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It’s no secret that most third-party mice don’t work well with Macs. But if you don’t want to use the built-in trackpad or splurge on Apple’s expensive Magic Mouse, the Mac Mouse Fix App can improve your experience with a third-party mouse on macOS.
How to Install and Use the Mac Mouse Fix App
Mac Mouse Fixis a handy app that adds Mac trackpad gestures like Smart Zoom, Mission Control, Launchpad, and more. It also lets you add various custom actions for your mouse buttons and scroll wheel, allowing you to personalize your mouse experience. You can even use Mac Mouse Fix to improve the scrolling smoothness or reverse the scrolling direction of any mouse (independently from your trackpad).
Download:Mac Mouse Fix($2.99, free trial available)
Once you’ve downloaded the app using the link above, follow these steps:
Aftersetting up your third-party mouse on your Mac, you can use Mac Mouse Fix to customize your mouse experience. The app offers an intuitive interface where you can easily assign different gestures and actions to your mouse buttons and scroll wheel.
The app is free for 30 days; after that, you must pay a one-time fee of $2.99. It works well with standard third-party mice with three buttons and more advanced ones with side buttons. However, note that having more mouse buttons means more customization options.
One of thepros of buying Apple’s Magic Mouseis that it supports most Mac gestures, such as Mission Control or swiping between pages and full-screen apps. However, you can use Mac Mouse Fix to add theseMac trackpad gesturesto any third-party mouse. Here’s how:
For example, I useClick and DragforSpaces & Mission Control. This works like swiping with three fingers on the trackpad, that is:
As hinted above, you can bring most Mac trackpad gestures to your third-party mouse. The only limitation isthe number of buttons on your mouse.
Using Mac Mouse Fix to Assign Custom Actions
Adding built-in features like trackpad gestures to your third-party mouse certainly makes navigating your Mac faster. But why stop there? Mac Mouse Fix lets you assign custom actions to your mouse buttons. This means you’re able to do anything you would use keyboard shortcuts for, like taking screenshots,typing em dashes easily on your Mac, copying and pasting text, and more.
Here’s how to use the Mac Mouse Fix app to assignuseful Mac keyboard shortcuts:
Note that you may’t use the left and right mouse buttons. So, if you have a standard three-button mouse, you can only use the scroll wheel. However, you’re not restricted to one action, i.e., clicking the middle button (scroll wheel). You can hold (long-press), double-click, triple-click, or hold and drag. For example, here are some custom actions I added to my mouse:
Using Mac Mouse Fix to Improve the Scrolling Experience
One downside to using a third-party mouse on a Mac is the sub-par scrolling experience compared to an Apple Magic Mouse or trackpad. However, you can use the Mac Mouse Fix app to improve this:
In addition, you can use Mac Mouse Fix toseparate scroll directions for a mouse and trackpad on your Mac. This is useful because Mac trackpads use Natural Scrolling by default, where swiping up scrolls the page down. While this is intuitive when using the trackpad, it feels unnatural when using a mouse scroll wheel—there’s no built-in option to change this.
Here’s how to use Mac Mouse Fix to change the mouse scrolling direction (and not the trackpad):
Lastly, you’re able to use and customize keyboard modifiers in Mac Mouse Fix to perform various actions when scrolling with your mouse. For example:
Change these modifier keys by clicking theXbutton next to the option and selecting your preferred key.
Overall, Mac Mouse Fix is a handy tool that can significantly improve your experience with third-party mice on a Mac. So, instead of buying the expensive Apple Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad, try this app with your current mouse and see how it works for you.
