Level 1

10 points

Peripheral issue - Mac now treating foot pedal as a mouse

Since the Monterey update, when I press the play/stop button on my transcription foot pedal, it brings up a contextual menu, as though the system is now treating it as right mouse click. This just destroys my workflow.

I have spent all morning on with Apple support, and they are sending the report to the engineers to see what they can diagnose.

This happens without the transcription software running, and the pedal has no driver, it is plug and play, so there are apparently no settings I can adjust to fix this behaviour.

Downgrading back to Big Sur is not a great option as it means wiping the computer so I can first reinstall El Capitan (which it shipped with), and then installing Big Sur. Not loving the idea of wiping the system as I don't quite trust that all my work will be safe on backups. It may end up being the only option if there is no fix for this in an OS patch. I can't imagine anything is going to get fixed quickly, whatever the cause.

I share this only in case someone else has stumbled into something similar and found a simple, painless solution.

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Oct 27, 2021 6:56 AM

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Rainee1

Level 1

8 points

Posted on Feb 21, 2022 11:55 AM

I just spoke to a representative from VEC Electronics who confirmed that the issue of the MAC recognizing the foot pedal as a mouse is rectified by the Infinity 3 foot pedal. He explained to me that it is a matter of an upgraded chip in the 3 compared to the 2 that solves the problem. The only glitch is that the chips that are in the 3 are being impacted by supply issues. In order for them to meet demand they did furnish some Infinity 3 with the former chip, which will work just fine on PCs. He offered a way to tell if you are getting the new chip that is needed for our MAC computers. If you order the Infinity 3 MAKE SURE that it is marked as "A" and you'll know it has the right chip in it. If marked with a "B" then that is the older chip they are using. They are just starting to mail these out now, so just be sure, or you will have the same problem with the 3. Just wanted to pass along that info to further save us all a huge headache again.

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38 replies

__13__

Level 1

8 points

Nov 17, 2021 10:28 AM in response to mbmendo

I am having the same issues with the VEC Infinity USB-2. Has there been an update? Is Apple trying to fix the issue?

EDITED TO ADD: It may not be a convenient fix, but I have found if I don't maximise the window I'm typing in (keep it smaller than the others) and position the cursor over one of background windows when I use the pedal, the right click doesn't keep flashing up. Don't know if this will help anyone, just FYI.

btench

Level 1

0 points

Dec 6, 2021 11:48 AM in response to btench

One more workaround... turning on the alternate pointer actions allows me to raise my eyebrows to left-click and get the menu to go away (I have to have my pointer pointed on an area of the screen that will not move my cursor, such as the marginalia of my document. This works quite well.

Nov 7, 2021 4:19 AM in response to MattDerby

I have the same foot pedal. I reached out to the manufacturer before finding this forum and they indicated that it is an Apple issue and there probably is not foot pedal to support the Monterey OS as it is so new. I've had to revert back to my Windows computer to complete the work I have. I find it frustrating as I've put all this money into a brand spanking new Mac desktop computer and I can't use it for what I purchased it for.

mbmendo Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 11, 2021 5:02 AM in response to Sneakyninja

I have just tried out the USB-3 Infinity pedal and can confirm that it works with Express Scribe 9.22 on Monterey 12.0.1

Though for some reason, even with feet nowhere near the pedal, the audio keeps apparently autoplaying after a timeout of a minute or so.

I prefer the design of the mk2, as the mk3 has a lower profile on the side pedals which means unwanted presses.

But at least I can get back to work :) I hope people have found this thread useful. I certainly have, so thanks for all the contributions.

mbmendo Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 8, 2021 2:57 AM in response to mbmendo

You can contact vec through their contact page - http://veccorp.com/contact-us.html

If Apple erase that link it is, all joined up, http : / / vec corp dot com / contact - us . html

mbmendo Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 8, 2021 10:28 AM in response to jag1963

Jim at VEC also said:

"I am waiting for a gentlemen in the UK to test the Infinity-3 USB and will get back to you ASAP."

Watch this space. A new pedal will be cheaper than buying Parallels so I'll go that route if the pedal works in that guy's test.

mokismom

Level 1

8 points

Feb 4, 2022 7:59 PM in response to mbmendo

I discussed it with Apple this week as well, and was told that Apple would not be doing anything with their operating system to fix such a small subset of customers that are having problems with a secondary component. :[ I get it... but really do we all need to go buy a new pedal or complain to all the foot pedal companies to change when it is obviously Apple's OS that is glitching and confusing a foot pedal with a mouse? And is there any guarantee that ANY pedal won't have this problem? I can't find any on Amazon that claim to work with Monterey.

Feb 8, 2022 6:24 PM in response to mbmendo

I experienced the same issue when I updated to Monterey. One workaround is try reconfiguring footpedal buttons. I am using right button to play/pause, middle has no action, and left one to fastforward. In this way, when I press the right button, the contextual menu doesn't appear. I can uneventfully type on Word. However, if you go to the browser, and try to type and pause/play with the reconfigured button at the same time, it is identified as a mouse again and the scroll button is activated. It is annoying but better than the contextual menu on Word. At least you can transcribe peacefully.

Hope this helps.

Feb 23, 2022 3:14 PM in response to mbmendo

I switched to the USB-3 pedal because that seemed to be the only solution. But I have the same issue you have -- the outer pedals are too low so I often end up rewinding or fast forwarding, both of which are so annoying. But the foot pedal otherwise works as it should. Grrr

Oct 27, 2021 8:00 AM in response to mbmendo

Also, you can do as I described, and install Big Sur on an external drive, to manage temporarily until this issue is fixed.

Nov 4, 2021 5:38 AM in response to mbmendo

Wish I'd read this yesterday before installing Monterey. Same problem. Same puzzlement from Apple. Out of interest, is this with many different foot pedals or one specific brand? I'm using a VEC Infinity.

mbmendo Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 7, 2021 4:26 AM in response to Teamster079

I find this baffling - undoubtedly due to my complete lack of technical knowledge on this subject - but surely all a pedal can possibly be is a binary switch. Its only job is to switch things on or off, so why would a simple switch cause this kind of issue?

Right now I either have to continually click the menus off - which totally breaks my flow (which involves using the mac dictation), or else use my old MBP which cannot upgrade to Monterey. But the whole point of the iMac is to give me real space to work.

It still seems like this is an Apple problem. It just does not seem like it should be this big a problem.

Nov 10, 2021 3:43 PM in response to mbmendo

Thank you so much for this post! I just upgraded and the same happened to me. I called apple and they told me the same thing, that I had to call pedal company. But I had not found this post or I would have pointed out that it's not the pedal, but the upgrade. I am also using an Infinity Ver.14, so please let me know if the Infinity 3 USB version helps. Thanks so much!

mbmendo Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 22, 2021 6:54 AM in response to __13__

By way of a strange epilogue to this, for another reason, I had to downgrade to Big Sur - and found that my USB-3 pedal now does that weird right mouse click thing!

Having found a couple of issues with Monterey, for the time being I am loathe to upgrade back to it. But it does mean that I get to use my old USB-2 pedal - the design of which I prefer to the new one. It has a higher profile on the outer pedals, making it easier to use for me.

Jan 31, 2022 2:03 PM in response to mbmendo

I just did the Monterey update and the same exact thing is happening to me. I have documents due but can't complete them due to the splash popup menus every time I hit the foot pedal. As you said, the only way to get rid of these menus is taking my hands off the keyboard to touch the mouse.

Please let me know if you've figured out a workaround - I rely on Scribe and the AltoEdge foot pedal to do all my work and I need a solution asap.

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Peripheral issue - Mac now treating foot pedal as a mouse