What is JoyToKey?

JoyToKey (or Joy2Key) enables PC game controllers to emulate the keyboard and mouse input, so that windows applications and web games can be controlled with your favorite joysticks! Whenever buttons and sticks are pressed on the controllers, JoyToKey converts them into keyboard strokes and/or mouse movements so that the target application will work as if a real keyboard and a mouse were used.



Joystick to Keyboard input Joystick to Keyboard input

JoyToKey is a shareware, but you can download the latest version for free. Try it on your PC to play games which don't have native controller support with your favorite joysticks and/or use it for general applications to improve efficiency by registering frequently used key shortcuts as a joystick input. If you find JoyToKey useful, you can purchase a license key at any time from JoyToKey application menu.





Information

Location of user configuration data (profiles)

Starting from version 6.3, when JoyToKey is installed from the installer (JoyToKeySetup_en.exe), user configuration data will be by default stored in "JoyToKey" folder in user's "Documents" folder.

In case you upgrade JoyToKey from the version older than 6.3, please manually copy the configuration files (JoyToKey.ini and *.cfg files) from the old "JoyToKey" folder into your "Documents/JoyToKey" folder so that your old configuration data can be accessed. In case of issues or questions, please refer to this post for more details.

JoyToKey Version 6.5 Released

Version 6.5 includes the following changes:

New feature to paste a pre-defined text to the target application

Enhancement for "Re-process when the same key continues while it's already pressed" option: If this option is OFF, when the emulation of the same key continues (during sequence or from other buttons), that key will be only emulated once and kept hold. For example, if a button for "SHIFT+RIGHT" and a button for "SHIFT+DOWN" are both pressed, SHIFT will be only emulated once and will be kept until both buttons are released. If this option is ON, SHIFT key will be pressed and released for each button, i.e. pressed and released twice in total.

Minor bug fixes

Besides, the following changes have been included in recent releases:

JoyToKey is packaged and distributed with an installer (Distribution of ZIP file format is still available)

User configuration data is by default stored in "JoyToKey" folder in user's "Documents" folder . In case you upgrade JoyToKey from an older version, please copy (or move) the old "JoyToKey" folder into your "Documents" folder so that you can continue to access your configuration data.

. Supported repeat and toggle click in mouse absolute movement mode

Enhanced the association of profiles - Ability to associate based on the target window title, besides the file path of the target application

Enhanced ButtonAlias function - Now support 3 button combination

Support up to max 50 joysticks (previously 32 joysticks)

Support up to max 128 buttons (previously 32 buttons)

Enhanced an execution of an external program to be able to pass command parameters specify the starting working directory

In case JoyToKey is started when no controller is connected, JoyToKey tries to automatically detect devices until one controller is connected. From this version, users can change this behaviour such that JoyToKey continues the auto detection until two controllers are connected, or completely disable this auto detection feature. For more details, please refer to this page.

Single click a task tray icon to refresh joystick connections

When you connect a new joystick to the PC, you can just click the task tray icon to get it recognized (either left click or right click).

When you connect a new joystick to the PC, you can just click the task tray icon to get it recognized (either left click or right click). Supported multiple screens for the absolute movement of a mouse cursor.

Supported additional key-code emulations such as the volume control (up / down / mute), media control (prev / next / play / stop), and SCROLL_LOCK key.

Changed the default key emulation code for arrow keys, R-Alt and R-Ctrl, to fix some compatibility issue with recent Windows 10. In case it causes a problem for certain old games and you want to use the old key code, in the button assignment window, please select an equivalent key (from right-click menu) which is labeled as "for DirectInput".

Old 5.2.1 version

Complete version history can be founded here , and the latest version can be downloaded from here

In case you're having a compatibility issue with some online game, the following two versions can be downloaded from here.

the latest version - which is supposed to fix the issue

the old version 5.2.1 - which seems to be unaffected by the issue

WARNING: Be careful with unofficial download sites

JoyToKey seems to be distributed in various unofficial websites, and some of them seem to be distributing a tweaked software (or "download manager") to install extra applications on your PC.

They are not official distributions, and the author of JoyToKey is not involved in any of those activities. Unless you have a good reason to trust those unofficial websites, you should download JoyToKey from the official download page in order to avoid unnecessary troubles.

(There does exist some useful 3rd party websites though, for example, a site for people with disabilities where JoyToKey is packaged with pre-defined configurations for PC accessibility)

Releases

Aug 16, 2020 JoyToKey 6.5 Release Jun 3, 2020 JoyToKey 6.4.3 Release (bug fix) Apr 19, 2020 JoyToKey 6.4.2 Release Jul 21, 2019 JoyToKey 6.3 Release Feb 2, 2019 JoyToKey 6.2 Release Sep 23, 2018 JoyToKey 6.1.1 Release Sep 16, 2018 JoyToKey 6.1 Release Sep 9, 2018 JoyToKey 6.0 Release Feb 23, 2017 JoyToKey 5.9 Release Dec 27, 2015 JoyToKey 5.8.2 Release Nov 21, 2015 JoyToKey 5.8.1 Release (bug fix) Nov 7, 2015 JoyToKey 5.8 Release Aug 28, 2015 JoyToKey 5.7.1 Release Apr 18, 2015 JoyToKey 5.7 Release May 14, 2014 JoyToKey 5.6 Release Jan 26, 2014 JoyToKey 5.5.1 Release (minor bug fix) Jan 18, 2014 JoyToKey 5.5 Release Nov 4, 2013 JoyToKey 5.4.2 Release Oct 17, 2013 JoyToKey 5.4.1 Release Oct 16, 2013 JoyToKey 5.4 Release Aug 31, 2013 JoyToKey 5.3.1 Release Aug 21, 2013 JoyToKey 5.3 Release Sep 2, 2012 JoyToKey 5.2 Release Apr 19, 2012 JoyToKey 5.1 Release Sep 1, 2011 JoyToKey 5.0 Release

View version change history

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