The Magic Mouse is the mouse recommended by Apple to work properly. It comes included with all iMac and we can purchase it separately for use on our MacBook. But many users do not know how to take advantage of all the functions it includes, such as gestures. In this article we analyze each of these.
Activate Magic Mouse gestures
When you connect a new Magic Mouse to the Mac you will find that many of the characteristic gestures are not activated. This at first glance may seem like a mistake, as something as simple as right-clicking is not enabled by default. This is why the first task to undertake when connecting a new Magic Mouse is to activate all gestures so that it works optimally. To do so, simply follow these steps:
- Go to Mac on ‘System Preferences’.
- Click on the ‘Mouse’ section.
- In this window you can activate and deactivate all the gestures you want to use.
We always recommend having all activated for the first time in order to explore them in the most correct way.
All gestures with the Magic Mouse
Secondary Click
A typical function that allows you to tap on the right side of the mouse to bring up a secondary menu. You may have noticed that the Magic Mouse has only one button to press and that acts as the main button, the traditional left button. In the absence of this second button, this gesture should work. It is important to note that you should not press with two fingers as on the trackpad, but it works with a single finger on the left side.
Displace
The typical classic mouse wheel is also present in the Magic Mouse with a movement from top to bottom, or vice versa, to scroll through a specific page. The sensitivity of scrolling through a page, as well as the speed of the pointer, can be changed in the mouse preferences by following the path above. The problem we find is that we cannot exert pressure as in a traditional wheel, since this gesture will manifest as a primary or secondary click.
Smart zoom
With a double tap with a finger on any part of the Magic Mouse, we can zoom or decrease the view on a web page or PDF file. Normally this is done on the area in which we have the cursor located.
Mission Control
Pressing twice with two fingers on the Magic Mouse will open the Mission Control. In this view we can easily switch between window or desktop to work in a very comfortable way. This is a part of the system that may be somewhat hidden from many that will make you more productive.
Switch between apps full screen
If you are in a full screen window working or browsing the internet, you can switch to another window that you have in full screen with two fingers swiping left or right. It also allows switching between desktops.
Swipe to turn pages
If you are inside Safari or any other part of the system that has multiple pages, you can go quickly between these by swiping left or right with a finger. This is ideal to be able to go back in Safari when we are browsing.
User experience
The Magic Mouse that can make you fall in love or piss off. Although aesthetically it is very beautiful and minimalist, it has some flaws that are unforgivable. Starting with the charging port that is in a bad place and that forces you not to use the mouse while it is recharging. If you are in the middle of a project where you cannot respond to the low battery warning to stop and recharge you can be convicted. We understand that making it more accessible with the size of the mouse is somewhat complicated, but it is certainly a failure to mention.
The fact of being a minimalist mouse has pros such as transport in a really comfortable way and discretion. But for those people who spend many hours working with the mouse on a computer it will end up being uncomfortable. Not having an ergonomic shape designed to use it for many hours, it is not indicated for professional video editors. But the ergonomic design is not the only problem since the existence of a single button makes it impossible to add mouse shortcuts to edit video comfortably. We are talking about a mouse that accompanies professional teams that will perform these tasks so we do not understand why they do not give it a spin for these cases.
But it is not all negative, since added to the beautiful aesthetic design it has, it should be noted that it has a good autonomy that lasts a long time. The connection to the Mac is quite stable, how could it be otherwise, and the gestures very natural. It is true that some gestures are missing that can be used with the Trackpad and that are not included in this Magic Mouse.
And you, what opinion do you have about the Magic Mouse and its gestures?
