Mac Treat #86: Yes We Can (Right Click On A Mac)

As mentioned above, many Mac users don’t know that Macs are as right-click savvy as Windows computers. This misunderstanding is partly Apple’s fault. While Macs have been long able to right click, they shipped with a single-button mouse until 2005. Before that, it was necessary to purchase a third-party mouse with two buttons (or use the Control key, described below).

All desktop Macs now ship with Apple’s Mighty Mouse (which is multi-click capable), but by default the Mighty Mouse is configured for single-button clicking. Likewise, the trackpads on the past few generations of Apple notebooks have the ability to right-tap, emulating the right-click of a regular mouse. However, by default this is also not activated.

Here’s how to configure the Mighty Mouse for right-clicking (or Secondary Clicking, as Apple calls it):

1. Open System Preferences (by clicking on the the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen, then choosing System Preferences).
2. Click Keyboard & Mouse to open its preference pane.
3 Click the Mouse tab.
4 Choose which button you want to assign to use for right clicking (again, called Secondary Click here). I suggest using the, uh, right key to right click.

Now you can use your Mighty Mouse to access unique contextual menus for each application.

If you have a recent Apple notebook, you can configure the trackpad to recognize a right click:

1. Open System Preferences (by clicking on the the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen, then choosing System Preferences).
2. Click Keyboard & Mouse to open its preference pane.
3 Click the Trackpad tab.
4 Click the checkbox “For secondary clicks, place two fingers on the trackpad then click the button”.

Now you can use your MacBook, MacBook Pro, and late model PowerBook’s trackpad to access unique contextual menus for each application.

As mentioned above, you can also hold down your Mac’s Control key while clicking with your mouse or trackpad to access the right-click contextual menu. The Control key is labeled ctrl on most Apple notebooks.

To tell the truth, I’ve not bothered to set up a secondary click on my MacBook Pro’s trackpad; I simply hold down the Control key while clicking with the trackpad.