Prevent mouse click

I have a mouse with two side muttons and these appear to be mapped to mouse clicks.

I want to map them to numbers 1 & 2 but prevent the actual mouse click.

Is this possible?

First, I would see if your mouse has any software / driver that will do this for you. After that, you can use Karabiner Elements to do this quite easily.

Maybe BetterTouchTool would be a help. There is also a trial version to try out. If you use Setapp if necessary... BTT is also included in the app offer @itsthejoeker.

You can also control KM macros there at any time with a gesture control or mouse clicks.