Mapping keyboard keys mac install#
Mapping keyboard keys mac drivers#
Mapping keyboard keys mac software#

(No Mac has shipped with an eSATA port, but if youвЂ™ve added an eSATA port to your Mac, you can use eSATA drives, too.) However, Windows-formatted drives donвЂ™t support all Mac features.

This includes any external hard drive that uses USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt. The third-party utility Scroll Reverser lets you tweak OS XвЂ™s natural-scrolling setting independently for mice and trackpads-you can keep natural scrolling enabled for your trackpad, for instance, but revert to traditional scrolling for the scrollwheel on your mouse.ДЄ Mac can read from and write to a hard drive formatted for Windows as FAT32 (but not as NTFS), assuming that you can connect the drive to your Mac.

For example, you may discover that you dislike natural scrolling for your mouse, but you prefer it for your trackpad or pen tablet because on those devices scrolling feels more like scrolling on an iPad or smartphone. OS XвЂ™s natural-scrolling feature applies to any pointing/scrolling device, but you might not want the setting to be universal. Fed up with natural scrolling? Change it with Scroll Reverser.

Mapping keyboard keys mac drivers#

If drivers arenвЂ™t available directly from the vendor, USB Overdrive and SteerMouse, mentioned above, will often fill the gap similarly, if you have a Windows-formatted trackpad accessory, BetterTouchTool may let you tweak its functions under OS X.

Mapping keyboard keys mac install#

As with multibutton mice, however, you may need to install drivers (from each peripheralвЂ™s vendor) to enable all of their features. Most other third-party input devices-including trackpads and pen tablets-should work with your Mac. If drivers arenвЂ™t available directly from the vendor, consider the third-party utilities USB Overdrive and SteerMouse they work with most mice and let you assign custom functions to each button, as well as perform other tweaks. Check the vendorвЂ™s website for OS X drivers for your mouse. If you own a mouse with more than two buttons, the extra buttons might work in OS X, but they may require a driver. Apple calls this approach вЂњnatural scrolling,вЂќ but if you find it unnatural-and if youвЂ™re not willing to acclimate to it-you can revert to traditional scrolling by using the Scroll direction setting in Mouse or Trackpad preferences. Note that in OS X 10.7 Lion and later, scrolling works the opposite of what Windows users are used to: When you spin your mouseвЂ™s scrollwheel toward you, the content of the current document or window scrolls down. Change the tracking speed under Mouse preferences. You control the mouseвЂ™s basic features-tracking speed, scrolling speed, double-click speed, and primary mouse button-in the Mouse pane of System Preferences. MiceДЄs with keyboards, any USB or Bluetooth mouse (including wireless mice that connect through a USB dongle) will work with the Mac youвЂ™ll be able to click and right-click just as you did under Windows, and if your mouse has a scrollwheel, that will work, too.

Mapping keyboard keys mac software#

You canвЂ™t trigger these special functions on a Windows keyboard by default, although if you pick up third-party software such as Keyboard Maestro, you can assign these actions to keys. On these keyboards, the F-keys let you-to name a few examples-adjust volume and screen brightness, control media playback, and access OS XвЂ™s built-in Mission Control and ExposГ© features. Add special functions to your third-party keyboard with Keyboard Maestro.ДЇinally, many Mac-formatted keyboards have special functions assigned to the F-keys along the top row.