How to Right Click on a Mac or MacBook (6 Ways + Fixes)

To right click on a Mac, hold the Control key and click, or click the trackpad with two fingers. On a Magic Mouse, press the right half of the mouse. Apple calls this a "secondary click" or Control-click, and it opens the same shortcut menu you get from a right click on Windows.

Control-click is the one way to right click on a Mac that works everywhere, with no setup. The other methods depend on one setting in System Settings (System Preferences on older macOS), and that setting is the first thing to check if right click stops working.

Key Takeaways

• Holding Control while you click is a right click on any Mac, with any mouse or trackpad, and needs no setup.
• On a MacBook trackpad, click with two fingers. A light two-finger tap only works if Tap to click is turned on.
• Apple's name for right click is "Secondary click." You change it under System Settings > Trackpad or System Settings > Mouse.
• A three-finger tap and a force click are not right clicks on a Mac. They open Look up, not the shortcut menu.
• If right click works in Finder but not on one website, that website is blocking the menu. Your Mac is fine.

Which right-click method works on my Mac?

How do you right click on a MacBook trackpad?

Rest two fingers on the trackpad and press down until it clicks. That's the default right click on every MacBook and on Apple's Magic Trackpad.

If two fingers feels awkward, you can change it. Go to System Settings > Trackpad and open the Secondary click menu. Apple gives you three choices: click with two fingers, click in the bottom right corner, or click in the bottom left corner. The bottom-right option feels most like a Windows laptop, where the right side of the touchpad acts as the right button.

One detail catches out people switching from Windows. A light two-finger tap, without pressing down, only counts as a right click when Tap to click is switched on in the same settings page. With Tap to click off, you have to physically press. So if your two-finger right click "works sometimes," you're probably pressing on some tries and just tapping on others.

How do I right click on a Magic Mouse?

The Magic Mouse has no visible buttons, but the whole top surface is one. Press the right half to right click and the left half for a normal click.

If pressing the right side does nothing, open System Settings > Mouse and look at Secondary click. According to Apple's right-click guide, you can set it to the right side or the left side of the mouse, which is also how left-handed users swap it. If it's switched off, use Control-click until you turn it back on.

The simplest way to right click on a Mac with a mouse is an ordinary two-button mouse, wired or Bluetooth. Its right button works straight away, with no driver needed.

How do you right click on a Mac with the keyboard?

Control-click is the standard answer: hold Control, then click with whatever pointer you have. It works everywhere in macOS without any setup.

If you can't use a mouse or trackpad at all, there are two keyboard-only routes:

• Some Apple keyboards have a dedicated key for it. On the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad (USB-C), the Contextual Menu key sits below F13 and opens the same shortcut menu.
• On any Mac, go to System Settings > Accessibility > Pointer Control and turn on Alternate pointer actions. Per Apple's keyboard-as-a-mouse guide, this triggers left, right and double clicks from keyboard shortcuts or assistive switches. Mouse Keys, in the same pane, moves the pointer.

Does a three-finger tap or force click right click on a Mac?

No, even though some popular guides say it does. In Trackpad settings, "Tap with three fingers" and "Force click with one finger" are the two options for Look up & data detectors. That feature shows word definitions and link previews. It doesn't open the right-click menu.

Turn one on hoping for a right click and you'll get a dictionary pop-up instead. The only trackpad gestures that right click on a Mac are the two-finger click and the corner clicks.

Why is right click not working on my Mac?

If you right click on a Mac and nothing happens, work through these in order, quickest first.

• Check that Secondary click isn't off. Open System Settings > Trackpad (or Mouse) and look at the Secondary click menu. Someone else using your Mac, or you months ago, may have changed it.
• Press instead of tapping. If a two-finger tap stopped working but a firm two-finger press still works, Tap to click has been switched off. Turn it back on in the same settings page.
• Check whether it's only one website. Right click on your desktop or in a Finder window. If the menu appears there but not on a particular web page, the page is blocking it. MDN's documentation shows how a website can cancel the browser's right-click menu with a single line of code. Online editors and browser games often swap in a menu of their own. Nothing on your Mac needs fixing in that case.
• Test the button itself. A browser click tester shows exactly which button your Mac is sending, which separates a settings problem from a hardware one.

Test your right click

Use a press rather than a tap for this test, since some trackpads report taps differently. Two things are normal here. The tester logs a Control-click as a left click, because that's how browsers report it, so test with two fingers or the mouse's right button instead. And no menu pops up over the test area, because the tester blocks it on purpose so it doesn't cover the log.

If the log shows one press arriving as two clicks, the switch inside your mouse is wearing out. Our guide on how to fix mouse double clicking walks through that.

• Restart your Mac. On Apple silicon Macs (M1 and later), a restart is the whole reset: Apple's SMC support page says the SMC resets automatically and no other steps are needed. The Shift, Control, Option and power button combination in many guides only applies to Intel Macs. Apple menu > About This Mac shows which chip you have.
• Wireless mouse? Charge it and pair it again. A low battery or a glitchy Bluetooth connection can make clicks misbehave. Remove the mouse in Bluetooth settings, then pair it fresh.
• Still stuck on the built-in trackpad? Try Control-click. If Control-click opens the menu but a two-finger click never does, even after the steps above, the trackpad itself is the likely cause, and it's worth getting it checked by Apple.