Tuesday Quick Tips: Middle Click…

Written by The Digitante on March 10, 2010 - 3 Comments
Categories: TQT, computer, productivity

If you’ve ever used a mouse, you pretty quickly notice there is a left mouse button which you can use to click, double click, and hold down to drag things around. The right button brings up a little menu called the context menu that has commands that you can use to perform available actions such as copy and paste, create a new folder, and look at the properties of various items. Finally, there is a scroll wheel that allows you to, well, scroll around on web pages and documents.

What you may not realize is that the scroll wheel also has the ability to click! You may have to investigate what it does in various circumstances, but here are a couple things for you to try out:

  1. When browsing the web, click the scroll wheel on a link. You will notice that link opens in a separate tab or window in the background leaving your current page available to continue using. Most of the links on my site will open in a separate tab or window, however, they open immediately, taking you away from whatever you were reading. This is especially helpful for things like Friday Night Links. Try scroll wheel clicking each link, then you can go read them after you’ve read all my commentary!
  2. Open up a PDF document (try it on a Form 1040 in honor of tax season). If you scroll wheel click on the PDF, you will see a circle with some arrows pop up. If you move the mouse, it will pan around the PDF. It makes for nice fluid navigation of PDF documents.

Now that you are armed with these tips, try scroll wheel clicking in other programs. Let me know if you find any other secret middle clicking secrets in the comments!


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3 Responses to “Tuesday Quick Tips: Middle Click…”

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  1. Eddie
    March 10, 2010 at 12:57 pm

    You can also close tabs in web browsers like Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and IE by clicking anywhere on the tab with the middle button. I’ve noticed that it works in other programs that support tabs like Notepad++.
    Eddie´s last blog ..Evernote for Mac Update (1.7.1)

  2. The Digitante
    March 11, 2010 at 3:56 pm

    I knew that one, but it had been a long time since I had used it. I just started using it again at work after you mentioned. Much easier to hit the large tab than to have to aim at that little X button to close it.

  3. Eddie
    March 11, 2010 at 4:01 pm

    I figured you knew that one and were just giving us mortals a chance. :)

    Actually, I find the middle button the most useful in IE since MS doesn’t put an “x” on tabs that aren’t in focus. It definitely makes closing tabs more efficient.
    Eddie´s last blog ..Evernote for Mac Update (1.7.1)

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