Using COM-08653 (12 Button Keypad) as simple buttons on microcontroller

Thank you, that explained a LOT.

Also, to save some pins on my microcontroller, is it possible to choose which part of the matrix keyboard I want functional ONLY?

for example, if I only wanted ['1' , '2' ; '4' , '5'] for a 2x2, can I just create the keyboard as a 2x2 matrix in my sketch and leave the rest nonfunctional?