Mouse Button Conventions

The mouse button conventions are as follows:

Left mouse button – The button on the left side of a mouse device. The left mouse button is frequently used for selecting, activating, pressing buttons, and so on. When you are told to click, click with the left button.
Middle mouse button – The middle button of a mouse device. On many mouse devices with a scroll wheel, the scroll wheel can be pushed down for a middle mouse button click.
Right mouse button – The button on the right side of a mouse device. Often, this button displays a context menu for the object under the pointer.

Some mouse devices lack a middle button. If you have a two-button mouse device, then the system might be configured to use chording to enable middle button simulation. If chording is activated, press the left and right mouse buttons simultaneously to simulate the middle mouse button.

Use the Mouse preference tool to reverse the orientation of the mouse device. You will then need to reverse the mouse button conventions used in this guide.

Mouse Preference Tool

With the Mouse preference tool you can determine the following settings:

Configure your mouse for right-hand use or for left-hand use
Specify the speed and sensitivity of mouse movement
Configure mouse accessibility features

Choose System → Preferences → Mouse to display the Mouse Preference tool.

General Mouse Preferences

Use the General tab to specify whether the mouse buttons are configured for left-hand or right-hand use and configure the speed and sensitivity of your mouse.

The following table lists the general mouse preferences that you can modify.

Table A-1 Mouse Button Preferences

Dialog Element	Description
Right-handed	Configures your mouse for right-hand use. The left mouse button is the primary button and the right mouse button is the secondary button.
Left-handed	Configures your mouse for left-hand use. The functions of the left mouse button and the right mouse button are swapped.
Show position of pointer when the Control key is pressed	Enables a mouse pointer animation when you press and release the Ctrl key. This feature can help you locate the mouse pointer. Note - The position of the Ctrl key on the keyboard can be modified in the Keyboard Layout Options dialog. For more information, see Keyboard Layout Options.
Acceleration	Specifies the speed at which your mouse pointer moves on your screen when you move your mouse.
Sensitivity	Specifies how sensitive your mouse pointer is to movements of your mouse.
Threshold	Specifies the distance that you must move an item before the move action is interpreted as a drag-and-drop action.
Timeout	Use the slider to specify the amount of time that can pass between clicks when you double-click. If the interval between the first and second clicks exceeds the time that is specified, the action is not interpreted as a double-click. Use the light bulb icon to check double-click sensitivity: the light will light up briefly for a click, but stay lit for a double-click.

Mouse Accessibility Preferences

Use the Accessibility tab to configure accessibility features that can help people who have difficulty with exact positioning of the pointer or with pressing the mouse buttons:

Open a contextual menu by clicking and holding the primary mouse button. This setting is useful for users that can manipulate only one button.
Perform different types of mouse button click by software. This setting useful for users that are not able to manipulate any buttons. The types of click that can be performed are:
- Single click – A single click of the primary mouse button.
- Double click – A double click of the primary mouse button.
- Drag click – A click that begins a drag operation.
- Secondary click – A single click of the secondary mouse button.

The following table lists the mouse accessibility preferences that you can modify.

Table A-2 Mouse Motion Preferences

Dialog Element	Description
Trigger secondary click by holding down the primary button	Enables simulated secondary clicks by pressing the primary mouse button for an extended time.
Delay slider in the Simulated Secondary Click section	Specifies how long the primary button must be pressed to simulate a secondary click.
Initiate click when stopping pointer movement	Enables automatic clicks when the mouse stops. Use the additional preferences in the Dwell Click section to configure how the type of click is chosen.
Delay slider in the Dwell Click section	Specifies how long the pointer must remain at rest before an automatic click will be triggered.
Motion threshold slider	Specifies how much the pointer must move to still be considered at rest.
Choose type of click beforehand	Determines the type of click to perform from a window or panel applet.
Show click type window	When this option is enabled, the different types of click (single-click, double-click, drag-click or secondary click) can be selected in a window. Note - The Dwell Click panel applet can be used instead of the window.
Choose type of click with mouse gestures	Moving the mouse in a certain direction determines the type of click. Assign directions to the different types of click. Note that each direction can be used for only one type of click.

Note - To enable these accessibility preferences, the system administrator must install the gnome/accessibility/mousetweaks package.

The mouse buttons perform the following actions.

Mouse Button	Actions
Left mouse button	Select text Select items Drag items Activate items
Middle mouse button	Paste text Move items
Right mouse button	Use the right mouse button to open a context menu for an item. For most items, you can also use the Shift+F10 keyboard shortcut to open the context menu once the item has been selected.

For example, when viewing files in the File Manager, you can select a file by clicking the left mouse button and then open it by double-clicking with the left mouse button. Clicking with the right mouse button displays a context menu for that file.

Note - In most applications, you can select text with your left mouse button and paste it in another application using the middle mouse button. This process is called primary selection paste, and works separately from normal clipboard operations.

To select more than one item, you can hold the Ctrl key to select multiple items, or hold the Shift key to select a contiguous range of items. You can also drag a rectangle in the empty space around items to select several items.

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