How To Connect Your Nintendo Switch To A Mouse Or Keyboard

There are a lot of things the Nintendo Switch can do, not all of which are well documented or advertised. Perhaps surprisingly, the console is actually fairly open when it comes to using non-proprietary controllers, too, meaning you can play games or otherwise use your Switch with official Nintendo devices, as well as wireless PlayStation and Xbox controllers.

This versatility also extends to either a mouse or keyboard — or a combination of the two — in addition to supporting both wired and wireless connections. You will need some (inexpensive) additional hardware to make use of a wireless hookup, but none of this requires a keyboard or mouse that have been designed specifically for the Switch.

The point is, if you have a keyboard or mouse laying around that you think would be useful if you set them up with your Switch, it's 100% a thing you can do. And it's not even difficult to implement! Though it's worth noting that in most scenarios your keyboard use will be limited to tasks like typing in text rather than directly controlling gameplay, as not many Switch games currently support keyboard and mouse input options.

Getting a keyboard or mouse (or both) hooked up to and working with your Nintendo Switch is a pretty simple process, whether you're using wired or wireless devices.

1. For wired devices, simply plug the keyboard or mouse USB cable into one of the USB ports on the Switch dock and it should be detected right away.
2. If you want to connect a wired device to the Switch when it's not docked, you'll need to either use a cable with a USB-C output or plug a USB-C converter into the end of the USB cable. Either way, plug the USB-C end into the bottom of the Switch to connect it.
3. For wireless devices, you'll need a USB Bluetooth dongle. Plug the dongle into the Switch dock and turn it on (if your particular model doesn't turn on automatically), then wait for it to find the wireless keyboard or mouse.

Once you have a keyboard or mouse connected to your Switch, you should be able to start using them right away. But keep in mind that most Switch games don't actually support a keyboard and mouse as a control option, so rather than using them to play you'll more likely want to pull them out for other tasks like text entry.