Macs have had built-in support for multi-button mice and right-clicking since Mac OS 8 made its appearance in 1997. Even so, many people still believe the Mac only knows how to work with a single-button mouse. Apple itself perpetuates this belief indirectly by providing new Mac buyers with the Mighty Mouse, which appears to have no buttons at all, and which acts just like a single-button mouse by default.
You can quickly turn your Mighty Mouse into a multi-button mouse by simply changing your mouse preferences.
Keyboard & Mouse Preferences Pane
- Launch System Preferences by clicking the ‘System Preferences’ icon in the Dock, or selecting ‘System Preferences’ from the Apple menu.
- Click the ‘Keyboard & Mouse’ preferences pane, located in the Hardware category.
- Select the ‘Mouse’ tab.
- Use the drop-down menus located next to each of the Mighty Mouse buttons to assign a function to a button. By default, Apple sets the left and right mouse buttons to the same function, the Primary Button. You can reassign the right mouse button to Secondary Button using the dropdown menu.
If you’re using a third-party mouse, you may find there are no mouse button options displayed. This is because the third-party mouse may have its own mouse driver. Third-party mouse drivers and their preferences panes are usually located in the ‘Other’ category of System Preferences. Check the documentation for your third-party mouse for information on configuring the mouse’s buttons.
