden patterns may help explain why they're forbidden), add patterns for acceptable instances, or adjust the forbidden patterns themselves.

These forbidden patterns matched content:

Should be ; otherwise or . Otherwise

https://study.com/learn/lesson/otherwise-in-a-sentence.html

, [Oo]therwise\b
Errors :x: (1)

See the :open_file_folder: files view, the :scroll:action log, or :memo: job summary for details.

:x: Errors Count
:x: forbidden-pattern 1

See :x: Event descriptions for more information.

If the flagged items are :exploding_head: false positives

If items relate to a ...

  • binary file (or some other file you wouldn't want to check at all).

    Please add a file path to the excludes.txt file matching the containing file.

    File paths are Perl 5 Regular Expressions - you can test yours before committing to verify it will match your files.

    ^ refers to the file's path from the root of the repository, so ^README\.md$ would exclude README.md (on whichever branch you're using).

  • well-formed pattern.

    If you can write a pattern that would match it, try adding it to the patterns.txt file.

    Patterns are Perl 5 Regular Expressions - you can test yours before committing to verify it will match your lines.

    Note that patterns can't match multiline strings.

github-actions[bot] avatar Dec 08 '25 04:12 github-actions[bot]

@check-spelling-bot Report

:red_circle: Please review

See the :open_file_folder: files view, the :scroll:action log, or :memo: job summary for details.

Unrecognized words (3)

MOUSESCROLLREMAP MSSR RSSM

These words are not needed and should be removed CLITo CVS Notavailable toolgood

To accept these unrecognized words as correct and remove the previously acknowledged and now absent words, you could run the following commands

... in a clone of the [email protected]:navuxneeth/PowerToys.git repository on the main branch (:information_source: how do I use this?):

curl -s -S -L 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/check-spelling/check-spelling/c635c2f3f714eec2fcf27b643a1919b9a811ef2e/apply.pl' |
perl - 'https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/actions/runs/20017574962/attempts/1' &&
git commit -m 'Update check-spelling metadata'
If the flagged items are :exploding_head: false positives

If items relate to a ...

  • binary file (or some other file you wouldn't want to check at all).

    Please add a file path to the excludes.txt file matching the containing file.

    File paths are Perl 5 Regular Expressions - you can test yours before committing to verify it will match your files.

    ^ refers to the file's path from the root of the repository, so ^README\.md$ would exclude README.md (on whichever branch you're using).

  • well-formed pattern.

    If you can write a pattern that would match it, try adding it to the patterns.txt file.

    Patterns are Perl 5 Regular Expressions - you can test yours before committing to verify it will match your lines.

    Note that patterns can't match multiline strings.

github-actions[bot] avatar Dec 08 '25 05:12 github-actions[bot]

@navuxneeth Have you compiled and tested this?

zadjii-msft avatar Dec 10 '25 01:12 zadjii-msft

@navuxneeth Have you compiled and tested this?

Hey @zadjii-msft, I am currently testing and reworking on the files. I will post another PR for review once I'm done.

navuxneeth avatar Dec 12 '25 04:12 navuxneeth

@navuxneeth Have you compiled and tested this?

Hey @zadjii-msft, I am currently testing and reworking on the files. I will post another PR for review once I'm done.

You can update this pull request without making another one :)

DHowett avatar Dec 12 '25 04:12 DHowett