Matt Cone March 6, 2007 TutorialsMacHardware
For as long as anybody can remember, the Mac mouse has had one button and the PC mouse has had two. Why? Apple presumably felt that a one-button mouse was simpler and more efficient, and nearly every other hardware manufacturer thought that more functionality could be crammed into additional mouse buttons.
The only things I can think of that have ever been set up in either the Mac OS or Windows as a single click to activate/launch something are web browser links and the Dock in OS X. If you have a one or two button mouse, it's always been a double click for everything else. That said, I have the the scroll wheel/button of the Logitech mouse I use. Command-Q to quit. If you are coming to Mac after a long tenure with Windows, then you might get.
Battle of the buttons? A standard two-button mouse and the Apple ADB Mouse II.
That is, until Apple released the Magic Mouse - a mouse with four programmable buttons. This was a major milestone for Apple and Mac users everywhere, but truth be told, the Mac OS supported right-clicking for years before that - even back in the days of Mac OS 9! If you have a Mac, you need to know how to right-click whether you have a two-button mouse or not. We'll show you how.
What Can Right-Clicking Do For Me?
If you have a Mac, and you haven't been right-clicking, you've been missing out on a lot of cool functionality. There are loads of options in the 'contextual menus' - menus that appear when you right-click - that you just can't find anywhere else. Here are some examples:
When you're typing an email message in Apple's Mail application and you misspell a word, Mail underlines it in red to indicate that it thinks it's misspelled. But how do you correct it? When you right-click on the misspelled word, Mail provides correct spelling suggestions. Simply select one of the correct spellings to substitute.
If you've found a file on the Internet that you want to save to your Mac, you can right-click on the link to save it.
There are lots of shortcuts hidden in the Desktop contextual menu. For example, if you'd like to change your desktop, all you have to do is right-click on the Desktop and select Change Desktop Background.
How to Do It
The easiest way to right-click is to hold down the ctrl key before you click your mouse button. This works on any Mac!
But holding down the ctrl key gets old, especially when you're an old-hand at right-clicking. If you're serious about right-clicking, you'll need to get a mouse with more than one mouse button. All of Apple's new desktop computers (except the Mac mini) ship with the Mighty Mouse. To configure the right mouse button on the Mighty Mouse, select System Preferences from the Apple menu, and then select Keyboard & Mouse. Select the Mouse tab.
Make sure the right mouse button is set as the Secondary Button, as seen in the screenshot above. If you don't have Apple's Mighty Mouse, you can always pick up an inexpensive, two-button USB mouse at your local electronics store. Kensington's Mouse-in-a-Box comes with a 5 year warranty and costs a mere $8.
For Apple Laptop Owners
If you own a Macbook or Macbook Pro, you can configure your trackpad for right-clicking. (Some older iBooks and Powerbooks also provide this feature.) Simply open the Trackpad options in System Preferences and make sure the Place two fingers on trackpad and click button for secondary click button is checked.
After checking this box, you'll be able to right-click by placing two fingers on the trackpad and clicking. If you have an older Apple portable which doesn't support this feature, you may want to look into iScroll2, a free application that may add this functionality to your trackpad.
No matter how you decide to right-click, you should definitely start doing it on a regular basis. It'll save you a lot of time!
Subscribe to our email newsletter
Sign up and get Macinstruct's tutorials delivered to your inbox. No spam, promise!
Switch Control scans your screen until you click a switch. This single click selects an item or performs an action.
Enable Switch Control
- Choose Apple menu () > System Preferences, then click Accessibility.
- Select Switch Control from the list of accessibility options.
- Click the General tab.
- Select Enable Switch Control.
After enabling Switch Control, the Home panel appears:
To cycle through items in the Home panel, press a switch, such as your mouse button or the Space bar. Press the switch a second time to select the highlighted item.
Set up your switches
Use Switch Control preferences in the Accessibility pane of System Preferences to set up switches that perform an action when pressed. You can use a mouse, keyboard, or dedicated switch hardware connected via USB or Bluetooth. You can also change existing switch actions.
By default, the Space bar is used as a switch when Switch Control is enabled.
- To add a switch, click the Add button (+) in the Switches tab, then press your adaptive switch. Enter a name, then select an action such as Stop Scanning. To have the switch run a script or open an app, click Custom, then choose the script or app.
- To remove a switch, select a switch in the list, then click the Remove button (–).
- To change the behavior of an existing switch, select a switch in the list, click , then change the name or action. To use a different switch for the action, click Reassign.
Scan and select items
Scan items
When you press the Select Item switch, Switch Control begins stepping through a panel, group, or user interface. Switch control highlights each item or group as it scans. The scan pauses when you select an item, unless you've set the option to keep scanning after a selection is set. If you turned auto scanning off, press the Move To Next Item switch to advance the scan. Switch Control repeats (or loops) a scan as set in the Navigation pane.
Select an item
When an item is highlighted, press the Select Item switch. If the selected item is a group, and you didn't set the option to resume scanning after a selection, press the switch to scan the group. Then press the switch to select an item in the group.
To exit a group, press the switch when the group is highlighted or when you hear 'step out.'
If you need to use the pointer to click an item that isn't part of an app's interface, you can use Pointer mode to scan the screen and click an item.
- Click to begin scanning horizontally.
- When the range finder highlights the area you want to click, click your switch again.
- Click another time to precisely refine your horizontal position.
- The next click starts the vertical range finder scan.
- Click again to refine your vertical position.
- Click your switch a final time to click the element on the screen that is currently under the blue crosshair you created on the screen.
Use panels
Set panel options
In a panel, click the Select Item switch when the Panel Options icon in the upper-right corner is highlighted. Then click the switch again when the option you want to set is highlighted. You can decrease or increase the size of the panel, and increase or decrease its transparency.
Return to the Home panel
In a panel, click the Select Item switch when the Home icon in the upper-right corner is highlighted. In the interface, press the switch when the Home panel is highlighted.
Use the Home panel
Keyboard
Type text in a document or field by scanning the keyboard in the panel, opening a group of keys, and then selecting a key. The first group contains suggested words based on the first keys you press. This lets you save typing time by selecting a suggested word. Other keyboards may be available in the Custom panel.
Pointer
To move the pointer to an area of the screen, select Move. A vertical block starts to glide across the screen. When you press the Select Item switch, the block stops and a vertical blue line starts to glide across the block. Press the switch again to either stop the blue line or substantially slow it down before you press the switch again to stop it (based on the setting of Gliding Cursor Precision in the Navigation pane). When you do the same horizontally, you'll see the pointer move to the intersection of the two blue lines.
App
Scan items and groups in the active window of the current app.
Dock
Immediately start scanning just the items in the Dock.
Menu Bar
Scan the menu bar group, then the menu extras group.
System
Control the volume or display brightness of your Mac, and control media playback.
Custom
You can create custom panels in the Accessibility pane of System Preferences. Select Switch Control, then click Open Panel Editor. Any custom panels you create appear here.
Location
Use this option to reposition the Switch Control Home panel on the screen.
Learn more
Click The Button Mac Os 11
To further customize Switch Control, use the Navigation tab in the Switch Control section of Accessibility preferences. You can learn more about Switch Control and the Switch Control Panel Editor from the Apple Accessibility website and from the built-in help included with your Mac. Click the help button in the Accessibility pane of System Preferences, or search for Switch Control from the Help menu in the Finder menu bar.
