Questions

Mouse back button not working on a Mac

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The mouse is usually fine. The back and forward buttons are Button 4 and Button 5, macOS hands them to whichever app is in front, and many Mac apps, Safari and the Finder among them, have no job for them. The fix is to give those two buttons the keyboard shortcuts for Back and Forward. InputConfig, a free app I made, does that in a couple of minutes, and its built-in Keyboard & Mouse Input preset already has both rows.

On this page
  1. Steps
  2. Know why it happens
  3. Fix it in four steps
  4. If an app now goes back twice
  5. If the button does not register at all
  6. Other ways to fix it
  7. The short version
  8. Questions

Steps

  1. Install InputConfig and allow Accessibility access.
  2. Add a Mouse row, Scan the back button, and send Command left bracket.
  3. Add a second Mouse row for the forward button with Command right bracket.
  4. Activate and try it in Safari and the Finder.

Know why it happens

On Windows, back and forward on a mouse are handled for every app. On a Mac they are not. An app has to choose to listen for Button 4 and Button 5, some do and many do not, and System Settings has no switch that turns them into Back and Forward. So the same mouse can go back in one app and do nothing in the next.

What every Mac app does understand is a keyboard shortcut: Back is Command left bracket and Forward is Command right bracket in Safari, Chrome, and the Finder.

Fix it in four steps

The mouse button walkthrough shows each step with a picture.

  1. Install InputConfig from the Mac App Store and allow Accessibility access when it asks. It needs no other permission to read the mouse.
  2. Make a preset and add a Mouse row. Pick Scan in the button menu and click the back button on the side of the mouse. The row changes to Button 4. Give it the output Command left bracket.
  3. Add a second Mouse row the same way for the forward button, Button 5, with Command right bracket. Press Activate.
  • You: Click the side buttons in Safari and the Finder.
  • InputConfig: Sends Command left bracket and Command right bracket.
  • Check: Back and forward now work there, and in any app that uses the same shortcuts.
A Mouse row in the InputConfig editor with Button 4 as the input and Command left bracket as the output.
Figure 1. Button 4 sends Command left bracket, the Back shortcut in Safari, Chrome and the Finder.

To skip the setup, activate the built-in Keyboard & Mouse Input preset: its two side-button rows send exactly these shortcuts.

The input device menu in the editor with This Mac's mouse or trackpad (any mouse) in the list.
Figure 2. Step one: choose This Mac's mouse or trackpad as the input device.
A row whose input is Mouse, with its button menu open on Button 4, Button 5 and More buttons.
Figure 3. Step two: pick Button 4, the back button on most mice.
Two Mouse rows: Button 4 sending Command left bracket and Button 5 sending Command right bracket.
Figure 4. Step three: send Command [, the Mac's own shortcut for back. Do the same for Button 5 with Command ].

If an app now goes back twice

InputConfig adds a job to the button. On its own it does not take away what the button already did. In an app that already answered the back button, the button then does both. Climb this ladder, smallest step first:

  1. Block the button's own action. Tick Block the button's own action on the row, and while the preset runs the button does only its new job. The built-in side-button rows already do this.
  2. Leave that app out. Make the preset belong to the other apps with per-app auto-switch, or keep a second preset with no mouse rows for that app.
A Mouse row's Options with the option that blocks the button's own action turned on.
Figure 5. If an app goes back twice, tick this so the button's own action is held back.

If the button does not register at all

Climb this ladder, smallest step first:

  1. Scan it. On a Mouse row, pick Scan in the button menu and click the button. If the row changes to Button 4 or Button 5, the Mac sees it. The Live Visualizer's Mouse & Trackpad view lights it too.
  2. Check the mouse maker's app. Logi Options+ and similar apps can give a button their own job, and then the click may not reach macOS as Button 4. Reset that button in the maker's app, or quit it, and scan again.
  3. Re-pair a Bluetooth mouse. If the pointer moves but no side button scans, turn the mouse off and on, or remove it in System Settings, Bluetooth and pair it again.
  4. Check the button itself. DPI and profile switches, and some thumb buttons, talk only to the maker's software. No other app can read those.

Other ways to fix it

  • SensibleSideButtons. A small free, open source app that does only this: back and forward on the side buttons. If that is all you want, it is a fine choice.
  • The mouse maker's app. It can map the buttons for its own mice.
  • InputConfig. Worth it if you want more from the buttons: a different job per app, a hold or a double click as a second action, Mission Control, dictation, or a Siri Shortcut. The mouse side buttons guide has ideas.

The short version

  • The cause. Many Mac apps ignore Button 4 and Button 5.
  • The fix. Send Command left bracket and Command right bracket from them.
  • The fastest route. That is the built-in Keyboard & Mouse Input preset.

Give the buttons the shortcut, and back works in every app that knows it.

Questions

Why does the back button work in Finder but not in Safari?

Each Mac app decides for itself whether to listen for mouse Button 4 and Button 5, so one app can answer them and the next can ignore them. Scan the button in InputConfig to check that the Mac receives it. Then map Button 4 and Button 5 to Command left bracket and Command right bracket, which Safari and the Finder both treat as Back and Forward.

How do I go back in the Finder with a mouse?

Give Button 4 the shortcut Command left bracket in InputConfig. That is the Finder's own Back shortcut, so the side button then goes back a folder.

Does a Magic Mouse have a back button?

No. A Magic Mouse has no side buttons. Swipe left or right with one finger to go back and forward, set under Swipe between pages in System Settings, Mouse.

Why does my Logitech mouse back button do nothing on a Mac?

Most Logitech mice send the back and forward buttons as standard Button 4 and Button 5, which many Mac apps ignore. If Logi Options+ or G HUB runs, it can also give the button its own job so it never reaches macOS as Button 4. Reset the button there or quit the app, then Scan it in InputConfig and send Command left bracket.

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