Mouse click acts like option key is pressed.

Question

Mouse click acts like option key is pressed.

From time to time, for no apparent reason, the left (principal) mouse button behaves as though the option key were pressed. If notice this mostly working with Filemaker Pro 11 Advanced, but it seems to be a system-wide phenomenon once it starts. When it occurs, for example, clicking the close button in one window of an application will close all of that application's windows. Opening a FileMaker database from the menu using the mouse will force FM to prompt for the database's password, even if has been stored in my keychain.

Resetting or fiddling with the mouse System Preferences does not fix the problem. Rebooting works, but the problem eventually reappears. I can't isolate exactly what precipitates the effect.

I'm using both a wired Mighty Mouse and a new Magic Mouse (at work or at home, depending), so it does not seem to depend on mouse hardware. I've changed the USB port for the wired mouse - that doesn't help.

Checking the Keyboard Viewer does not show the Option key as pressed, and indeed the keyboard works normally.

Not fatal, but very annoying and inconvenient. Has anyone else seen these or know of a solution?

Thanks in advance.

Macbook (late 2008), Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Jan 11, 2011 9:26 AM

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Answer 1

arthur

Level 5

5,254 points

Jan 11, 2011 11:53 AM in response to Walter Morris2

Sounds like you may have a corrupted preferences file.
Go to:
(your user account)/Library/Preferences
and look for a file called
com.apple.systempreferences.plist
and drag it to the trash.
Restart your computer or log out and then back into your user account.
See if the problem is fixed. All your preferences will be reset to their defaults so you'll have to reenter them.

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Answer 2

Jan 26, 2011 8:39 AM in response to arthur

UPDATE

I need to revise my report. The condition does not, in fact, appear to affect windows other than FileMaker Pro (FMP). Following arthur's advice (thanks!) did not prevent the problem from recurring. I now conclude that the issue is FileMaker's. We'll see if deleting a similar preference file for FMP works.

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Answer 3

hon-za

Level 1

4 points

Mar 8, 2011 11:54 PM in response to Walter Morris2

I was experiencing the same problem. The cause of this weird behavior seems to be in using the "Show and autofill" shortcut to create an item in Things.

If you use Things, try to use FileMaker for a minute to verify it's ok. Then switch to Safari or Mail and use the "Show and autofill" shortcut (Command-Control-Option-Space by default IIRC) to create an item in Things. Then switch back to FileMaker and try to open a file or move an object in layout mode. It will start behaving like if you are holding the option key permanently.

Also try to evaluate the Get(ActiveModifierKeys) function and you'll be surprised even more...

I have just reported this bug to Cultured Code but you may want to report it as well to let them know that I am not the only user having this issue.

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Answer 4

hon-za

Level 1

4 points

Mar 11, 2011 2:41 PM in response to Walter Morris2

I have just received this response from Cultured Code:

There is a known issue where Things triggers a Mac OS bug which adversely affects Adobe software (CS4 & CS5 confirmed), it may of course also affect other applications.

This issue appears to be due to a change Apple made to an API (CGEventPost()) in OS 10.6.5 which Things uses to invoke the autofill feature during Quick Entry. The hotkey you set for this in Things preferences uses that API to indirectly call another key combo (you can see this combo in System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Services > 'New To-do Containing Selection' - by default it should be Shift-Ctrl-Opt-Cmd-0). After invoking this secondary key combo we suspect that the OS then does not let go of one or more of these virtual key-presses and thereby inadvertently causes problems in Adobe software (such as an error at runtime, an inability to draw curved lines, etc.). When it occurs, you can usually restore normal keyboard function by logging out and back into Mac OS.

Unfortunately we have no way to directly address this problem in the API ourselves; hopefully Apple can fix the problem, as Things is not the only software that triggers this bug.

In the meantime, the workaround is for users of Adobe software to utilize the key combo found in the OS preferences instead of what is set in Things preferences (this does however partially limit the quick entry functionality).

So I tried to disable the shortcut in preferences inside Things and set it inside System Preferences and so far the issue seems to be resolved for me.

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Answer 5

Apr 29, 2011 7:55 AM in response to hon-za

Thanks! I had this exact same problem.

Programs that I know for sure it was affecting:

Adobe Illustrator CS5

Filemaker Pro 11

Following your suggestion, I simply disabled the preference within Things, logged out and the problem appears to have corrected itself.

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