[Closed] Extended screens - mouse stuck on second screen

which way round are your screens set up?  How they look physically and how the computer thinks they are set up is often the reason you can't move a mouse from one screen the the other.

Have a look in settings

Settings > System and look at how the displays are arranged.
Click on Identify and a number will flash up on each screen to tell you which is which. Then drag the displays around until they match real life layout.

I will double check but left screen seems to be on the left and right on right.

Left is Left and Right is Right

When I have no applications open the mouse behaves as I want.
When I open Word on the 2nd screen and start editing the mouse seems to get stuck on that screen

Sometimes when it is stuck I can move it quickly to the left and it then appear on the left screen. It is almost like there is a slight barrier between the screens and I have to move the mouse with sufficient force to break through but this doesn't always seem to work.

It is almost like there is a slight barrier between the screens and I have to move the mouse with sufficient force to break through but this doesn’t always seem to work.

Yep, that's how it works. If you punch the screen hard enough, you can break that barrier and it won't be a problem any more.

For every occasion there's a dilbert.

It may be if the screens are different sizes (and/or different pixel density), the edges don't quite line up as you may be imagining. E.g. you might have to move the mouse across from the middle third of the edge of the secondary screen. The displays settings should show this - pay attention to where the borders of the two screens overlaps and where they don't.

Apologies if I'm dumbing this down too much. It's hard to visualise your problem.

How far apart are the screens? The gap between might be too big for a mouse to jump unless, as you have already proven, you give him a decent run up.

And Superficial has it!

The mouse only moves left in the top 1/3rd of the main screen but moves right in the whole of the smaller screen 1.

There is no indication of where this magic cut off line is but just need to aim for the top left corner

Does your mouse have a tail or is it a new fangled one without. Mine is old school with a tail and has no problem jumping between screens. If the tail on yours has been docked it won't be able to balance the jump so is a bit stuck.

Otherwise try tabbing between screens or close all the windows switch the engine off and reopen them again to see whether it plays better now.

I think the above solutions may be worth trying first!

Sounds like you need to check the settings for screen size and their relative position.

Top third sounds like Windows fails to compensate for display density and you have one high density screen and one low density?

its not display density its different resolutions. MacOS also sucks at this.

And Superficial has it!

The mouse only moves left in the top 1/3rd of the main screen but moves right in the whole of the smaller screen 1.

There is no indication of where this magic cut off line is but just need to aim for the top left corner

In settings you'll probably see the main screen, with the smaller screen touching it 1/3rd of the way up. Move the screens in settings to match how they are actually set up physically. Eg:

|---------|------|
| | 2 |
| 1 |______|
| |
|---------|

Your mouse can't get from screen 1 to screen 2 from the bottom right, it has to go half way up screen 1 before it can move right. This is what your computer is assuming.

Edit: FFS, that took ages and looked really good in the post editor thing!

As above, you can drag the two monitors up and down as well as swap them left and right.

It's down to preference, if your small laptop is lower than the main monitor, you could set it so that you move the mouse diagonally up to jump onto the main screen, and if too low it will stick on the small screen. Or you could set it so that moving off the centre of the laptop screen makes it jump to the centre of the edge of the main screen.

It's all a bodge though really, you should get two equal sized monitors and then tell your laptop to stay on when you close the lid with AC power on.

I think it is resolution. When I have them both in low res like the laptop there is no issue which is why I have never struggled before.

Now I have upped the main screen resolution so I can have multiple documents open next to each other is all goes wrong.

Not a problem now I know and I can live with making the mouse jump over the hurdle between the screens.

Thanks All!

Give monitor two a gentle shake then leave it on its side for a while.

Yes it's the resolution. As far as Windows is concerned that's the size of the monitor, not the physical size.

I find it fussy about mouse position if you try to arrange them diagonally in the display settings, I'd suggest aligning the top or bottom edge of both screens there.

Move the screens a bit closer together.
Sometimes the gap between screens is too far, and the pixels drop out/to the table.

Happened to me a bit.
I either had to move the mouse REALLY fast to make it 'jump' the gap, or move the screens closer.

HTH.

DrP

Yes it’s the resolution. As far as Windows is concerned that’s the size of the monitor, not the physical size.

Yes, this is right. Sorry, I said size, I meant resolution.

Was chatting to a young colleague on a similar issue to this today and she was telling me that although they have no financial stability or ability to hold down relationships this sort of stuff is obvious to them where as us oldies can struggle to work out what is going on.  Think I'll take the stability in the end

The displays settings should show this – pay attention to where the borders of the two screens overlaps and where they don’t.

And a useful tip if you don't want to move the mouse accidentally from one screen to another is to arrange them diagonally, corner to corner. Useful in some presentation situations