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J-W Maessen
Level 1 Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Changing primary mouse button disables primary trackpad button click

I have a new MacBook Pro (late 2008). I recently plugged in a USB mouse and tried to set the primary mouse button to the left mouse button (Preferences>Keyboard and Mouse>Mouse).

However, this also seems to partially swap the button settings of my trackpad in a largely unusable way:
* Clicking on the trackpad button or single-tapping on the trackpad is treated as a secondary click.
* Double finger tapping on the trackpad is treated as a primary click.
* There seems to be NO WAY to primary click using the trackpad button. Double-finger-touch plus trackpad click, Ctl-Click, Option-Click, Shift-Click, Cmd-click, Fn-click all act as secondary clicks!
* The various tap-to-click, etc. settings in Keyboard & Mouse > Trackpad don't seem to make any difference to this behavior, except that disabling them makes it impossible to primary click without connecting a mouse.
* Unplugging the mouse, sleeping/waking don't seem to make any difference.

As far as I know, the "Primary Mouse Button" setting should not affect trackpad behavior at all; I think what I'm seeing is a bug of some kind. I recently migrated from an iBook where the trackpad worked correctly and identically with either primary mouse button setting.

It's possible that when migrating data from my iBook I migrated a setting in ~/Library that is somehow messing this up, but it seems unlikely. Has anyone encountered this problem? Is there a solution, or at least an explanation of what's going on?

My wrists thank you. I don't enjoy right-handed mousing.

-J-W Maessen

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.2), Early 2008

Posted on Mar 17, 2008 9:18 AM

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  • by a procrastinator,

    a procrastinator Mar 17, 2008 10:03 AM in response to J-W Maessen
    Level 1 Level 1 (80 points)
    Mar 17, 2008 10:03 AM in response to J-W Maessen
    The primary mouse button is the left button by default, right-clicking is the secondary. Changing those settings shouldn't effect anything, if you are left handed did you set it as the opposite of that?

    I've never heard of a problem similar to that.

    Mar 17, 2008 10:03 AM

  • by colucci,

    colucci Mar 21, 2008 1:54 PM in response to J-W Maessen
    Level 1 Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 21, 2008 1:54 PM in response to J-W Maessen
    I'm having the exact same problem. Talk about ridiculous. If you're only going to provide 1 mouse button on the track pad there's really no point in swapping it's functionality. I guess I'm not supposed to be left handed.

    Another chapter in Apple's mantra: CONFORM or DIE

    Mar 21, 2008 1:54 PM

  • by colucci,

    colucci Mar 22, 2008 2:31 PM in response to colucci
    Level 1 Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 22, 2008 2:31 PM in response to colucci
    OK maybe I was venting above....

    The more I investigate this, I'm certain it's a driver issue. I'm running boot camp and run Vista regularly switching to OSX for certain tasks. In Vista, this problem does not occur - left hand mouse doesn't affect the trackpad functionality.

    I see two problems with the multitouch drivers:
    OSX: Left hand mouse reverses track pad inputs making it basically unusable.
    Vista: There are no settings available for the trackpad driver and "tap to click" doesn't seem to function.

    I checked and I seem to have the latest drivers. My guess is over time this issue will get corrected.

    D'nardo
    PS. I still believe Apple demands too much conformity.

    Mar 22, 2008 2:31 PM

  • by Duncan Keith,

    Duncan Keith Mar 28, 2008 9:16 AM in response to colucci
    Level 4 Level 4 (1,080 points)
    Mar 28, 2008 9:16 AM in response to colucci
    I'm getting the same thing, I switched primary mouse buttons because I'm left-handed. Frankly this is really unacceptable, because if I'm out without an external mouse then I'm screwed, I can't click on anything. Kinda makes it hard to get much done, including accessing mouse preferences to switch it back!

    I'm submitting a bug report to Apple, please anyone else do the same so this can get fixed.

    Mar 28, 2008 9:16 AM

  • by J-W Maessen,

    J-W Maessen Mar 28, 2008 1:12 PM in response to Duncan Keith
    Level 1 Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 28, 2008 1:12 PM in response to Duncan Keith
    Do you have a URL or email for bug submission? I hunted around the site to try to find one without success.

    Mar 28, 2008 1:12 PM

  • by Duncan Keith,

    Duncan Keith Mar 30, 2008 8:49 AM in response to J-W Maessen
    Level 4 Level 4 (1,080 points)
    Mar 30, 2008 8:49 AM in response to J-W Maessen
    Yeah they kinda hide them sometimes, the access isn't consistent. Easiest way is to go to "contact us" then bottom right is a bunch of feedback links.

    Here's the Macbook Pro

    http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

    Mar 30, 2008 8:49 AM

  • by ckampmeier,

    ckampmeier Apr 4, 2008 2:52 AM in response to J-W Maessen
    Level 1 Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 4, 2008 2:52 AM in response to J-W Maessen
    I'm having the same problem. Setting the right mouse button as the primary click works great for my external USB mouse, but also switches the trackpad--whether the mouse is plugged in or not.

    I am actually able to primary-click using the trackpad alone by enabling the "Two Fingers: Secondary Click" preference in the Trackpad preference pane, and then always having two fingers on the trackpad when I click. This really hurts my hand after a while, though.

    Most egregiously, when the mouse is disconnected, the Mouse preference pane is gone, so there's no way to switch the primary mouse button back (thus fixing the trackpad)! So it's broken until I can plug a mouse back in again. I've taken to borrowing coworker's mice around the office just so I can change the preference back.

    Apr 4, 2008 2:52 AM

  • by birgerro,

    birgerro Apr 9, 2008 1:06 AM in response to J-W Maessen
    Level 1 Level 1 (4 points)
    expertise.macosx
    Mac OS X
    Apr 9, 2008 1:06 AM in response to J-W Maessen
    I found it!

    You can change the primary mouse button back by using the command line
    +defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain com.apple.mouse.swapLeftRightButton -bool no+
    and then log out and in again.

    Apr 9, 2008 1:06 AM

  • by Steve Stockman,

    Steve Stockman May 4, 2008 10:28 PM in response to J-W Maessen
    Level 1 Level 1 (5 points)
    May 4, 2008 10:28 PM in response to J-W Maessen
    I tested this at the mac store with two mice and three macbook pros on display.

    Replicates on all new Macbook Pros, BUT-- only with generic 2 button USB mice. The apple mouse brings up a different preference pane, and works just fine.

    Getting a new mouse seems easier than using the terminal and logging in and out, but having the bug fixed would be better still.

    May 4, 2008 10:28 PM

  • by Steve Stockman,

    Steve Stockman May 5, 2008 10:37 AM in response to J-W Maessen
    Level 1 Level 1 (5 points)
    May 5, 2008 10:37 AM in response to J-W Maessen
    I just discovered the highly recommended "Steermouse", which applies a software workaround to the bug.

    http://plentycom.jp/en/steermouse/

    Cheaper than a new mouse, and doesn't reward Apple financially...

    May 5, 2008 10:37 AM

  • by Duncan Keith,

    Duncan Keith May 30, 2008 10:20 AM in response to J-W Maessen
    Level 4 Level 4 (1,080 points)
    May 30, 2008 10:20 AM in response to J-W Maessen
    I'm having the same problem, and submitted the bug report a while ago. This isn't just annoying, it literally rendered my laptop useless when I went out without an external mouse.

    I had really really really hoped they'd fix it with 10.5.3, but they didn't. Another bug report! Please join me!

    May 30, 2008 10:20 AM

  • by wardw,

    wardw Jun 1, 2008 9:55 PM in response to Duncan Keith
    Level 1 Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 1, 2008 9:55 PM in response to Duncan Keith
    Just another big "me too" here. Thought I was going nuts until I found this thread. Just filed a whine on the macbook pro feedback form, and guess I'll have to give steermouse a try...

    Jun 1, 2008 9:55 PM

  • by JakeHolt,

    JakeHolt Jul 1, 2008 5:11 PM in response to J-W Maessen
    Level 1 Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 1, 2008 5:11 PM in response to J-W Maessen
    I just updated to 10.5.4, and to my great disappointment this problem is still not fixed. This is annoying enough that I want to downgrade to the older MacBook Pro without the multi-touch trackpad until it is fixed. <sigh>

    Jul 1, 2008 5:11 PM

  • by philipvenables.com,

    philipvenables.com Jul 28, 2008 4:23 AM in response to J-W Maessen
    Level 1 Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 28, 2008 4:23 AM in response to J-W Maessen
    Hmmph! I too am having the same problem, and I just sent a bug report to apple. it's terrible - this problem didn't occur in previous releases of Mac OS, Tiger, Panther or Cheetah.

    The MOST annoying thing about it is that once you unplug the USB mouse there is no way of changing the button settings because the mouse controls disappear from system preferences.

    Has anyone written a script to automate the Terminal line button control? If I could install that in my scripts menu at least it would mean my computer wouldn't be a brick outside of the house...

    Jul 28, 2008 4:23 AM