Who doesn’t like Apple’s multi-touch? It’s the standard way to use a MacBook these days, but multi-touch also shows up on the Magic Trackpad and even on Apple’s much-maligned Magic Mouse.
Multi-touch on a Mac takes a bit of learning and experimentation but the advantages are clear; just as it does on iPhone and iPad, specific finger taps make specific things happen. For example, right-click, swipe to a new page, and much more. There’s a way to make multi-touch on your Mac perform even better and it’s an affordable add-on.
Touch Me, Baby
If you like multi-touch on your Mac but you’d like even more controls than Apple provides with macOS Sierra, then checkout BetterTouchTool. It’s packed with additional configurations which work with Mac notebook trackpads, Magic Trackpad, and Magic Mouse.
The claim to fame here is BetterTouchTool’s long list of additional or customizable gestures for mouse and trackpad. These range from a single-finger tap, to multiple fingers for taps and clicks and swipes, all the way to five-finger swipes (and plenty in-between). And each one is customizable.
BetterTouchTool comes with two basic modes for each device. Simple and Advanced. One look at the configuration window and you’ll see you’re dealing with some powerful and complex options, so tread slowly at first.
Open the BetterTouchTool app. Select the device you want to control. The app is so smart you can get different multi-touch functions on a per-app basis. Setup swipes and taps for Finder that are different for other apps. Here’s a look at what you can do just with the built-in MacBook trackpad or Magic Trackpad.
- single-finger tap top-left
- single-finger tap top-right
- single-finger tap top-middle
- single-finger tap bottom-left
- single-finger tap bottom-right
- single-finger tap bottom-middle
- single-finger tap left-middle
- single-finger tap right-middle
- two-finger tip tap left/right
- three-finger swipes (up/down/left/right)
- three-finger tap
- three-finger click
- four-finger swipes (up/down/left/right)
- four-finger tap
- five-finger tap
- five-finger swipe up/down/left/right (see FAQ)
- TipTap
- two-finger TipTap
- three-finger TipTap
Not bad, right? Remember, many of those extra multi-touch functions can be customized per app. Here’s what you can do with Apple’s Magic Mouse.
- Pinch in / out (zoom)
- single-finger tap left
- single-finger tap right
- single-finger tap middle
- single-finger tap
- single-finger click middle
- two-finger tap
- two-finger click
- two-finger swipe (up/down/left/right)
- two-finger tip tap left/right
- three-finger tap
- three-finger click
- three-finger swipe (up/down/left/right)
- four-finger swipe up/down
- four-finger click
- TipTap left/right
There’s much to like with BetterTouchTool but there is a learning curve that can be exhausting; especially when trying to remember which finger or which tap does what. So, start with Simple, add a special configuration or two to match your workflow, then add more over time.
Not bad, right? But there’s more, including over 100 trackpad gestures you configure and control, application specific gestures, and even a Live View feature which shows exactly what your trackpad or mouse senses. More than 100 predefined actions are available, and actions can trigger other actions.
That means BetterTouchTool for Mac works with your Mac notebook’s trackpad, the Magic Trackpad, and Magic Mouse to trigger arbitrary keystrokes for actions you define. That’s customization to the Mac.
BetterTouchTool also has a companion app for iPhone and iPad. Nicely done, not expensive, very useful, but the learning curve is gentle.
