One of the first things I modify on a desktop Linux install is to change the behaviour of the side buttons away from the defaults of “Back” and “Forward”.

Here’s a quick guide to changing the side buttons on a 5-button Logitech mouse on Ubuntu 12.04 through 19.04, and Linux Mint. It may work with newer versions, but has not been tested. This method also works well for most generic 5-button mice I’ve seen in the wild.

Install necessary packages

$ sudo apt-get install xbindkeys xvkbd

If your package manager can’t find xvkbd, an alternative is to install xautomation and use its ‘xte’ command in later steps.

Create a default profile for xbindkeys

$ xbindkeys --defaults > ~/.xbindkeysrc

Edit the default profile

$ gedit ~/.xbindkeysrc

Comment out the provided examples to prevent conflicts and strange behaviour.

# Examples of commands:
 
#"xbindkeys_show"
# control+shift + q
 
# set directly keycode (here control + f with my keyboard)
#"xterm"
# c:41 + m:0x4
 
# specify a mouse button
#"xterm"
# control + b:2

Add new entries in .xbindkeysrc for side buttons

The xev¹ command will show you the index bound to each of your buttons (8,9). The snippet below works on the MX518 and M570.

# side button page down
"xvkbd -xsendevent -text "\[Page_Down]""
m:0x0 + b:8

# side button page up
"xvkbd -xsendevent -text "\[Page_Up]""
m:0x0 + b:9

Start ‘xbindkeys’, and confirm that your side buttons are working.

Make your changes take effect on Startup

In Preferences -> Startup Applications, create an entry to run xbindkeys.

Done!