3 Handy Mouse Tricks You’ve Never Heard Before -[Windows]
The computer mouse is an incredibly nifty device, which is used by lot of
people and they do not use to its full potential. There are many more things
the mouse can do than left-click to move and select things or right-click to
bring up context menus. Many of the tricks are easy to learn as they depend on
no more than three keyboard keys.it can use to improve your work efficiency and
your work easier.
if you are slightly geeky and know your way around with computers, you have
probably heard of a few of these tricks or maybe even most of them. However,
I’m sure that the average person will find at
least three Windows mouse tricks they have never heard of before. I have
included some simple tricks to offer a somewhat complete list for those who are
not as experienced.
Left Mouse Button Tricks
You hopefully know that you can use the [SHIFT] key to select multiple items
in a folder. Now, you can do the same for text on a website or in a document.
Just click the start point of the paragraph you want to select, then hold the
[SHIFT] key, while you click at the end point of what you want to select., that
whole chunk of text has been highlighted and can now be copied or edited.
To select text, left-click first character, then hold [SHIFT] key and select
last character.
If you are a little more advanced, and
want more to do with this you can also select a random series of items in a
folder by holding down the [CTRL] key as you select the items. Again, the same
can be done when you want to select multiple random chunks of text in a
document. Just hold onto the [CTRL] key as you go and highlight whatever you
want to select. This will not work everywhere, but it does work very nicely in
Office documents.
- To select pieces of text, hold [CTRL] key as you make
your selection using the left mouse button.
Now here is a very advanced text
selection trick. This one allows you to select text vertically. As the previous
trick, this will not work everywhere, but does work inside word. Simply press
the [ALT] key and select text using the right mouse button.
- Vertically select text by pressing [ALT] key while
selecting text with right-mouse button.
We all know that we can use the
mouse to drag and drop items, even multiple ones. Did you know that is makes a
difference what keyboard keys you are pushing while you use the mouse to drag
and drop items? Hold down the [CTRL] key to copy items. Use the [SHIFT] key to
move items.
- [CTRL] + left mouse button to drag&drop item/s =
copy item/s
- [SHIFT] + left mouse button to drag&drop item/s =
move item/s
The next two tricks are a little
silly. You already know that you can use your mouse to click the buttons in the
top right to close or maximize a window. But did you know you could
double-click the center of the title bar to maximize a window? Well, if you
knew that, try to double-click the top left corner in the title bar to close
it? How is that? This may come in handy in case your mouse happens to be far
from the top right corner and you can’t be bothered to move it there. Other
than that, me thinks this is about as useful as your appendix.
- Double-click title bar of any window to maximize it.
- Double-click top left corner in title bar of any window
to close it.
Right Mouse Button
Tricks
Above I showed you how you can use different keyboard keys to copy or move
items while dragging and dropping items with your mouse. If you ever forget
which keys to hold for what effect, just try to drag&drop items with the
right mouse button instead of the left mouse button! Once you release the mouse
button to drop the items, this will bring up a context menu that asks you what
you want to do, i.e. copy here, move here, or create a shortcut. Handy, eh?
- Drag&drop
with right mouse button for action menu.
Everyone knows that the right-mouse
button is used to open context menus for files and folders. Did you know that
holding the [SHIFT] key as you do so will often reveal hidden options? Below is
an example of right-clicking into the Library folder. Can you come up with more
exciting revelations?
- To open extended right-click context menu, hold [SHIFT]
key as you right-click.
-
Scroll Wheel or Middle
Mouse Button Tricks
Many people don’t realize that the
scroll wheel often functions as a button. This is true for most mice, that
otherwise lack a middle mouse button. And that combination of scroll wheel and
middle mouse button has skills!
Since you are probably all excited
about this one if you just discovered it, let’s start with the middle mouse
button. If you already knew, the first trick will be old news for you, but hang
on for the second one! The middle mouse button can be used to open links in a
new tab in your browser. So instead of left- or right-clicking a link, try to
middle-click it.
- Open links in new tab by clicking them with middle
mouse button.
The second middle mouse button trick
is also done in your browser. Open a new tab. And now to close it, simply click
it with the middle mouse button.
- Close open tabs by clicking them using the middle mouse
button.
Now here is a trick for the scroll
wheel. Did you know that in many Windows applications, including your browser,
you can use this awesome button, to zoom in and out? This even works in Windows
Explorer, i.e. folders? Open a folder and hold the [CTRL] button while
scrolling. Inside folders, it actually scrolls through the various view
options, but at some point it also zooms in, until you have giant icons. More
importantly, however, this trick can help you read better, when the font on a
website or in a document is too small.
- Hold [CTRL] button and scroll up to zoom in (enlarge
text size) or scroll down to zoom out (reduce text size).
