How to use mouse side buttons on a Mac
InputConfig is completely free on the Mac App Store. You don't have to make an account, there are no subscriptions, and nothing is locked. Optimized for Apple silicon.
To use a mouse's side buttons on a Mac, give them a job with an app, because macOS passes Button 4 and Button 5 to the app in front and leaves each app to decide, and many apps have no job for them. On Windows they go back and forward. On a Mac they often seem dead. macOS itself can only put Mission Control, app windows or Show Desktop on them. I built InputConfig, a free app, and it reads those buttons from any mouse, no vendor app needed, and gives each one any job you pick: back and forward, a keyboard shortcut, a macro, dictation, a Siri Shortcut, or a different job in every app.
On this page
Set it up
The mouse button walkthrough shows each step with a picture.
- Install InputConfig and allow Accessibility access.
- Add a row with the input type Mouse, kind Button, and pick Scan in the button menu. Click the side button. The row names it Button 4 or Button 5.
- Choose the output. Command left bracket and Command right bracket give back and forward in browsers and the Finder.
- In the row's Options, turn on Block the button's own action if the button already did something you do not want.
- Press Activate.
The built-in Keyboard & Mouse Input preset already does this: both side buttons send back and forward, with their own action blocked.
Stop a side button doing two things
InputConfig listens alongside macOS, so a button keeps whatever it already did and the new job happens on top. In an app that already goes back on Button 4, adding Command left bracket would go back twice. Since version 1.6 a row can prevent that.
- You: Open the row's Options and, in the Press box, turn on Block the button's own action.
- InputConfig: While the preset runs, apps stop seeing that button, so it does only what the row says. Stop the preset and it works as usual.
- Check: Press the button in Safari and it goes back one page, not two.
Blocking is offered for the middle button and the side buttons, never for left and right click, so a click cannot be lost.
What macOS does on its own
Before installing anything, look in System Settings, Desktop & Dock and press Shortcuts near the bottom. Depending on your mouse, a second column of menus appears beside the keyboard ones, and it can put Mission Control, Application windows or Show Desktop on a mouse button. If that is all you want, you are done.
What macOS cannot do is give a side button a keyboard shortcut, so back and forward in Safari and the Finder, copy and paste, or switching Spaces all need an app. System Settings, Mouse only swaps the left and right buttons.
Good jobs for two side buttons
- Back and forward. Command left bracket and Command right bracket: Back and Forward in Safari, Chrome and the Finder.
- Switch Spaces. Control left arrow and Control right arrow, the macOS shortcuts for the Space to the left and right.
- Copy and paste. Command C on one, Command V on the other.
- Undo and redo. Command Z and Shift Command Z, in an editor.
- System functions. Mission Control, Spotlight, Launchpad, Play / Pause, volume and lock screen as system functions, no shortcut needed.
- Dictation. On a thumb button, so dictation starts with one press.
- A Siri Shortcut, an app or a web page. Opened with one click.
- A macro. A timed series of keys and clicks, or a line of text typed for you.
Each button can carry three of these at once: a click, a hold past a threshold, and a double click, which on a Mouse row is its own input, so the single click is not delayed. Make one preset per app and turn on auto-switch, and the side buttons change jobs when the app changes: tabs in the browser, undo and redo in an editor.
When the side buttons do nothing at all
Climb this ladder, smallest step first:
- See what the Mac receives. Add a Mouse row, pick Scan in its button menu, and click the side button. If the row changes to Button 4, Button 5 or a higher number, the mouse is sending a standard button and InputConfig can use it. The Live Visualizer's Mouse map lights the side buttons too.
- Check the mouse maker's app. A tool such as Logi Options+ can give a button its own job, and then the click may never reach macOS as Button 4. Set that button back to its default in the maker's app, or quit the app, and scan again.
- Know the buttons nothing else can read. DPI switches, profile buttons, and some thumb or gesture buttons talk only to the maker's software. Nothing else can read those, InputConfig included. The two side buttons on most gaming mice report as standard buttons 4 and 5, so they work without the maker's software.
- Give the button a job and press Activate. The preset has to be running. The side buttons work in every app while it runs.
The whole back button problem, Safari and the Finder in particular, has its own page: mouse back button not working on a Mac.
InputConfig and the other mouse apps
| App | What it is best at |
|---|---|
| macOS Desktop & Dock shortcuts | Mission Control, app windows, or Show Desktop on a mouse button. Built in. |
| SensibleSideButtons | Back and forward on Button 4 and 5 everywhere, and nothing else. Free and open source. |
| LinearMouse, Mac Mouse Fix, SteerMouse | The feel of the mouse: scroll direction and smoothness, pointer speed and acceleration, plus button actions. |
| Logi Options+, Razer and other maker apps | Their own mice: DPI, lighting, onboard profiles, and buttons only the maker's app can see. |
| InputConfig | Any job on any standard button up to Button 32, per app, with holds, double clicks, macros, Siri Shortcuts, and dictation, and the button's own action blocked if you want. The same preset can hold keyboard, game controller, and MIDI rows. Free, open source, no account. |
InputConfig does not change scrolling speed, smooth scrolling, pointer acceleration or DPI. The mouse apps above, or the maker's own software, handle those, and they run fine alongside. I would use InputConfig for what the buttons do and leave scrolling and pointer speed to a mouse app.
The short version
- Scan the button. A Mouse row names it Button 4 or Button 5.
- Give it a shortcut. Use Command left bracket and right bracket for back and forward.
- Block its own action. So a browser does not go back twice.
Block the button's own action, or one press in a browser goes back twice.
Questions
Do Logitech side buttons work without Logi Options+?
If the mouse reports them as standard buttons 4 and 5, yes. Check with Scan in a Mouse row, or the Live Visualizer's Mouse map: press the button and see whether it registers. The same goes for Razer, Redragon and most other gaming mice.
Can the thumb button on an MX Master be remapped?
Only if it reports as a standard button. Some vendor buttons send their own signal that only the vendor's app reads. Scan in a Mouse row shows which kind yours is.
How do I make mouse side buttons go back and forward on a Mac?
Bind one side button to Command left bracket and the other to Command right bracket in InputConfig. That is back and forward in Safari, Chrome and the Finder. The built-in Keyboard & Mouse Input preset already sets both side buttons to back and forward and blocks their own action, so a browser that also reacts to them does not go back twice.
Can I use buttons 6 and up?
Yes, if the mouse reports them as standard buttons. The button menu on a Mouse row lists up to Button 8, More buttons reaches Button 32, and Scan catches any button macOS sees. Extra mouse buttons on a Mac covers gaming mice whose extra buttons send keys instead.
Can I turn a side button off?
Yes, while a preset runs. Bind the button in a row and turn on Block the button's own action in the row's Options. Apps stop seeing it and it does only what the row says. Leave the row's output empty if you want it to do nothing. Left and right click cannot be blocked.
Why don't my mouse side buttons work on a Mac?
macOS passes Button 4 and Button 5 to the app in front, and many Mac apps have no job for them, so they seem dead. The mouse is usually fine. An app such as InputConfig, which is free with nothing locked, can give them a job in every app.
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