Xbox Users Will Soon Be Able to Map Keyboard Inputs to Controllers

Xbox Series X|S users will soon benefit from a new feature that’ll allow them to map keyboard inputs to the Xbox Elite Wireless Series 2 controller as well as the Xbox Adaptive Controller. While limited to those controllers, the feature is also only available to those in the Alpha ring of the Xbox Insider program until the feature gets a wider rollout. Xbox provided some examples of the uses that this feature might offer those who use Xbox controllers when playing games on the PC or Xbox platforms, though the patch notes for the update pointed out that keyboard support is very much “game dependent.”

These sorts of Xbox Insider updates typically only include small tweaks here and there, but this new Xbox controller remapping feature is the main addition in the Xbox Insider update rolled out this week. If you’re part of the Alpha ring and want to try it out, you’ll have to have a compatible controller and the Xbox Accessories app. Xbox provided some instructions for those who have both:

“For the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 and the Xbox Adaptive Controller, the Xbox Accessories app now supports mapping keyboard keys to your controller!” Xbox said. “To get started, open the Xbox Accessories app > Configure > create a new profile or edit an existing one > select a button to map > choose Primary or Shift > then move over to the new Key tab.”

A couple of notes were also provided to explain some of the limitations of the feature. Keyboard support isn’t universal, so some games won’t acknowledge the inputs at all, and there are restrictions on what kinds of inputs you can map to controllers.

Mapping Keyboard Inputs to Xbox Controllers

• You may only map a given controller button to a single key, along with any combination of modifier keys (Win, Shift, Ctrl, Alt). For example, you could map Ctrl+Alt+W, but not Ctrl+Alt+W+E.
• Keyboard input support is game dependent, so you may notice some games will offer full support, partial support, or no support.
• Using or mapping keyboard keys via Bluetooth on PC is not supported. Learn more about the Xbox Accessories app and Bluetooth connections here. 

Xbox’s new controller mapping feature is currently available for Xbox Insiders and will release for everyone else at a later date.