Gesturely help

Getting started

Gesturely lives in the notification area (the tray) near the clock. The first time it starts, you practice the four starter gestures, choose extra sets and pick the button you draw with.

• Click the tray icon for the quick view: the Gestures switch, a button to turn gestures off in the app you were just using, your recent gestures and Open Gesturely.
• Right-click it to Pause for 1 hour, until tomorrow or until resumed, to Open the main window, or to Quit.
• Press Ctrl+Alt+G to turn gestures on or off from anywhere.

If the icon is hidden under the ^ arrow, drag it onto the taskbar so it is always visible.

Drawing a gesture

Press the gesture button and start moving straight away. The trail shows what you draw, and a small label next to the cursor, like "← Back", shows the action. Let go to run it.

• Changed your mind? Move back to where you started, and nothing runs.
• Right-drag as usual: hold Ctrl while you press the button, or hold still for a moment. Holding still hands the press back to the app.
• A quick click without moving is a normal click.

In Settings, choose the Gesture button (right, middle or a side button), the Hold to bypass key, the Minimum gesture length and the Timeout (0.8 seconds to start with). You can also turn the trail and the action name on or off, or use the High-visibility trail. The trail stays off when Windows animations are turned off.

Adding gestures

On the Gestures page, select Add gesture. Draw the shape in the box with any mouse button, or pick it from the list, then choose the action.

• Shapes can have two strokes at most, with turns of 90° or more, plus circles both ways.
• If a gesture already does something else, Gesturely says so, and saving replaces it.
• Starter sets add ready-made gestures for browsing, window management and media.

Every page has a Test area: draw in it to see what would run, without running it.

To move your setup to another PC, use Export… under Backup in Settings. Import… replaces what's there.

Per-app gestures and exclusions

On the Apps page, select Add app and pick an app that's running, or type its program name. Then add gestures that only apply there. Gestures it doesn't override keep working as usual. Turn off Gestures in this app to leave the gesture button completely alone in that app.

Many apps from the Microsoft Store run through the same Windows host, so they share one set of per-app gestures.

Under Exclusions in Settings, list apps where gestures are always off. Games and remote desktops are there to start with, and full-screen games are always left alone. Gesturely also suggests drawing and design apps that use right-drag to pan.

Shortcuts and touchpad

On the Shortcuts page, select Add shortcut, choose an action and press the keys. Use Ctrl, Alt, Shift or Win with a key, or F13–F24 on their own. Every gesture action can be a shortcut.

Windows keeps precision-touchpad gestures to itself, but it can send a custom shortcut for three- and four-finger taps and swipes. On the Touchpad page:

1. Choose an action for a tap or swipe. Gesturely shows the shortcut for it.
2. Select Open touchpad settings. In Bluetooth & devices › Touchpad › Advanced gestures, set that gesture to Custom shortcut, choose Start recording and press the shortcut shown.

Things Windows decides

• Apps running as administrator are kept apart by Windows, so Gesturely can't send them keys or window commands. Right-click works normally there, and Gesturely tells you once.
• Touchpad gestures only reach Gesturely through the custom shortcuts you set in Windows Settings.
• Back and Forward send the standard browser keys, which browsers and File Explorer understand. Other apps may ignore them; give those apps their own gestures.

Keyboard shortcuts

These work from anywhere in Windows while Gesturely is running.

Trial and license

Gesturely is free to try for 14 days, with everything turned on. After that: The four starter gestures (Back, Forward, Close tab and Minimize) keep working. Custom gestures, per-app gestures, keyboard shortcuts and touchpad gestures pause, but stay viewable, editable and exportable.

Entering your license key

1. Buy a license. Your key appears on screen as soon as the payment goes through, and arrives by email.
2. In Gesturely, open the License page in Settings.
3. Paste the key and choose Activate. The PC needs to be online for this step.

Using it on more than one PC

One key works on up to 3 PCs. To move it to a new PC, deactivate it on the old one from the License page first. If the old PC is gone, free up its place at Manage devices, using the email address you bought with or the key itself.

Once activated, Gesturely works offline. When it's online it checks the license about once a week, so a refunded or revoked key stops working on its next check.

Bought Gesturely in the Microsoft Store? The Store edition is licensed through your Microsoft account instead, and doesn't use a key.

Updates

To get the latest version, choose Check for updates in Gesturely. It asks before installing anything.

Each update is checked against a fingerprint (SHA-256) before it runs, and installs over the current version without touching your data. Updates for the Microsoft Store edition come through the Store.

See what’s new in each version.

Your data and uninstalling

Gesturely keeps its settings and data on your PC, in this folder (paste it into File Explorer’s address bar to open it):

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Hedgerow\Gesturely

To back it up, quit Gesturely and copy that folder.

To uninstall, open Windows Settings › Apps › Installed apps, find Gesturely and choose Uninstall. The uninstaller asks whether to remove your data too.

Still stuck?

Email support@hedgerowapps.com and we’ll get back to you. Mention your Gesturely version (shown in Settings › About) and your Windows version. More answers are on the support page.