How to Right Click on a Mac Without a Mouse

Apple invested a lot of time and money in creating some of the best trackpads for the MacBook. These trackpads are one smooth slab of glass that blends in perfectly with your Mac. Moreover, you can click and press anywhere on the entire trackpad. Now, as much as this is beneficial, the Mac trackpad lacks dedicated left and right click buttons. This leads to the question, “How to right click on a Mac without using a mouse?”

Many users who are new to Mac or haven’t used it without a mouse before are uncertain of how to right click on Mac. If you’re in the same boat, read along to learn several different ways to right click on Mac without using an external mouse.

Best Ways to Right Click on a Mac Without Mouse

1. Use Control-Click Method

Control-click on Mac is similar to right click on Windows. It serves the same function. All you need to do is press the Ctrl key on your Keyboard and click on the item on the screen. Doing so will open the shortcut or contextual menu. The result of Control-click will differ from location to location. However, it is one of the ways to right click on a Mac without using a mouse.

2. Set Two-Finger Tap for Right Click

Many might find holding the Control key and then clicking on an item to be a tedious task. If that’s how you feel, you can enable Click or Tap with Two Fingers to Right click (Secondary click) on Mac. Follow the steps mentioned below to enable the “Tap with Two-Fingers” gesture to right click on Mac.

3. Use Right Click Corner on Trackpad

Some of us have been using laptops as our primary work devices for a very long time. The moment we switch to Mac, we start missing the physical right click key below the trackpad. Many might even keep clicking the right corner because of muscle memory.

If you’re one of these people, you can use the right corner of your Mac’s trackpad as a right click. Yes, it is an inbuilt feature and you won’t need to mess with anything. Follow the steps below to use the right corner of your trackpad as the right-click button.

1. Open System Settings on your Mac.

2. Scroll down in the sidebar and click the Trackpad option.

3. Now, head to the Point & Click tab.

4. Here, click the list beside the Secondary click option.

5. From the drop-down menu, select the Click in Bottom-Right Corner option.

Now, whenever you want to right-click on your Mac, just click at the bottom right corner. You can assign the secondary click function to the left corner. All you have to do is select the Click in the Bottom-Left corner option in the last step.

4. Use the Accessibility Option for Right Click.

There is an Accessibility shortcut that allows you to right-click on your Mac without using the mouse button. It can come in handy if your Mac’s trackpad is not registering clicks. Here’s how to enable and use the Accessibility Keyboard Shortcut to right-click on Mac.

1. Press Command + Option + F5 keys simultaneously on your Mac’s keyboard and the Accessibility Shortcuts menu will pop open.

2. Select the checkbox beside the Mouse Keys option from the list and click Done.

3. Now, whenever you want to right click on Mac, drag the cursor on the item and press the Function + Control + I keys simultaneously.

Enable Force Click and Haptic Feedback

Since we’re already on the topic of customizing the trackpad to suit your needs, allow me to share a very useful feature called Force Click. While it is not even remotely close to the right click, Force Click can help you get more information from just a simple click.

Some of the functionalities of Force Click are Look Up, Quick Look, Preview Links, View Contact Cards in iMessage, etc. We suggest you refer to Apple’s Force Click article for more details. With that said, here’s how to enable and use Force Click on Mac.

1. Open System Settings on your Mac.

2. Scroll down in the sidebar and click the Trackpad option.

3. Head to the Point & Click tab.

4. Here, enable the Force Click and haptic feedback toggle.

5. Now, click the drop-down menu beside the Look Up & data detectors option.

6. Select the Force Click with One Finger or Tap with Three Fingers option from the list.

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