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How to make an Apple Mighty Mouse a two-button mouse?

I have a Mac mighty mouse [ed note: actually, it's an "Apple Mighty Mouse"] device and am going crazy without my right-click capability. Is there some solution or something I can hack, or am I stuck having to buy something third-party?

Dave's Answer:

People who are used to right-clicking to open contextual menus might be disappointed with the Mighty Mouse, the mouse that ships with all new Macs, because they think it only has one button. The truth is that the Mighty Mouse is actually a 4 button mouse! It just takes a little configuring.

To configure your Mighty Mouse go to the Apple menu and select System Preferences. Click on the "Keyboard and Mouse" icon to bring up the "Keyboard and Mouse" control panel. From here, select the Mouse tab:

You can use the pulldown menus to custom configure all the buttons on your mouse. You configure the right button as the secondary mouse button to set the mouse for conventional two-button functionality. Now we can bring up contextual windows by right clicking with the Mighty Mouse. You can just as easily reverse the buttons for easier left hand use.

But wait there's more! You can also configure the other buttons and the scroll ball. By default ,you can display all of your open windows on the desktop by squeezing the two buttons on the side of the mouse, but if you wish you can configure it to perform another action, even run an Applescript. Also note that you can scroll both horizontally and vertically with the scroll ball and even zoom in by pressing the Control key while scrolling. When you're done customizing your mouse, just click on the red close button to close the Control Panel and save your settings.

Like its cartoon namesake, the Mighty Mouse is truly more powerful than it appears!

Jay Shaffer is a blogger and video producer for MacMost. For more news, tutorials and commentary about Macs, iPods and iPhones, visit MacMost.com.

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Categorized: Mac OS X Help (Article 7910)
Tagged: apple mouse, mac customization, mac os x, mighty mouse
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Comments

Not to be rude or anything, but is this actually news? The Mighty Mouse's main selling point is the fact that's it's a multi button mouse with a scroll wheel, so I don't see why it takes an industry "guru" to reveal something about the product that is already known. What am I missing?

Posted by: PDXOtaku at February 25, 2008 11:13 AM

Actually, the Mighty Mouse is potentially a FIVE button mouse. The fifth button is obtained by clicking on the scroll wheel.

I use it on web links to open them in a new tab.

Posted by: Donald at February 25, 2008 11:40 AM

One other thing to note, the Might Mouse is touch sensitive. So you need to readjust the way you use the mouse.

If you are barely touching the left side of the mouse and you right click, the mouse can easily get confused. The Mighty Mouse knows if your finger is touching the surface or not. So just lift up your left finger when you right click and lift up your right finger when you left click.

It does take some getting used to since most people's hand rest on the mouse when clicking. Once you get used to it (in a very short time), you will be lifting your finger without even realizing it.

Posted by: Jerid Hill at February 25, 2008 12:04 PM

PDXOtaku, I don't want to speak for Dave, but my take on this is, people ask Dave questions, he answers them. I wouldn't necessarily classify this as a news resource. Someone apparently didn't realize the Mighty Mouse has a left and right click on the surface. They asked the question, Dave answered. Pretty simplistic.

Posted by: Jerid Hill at February 25, 2008 3:11 PM

@ Donald:

No, it is only 4 buttons plus the scroll function.

@ Jerid:

You do not need to lift your Right finger to get a Left click.

Posted by: Gino Cerullo at February 25, 2008 3:19 PM

Gino,

You are correct about not having to lift the right finger. I am just so used to do it and not letting it touch, I didn't think about it. But you do need to lift the left finger if you want to right click. They must have it set to always left click if both fingers are touching.

Posted by: Jerid Hill at February 27, 2008 7:44 AM

I switched from PC to Mac last July, and abandoned my Apple mouse for just this reason. I found no information on the Apple site about these features. So maybe it's old news to Apple users, but to new adopters, the information is all new.

Posted by: Laura Ricci at March 11, 2008 6:08 PM

I have a lot to say, but ...

I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!