U3818DW, KVM, Apple Magic keyboard & mouse usage

@benjerdev  You’re stuck. The KVM function only switches USB peripherals plugged into the display between different source systems. And the reason a USB Bluetooth dongle wouldn’t work is that although the Bluetooth signal would run through the dongle, the actual pairing information would still be stored within the OS, and therefore the peripherals would still pair with a specific system. Bluetooth pairing information would NOT be stored within the dongle itself such that the peripherals would automatically follow the dongle even if it were used with a different system. Some wireless receivers specifically meant for keyboard and mice DO pair devices with the receiver itself, such as Logitech’s Unifying Receiver, but generic Bluetooth adapters don’t do that.

Maybe now, 2 years after @jphughan reply was written - things have changed?

I'm interesed in buying the new Dell UltraSharp U2723QE UHD 4K LED monitor, and I want to use my Apple Magic mouse and keyboard with a USB dongle. 

Maybe I can pair the mouse and keyboard to the monitor's KVM, and from there it would send mouse and keyboard data to the machine in control?

Can I do it?

@jphughan thanks for the comprehensive reply.

I also have MX Master, and it's functionality to switch between devices is indeed useful. However, I wished to switch between my Mac and PC "seamlessly" with the press of a button, but now I understand this is not possible with Apple's Bluetooth Magic Mouse & Keyboard (which have the best experience IMHO).

Anyway, I understand there are 3rd party software that can be used to "seamlessly" switch devices when the mouse reaches the edge of one screen and then transfers mouse and keyboard controls to the other connected machine, such as https://symless.com/synergy, which should work with bluetooth preipherials.

Thanks again.

@ihazar  If you only plan to use a single source system, then your solution would be fine. But if you want to use the KVM function to allow switching those peripherals between multiple source systems, then unfortunately while many things have changed in the last 2 years, this isn't one of them. The display isn't a Bluetooth "controller", so you can't pair peripherals to the display. And standard Bluetooth dongles still just provide a Bluetooth radio, with all pairings managed by the host system. If using wireless peripherals with a KVM setup is a requirement, your best options would be to either use peripherals that rely on a proprietary dongle that performs firmware-level pairing (like Logitech) or else get peripherals that allow you to store multiple pairing profiles that you can then toggle as needed. For example, my Logitech MX Master 3 mouse has a button on its underside that allows me to switch it to any of 3 pairing "slots", each of which can be used with a Bluetooth or Logitech Unifying receiver. So if I ever want to start using my mouse with a different system, I just switch over to the correct slot. If both your keyboard and mouse have that capability, you don't even need a KVM (as long as you're ok toggling both devices manually).

@ihazar  Happy to help. Yes, there are software solutions like Synergy and Mouse Without Borders, but there are two things you should consider when using those in your specific use case.

1. If you're switching the display(s) between systems, moving off the "edge" isn't an entirely intuitive thing to do. Synergy was designed for scenarios where you had two systems that each had their own dedicated display(s), so you could always see all source systems simultaneously. In that scenario, moving off the border of one PC's display over to another one makes a bit more sense than when you're sharing displays with source systems and just switching inputs as needed.

2. Those solutions require the "host" system that has the peripherals attached to always be online in order to transmit keyboard/mouse command information to other systems. If the system that actually physically controls your peripherals isn't available, then you won't be able to use those peripherals with other systems. It also requires "client" software to be installed on all systems that will be controlled. Sometimes those requirements render these solutions impractical.