Key Press Holder

Pick a key, say how long, and it stays pressed down while you take your hand off the keyboard, then lets go on time or on your shortcut.

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It presses the key, holds it for as long as you say, and lets go.

Any key at all — press the one you want and the cap takes it.

Seconds, minutes or hours, and it counts down while it holds.

Record your own shortcut. It starts and ends the hold from any window.

It presses the key, holds it for as long as you say, and lets go.

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See it in action

An auto key holder for when one key has to stay down

Some jobs need a key held, not tapped. Walking forward across a big map, charging an action in a game, keeping a push-to-talk or a tool active, or getting past a screen that waits while a key is down. An auto key holder does the holding so your finger does not have to.

Key Press Holder sends one press, keeps the key down for the time you set, and then releases it. The big keycap in the window sinks for the length of the hold and rises again at release, while a countdown ticks off the remaining time.

That is the difference from an auto key presser, which taps a key again and again. Holding sends a single key-down and a single key-up. A game that asks whether W is down sees W down the whole time, exactly as if you were leaning on it.

How to hold down a key without pressing it

Setup takes four steps, and the shortcut matters most: while the key is held it goes to the window you are working in, not to this one.

Click the keycap, then tap whichever key should be held, or choose it from the list. W is chosen out of the box.
Under "Hold it down for", type a number from 1 to 999 and pick seconds, minutes or hours.
Set "Wait before pressing" to give yourself a moment to focus the game or document that will receive the key.
Press Hold, or the start and stop shortcut from anywhere. It is Ctrl+F6 until you record another under "Start and stop with".

Holding a key in games

Auto-run, holding a sprint, keeping a shield up or a menu open: these are the requests that bring most people to a key holder. Keys go out as hardware scancodes, which is what games that read DirectInput or Raw Input expect, so the hold looks like a real finger on the key.

When you need control back, press your shortcut and the key releases at once, even halfway through a long hold. Nothing has to be clicked in this window first.

A repeating hold on a timer

Turn on "Let go and do it again" and the cycle runs on its own: hold for your set time, release, pause, and go round again until you end it. The wait between rounds is the same "Wait before pressing" value, anything from 0 to 60 seconds.

This suits games or apps that time out a key held too long, and long idle stretches where a key needs to go down every so often instead of staying down for hours.

What Key Press Holder does

Keeps one key pressed for 1 to 999 seconds, minutes or hours, then releases it
Covers 132 keys, including function keys, modifiers, the keypad, punctuation and media keys
Key chosen by pressing it, with a grouped list as a fallback
Animated keycap that stays sunk for the whole hold
Live countdown of the time remaining in the hold
Optional loop of hold, release and wait until you stop it
Delay before the first press so you can focus the target window
Start and stop shortcut that works from inside any app, Ctrl+F6 by default
Runs from the tray and can start with Windows
Brings over the key, timing and loop choices from the previous version

Where a held key saves your hand

Auto-walk in open-world games

Hold W for ten minutes while your character crosses the map, then end it with Ctrl+F6 the moment something interesting appears.

Hold-to-confirm prompts

Some installers, launchers and games only advance while a key stays down. Set a few seconds and let the app keep it there.

Testing and accessibility

Check how software reacts to a key held for a long stretch, or spare a sore hand from a press that has to last.

What's new in 2.0.5

Every key on the keyboard — 132 of them, against 79 in the old list. The punctuation keys, the modifiers, Page Up and Page Down and the media keys are all in it
F11 can be held. The old list printed F10 twice and never offered F11 at all
Choose the key by pressing it, rather than hunting through a list
Hold for seconds, minutes or hours, and the keycap in the window sits down while the key is down
Let go, wait, and hold again until you stop it
The shortcut starts and stops it from inside any window, which is what you need when the key is going to something else
Your settings carry over on first launch

Questions

Anything else? Ask us

How long can it hold a key down?

From 1 to 999 seconds, minutes or hours, so anything from a second to well over a month. The window counts down how much of the hold is left.

Will it type the letter over and over like holding a real key?

No. It sends one key-down at the start and one key-up at the end, with no repeated presses in between. Games that check whether a key is held see it held, but a text box may get only one character.

Can it hold a key, let go, and hold it again?

Yes. Turn on "Let go and do it again" and it holds, releases, waits, and holds again until you stop it. The wait between holds is the same "Wait before pressing" setting, from 0 to 60 seconds.

How do I stop the hold when another window has focus?

Press the start and stop shortcut, which is Ctrl+F6 unless you record a different one. It works from inside any app, and stopping lets the key up straight away, even in the middle of a long hold.

Does it work in games?

It sends the key as a hardware scancode, which is what games reading DirectInput or Raw Input look at. Media and browser keys have no scancode and are sent as virtual keys.

Can it hold two keys at once, like Shift and W?

No. It holds one key at a time. That key can be any of 132, including Shift, Ctrl, Alt and the keypad keys.

What is the difference between holding a key and an auto key presser?

An auto key presser taps a key repeatedly. Key Press Holder sends one press and keeps the key down for the whole duration, which is what auto-walk and hold-to-charge actions need.

Can I see whether the key is actually being held?

Yes. The keycap in the window stays pushed down for the whole hold, the main button changes to "Let go", and the countdown runs.

Which versions of Windows does it run on?

Windows 10 (version 1809 or later) and Windows 11.

Is it a subscription?

No. Key Press Holder is a one-time purchase of $1.99, and updates are included.

How do I get it?

Buy it on this page and your license key arrives by email. If the button says Notify me, Key Press Holder is not on sale here yet; leave your email and we will tell you when it is.