Two Button Mouse Compatibility

[Mike Hammon]

Does anyone know of a two button mouse that is compatible with the Mac (has
Mac drivers) which will enable use of the same features in Office v.X that
the two button mouse does in Windows versons of Office.

For example, right clicking a misspelled word gives suggested correct
spellings in Windows.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[mmmmark]

Does anyone know of a two button mouse that is compatible with the Mac
(has
Mac drivers) which will enable use of the same features in Office v.X that
the two button mouse does in Windows versons of Office.

For example, right clicking a misspelled word gives suggested correct
spellings in Windows.

Thanks,
Mike

Almost _any_ two-button mouse will work right out of the box with OS X since
it has drivers built in. I've seen over a dozen various ones myself or on
other computers that worked instantly when plugged in.

-Mark

 

[Mike Hammon]

Thanks Mark for the quick reply, but my question is a bit more narrowly
focused on Office. Have you seen any of those mice that, when right-clicked
for example, energize special functions in Office applications like Word?

Thanks.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

It doesn't require the mouse to get special functions in Office. You have
access to all those functions without a two-button mouse by holding down
control as you click, in fact (control-click is the Mac equivalent of
right-click). Try it--works in any program that offers contextual menus,
including the Finder.

The mouse has nothing to do with it, and just about any mouse plugged in
will offer left-click and right-click. For say, a 5 button mouse where you
want to custom program the scroll wheel button, you do need something that
offers Mac drivers to get at the customization. (or for Apple's new mouse,
you need Tiger).

 

[Mike Hammon]

Dalya and Mark,

Thanks. I've been using control-click in Word and it does indeed work. I'm
just lazy enough from using Windows at work to want to use the mouse to do
the same functins when I use my Mac at home.

I think, from your suggestions, that the solution is to buy a programmable
mouse with Mac drivers and program one of the buttons to be control-click.
Maybe the Apple Mighty Mouse combined with USB override. Do any of
Microsoft's mice come with Mac drivers?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Michel Bintener]

Mike,
I don't want to generalise, but I should think that ANY two-button mouse
will work on a Mac the way you want, i.e. with the right button behaving as
ctrl-/right-click. I'm currently using a cheap Microsoft mouse with my
Powerbook
(http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/productdetails.aspx?pid=
007), and it didn't even come with an install disk, as it works straight out
of the box. And, best of all, as other posters have already pointed out, it
is even possible to configure standard mice (is that the plural for "mouse"
in the computer sense?), i.e. mice with two buttons and a scroll wheel, in
the OS's system preferences. For instance, my mouse has this scroll wheel
which also acts as a regular button, so I set it up to act as an Exposé
launcher, which is quite nice. It's only with more complex mice (more than
say, three buttons) that you'll need drivers for your Mac.

 

[Mike Hammon]

Michael, this is really great news. I think I can find some old MS mouse to
try on my Powerbook 667/Tiger.

Thanks to all for the help.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

And, best of all, as other posters have already pointed out, it
is even possible to configure standard mice (is that the plural for "mouse"
in the computer sense?), i.e. mice with two buttons and a scroll wheel, in
the OS's system preferences. For instance, my mouse has this scroll wheel
which also acts as a regular button, so I set it up to act as an Exposé
launcher, which is quite nice. It's only with more complex mice (more than
say, three buttons) that you'll need drivers for your Mac.

Didn't realize the OS could program the scroll wheel. Nice.

Daiya

 

[mmmmark]

The only trick is that it won't be very configurable (or at all). Some of
the mice that have custom software allow you to pick things like "one page
at a time" in the scroll speed and let you define prefs differently for each
application.

But I've used a microsoft mouse by plugging it in and having both buttons
and the scroll wheel work instantly.

-Mark