Mouse settings on the Mac

You can connect different types of mice to the Mac. There are separate setting options for each type of mouse. Are you using an old-fashioned mouse with a USB connection? Then you set things like the speed of the pointer, scrolling and double-clicking. When purchasing a Mac, however, you generally get the Magic Mouse. That is a sleek mouse without a scroll wheel and without a clear left and right mouse button (see photo above). You operate the computer by moving over the mouse surface. The settings for this mouse therefore mainly focus on these movements.

You can easily connect a USB mouse to the Mac by plugging the USB cable into the computer. The mouse works right away. With a wireless mouse, you need to make sure that there is a connection between the computer and the mouse. At the bottom of the Magic Mouse is a button. Make sure this is up so that you see a green square and a light is on.

As we mentioned, the settings differ per mouse. Below we briefly discuss the options for the USB mouse. Here’s how to adjust settings on a Mac with macOS 10.12 Sierra or later:

• Click the Apple logo in the top left.
• click on System Preferences.
• click on Mouse.
• An overview of all possible mouse settings opens:
  • Scroll direction: natural
    Controls the direction the page moves when you scroll. If you turn on the ‘natural’ direction, the page will move up when you move down on the scroll wheel.
  • Speed ​​pointer
    Use the slider to adjust the speed at which the mouse pointer moves across the screen.
  • Scroll speed
    Use the slider to adjust the speed at which you scroll through a page when you move the mouse wheel.
  • Double click interval
    Use the slider to adjust the time allowed between two mouse clicks for it to pass for a double click.
  • Primary mouse button
    Set here whether the left or right mouse button is the default mouse button. Just keep this on ‘Left’. If you use the mouse with the left hand, it can be useful to go for ‘Right’.

With a Mac one generally uses the Magic Mouse. Here’s how to adjust settings on a Mac with macOS 10.12 Sierra or later:

• Click the Apple logo in the top left.
• click on System Preferences.
• click on Mouse.
• An overview of all possible mouse settings opens:
  • Scroll direction: natural
    Control the direction the page moves as you scroll. If you turn on the ‘natural’ direction, the page will move up when you swipe down on the mouse.
  • Secondary click
    Turn this on to have the capabilities of a right click. If you do not enable this, you will regularly encounter that you cannot perform actions (and explanations of SeniorWeb).
  • Smart zoom
    Double-tap the mouse to zoom in or out on a web page or PDF.
  • Speed ​​pointer
    Use the slider to adjust the speed at which the mouse pointer moves across the screen.

In addition to the options in the previous section, there are other gestures that you can set. To do that, tap the tab More gestures (macOS 10.15 Catalina or later) or More moves (macOS 10.14 Mojave or earlier). Here you can set the following:

• Swipe between pages
  Swipe left or right with one finger to scroll through pages.
• Swipe between screen fills. apps
  Swipe the mouse with two fingers to switch between full-screen programs.
• Mission Control
  Double tapping the mouse with two fingers opens Mission Control. This is an overview of all Desktops and all open windows.