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https://github.com/MacGesture/MacGesture

Global mouse gestures for macOS
https://github.com/MacGesture/MacGesture

allow-list block-list gesture mac-app macos mouse mouse-gestures objective-c shortcuts

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Global mouse gestures for macOS

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README 

        

# MacGesture



![logo](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MacGesture/MacGesture/master/logo.png)



Configurable global mouse gestures for macOS.



> You can read this `README` file in **About** section in App Preferences.



## Installation



### Automatic Update



MacGesture will regularly check for updates and prompt you when new version is available. 👍



### Manually



Download the latese release bundle from [GitHub releases](https://github.com/MacGesture/MacGesture/releases) page.



### Homebrew



Simply use `brew install --cask macgesture`. 🙌



## Features



- Global mouse gestures recognition

- Configurable shortcut invocation by gesture

- App filtering based on bundle identifiers



## Gestures Format



| Gesture      | Acronym |

| ------------ | :-----: |

| Move Left    |   `L`   |

| Move Up      |   `U`   |

| Move Right   |   `R`   |

| Move Down    |   `D`   |

| Left Button  |   `Z`   |

| Wheel Up     |   `u`   |

| Wheel Dp     |   `d`   |



Gestures can contain wildcard matching (`?` and `*`).



The first rule matching will take effect.



`Z` is the acronym of pinyin of `左` which means “left” in English. So to distinguish _clicking the left mouse button_ from _dragging your mouse to the left_, we chose letter `Z`.



Wheel directions may vary according to system configuration (Natural scroll direction setting) or some system tweaks (Karabiner's Reverse Vertical Scrolling, for example).



## Known Issues



### Right click does not work in some Java applications



An imperfect fix:

Take WebStorm for example, open Preferences, then KeyMap, set the shortcut of “Show Context Menu” to `Button3 Click`.



### Cannot assign some system-wide shortcuts to rules



Reason:

macOS respond to system-wide shortcuts before MacGesture.



Fix:

Disable the shortcut first (for example in System Preferences → Keyboard → Shortcuts), then assign the shortcut in MacGesture, and re-enable the shortcut.



Caveats:

Some shortcuts still don't work with the fix above. When you are encountering this, here are two possible solutions:



- Change them to others (e.g. `⌃0`, `⌃9`).

- Tick “Invert Fn When Control Is Pressed” option.



## Tips



### Basic gestures



The following table covers probably the most basic scenario of usage:



| Gesture | Filter                   | Action   | Note     |  ⚡️  |

| :-----: | :----------------------- | :------: | :------: | :-: |

| `D`     | `*safari`|`*chrome` |    ⌘T    | New Tab  |  –  |

| `DR`    | `*safari`|`*chrome` |    ⌘W    | Close    |  –  |



By setting these rules, you can empower mouse gestures to open new and close currently focused tabs in Sarari and Chrome Browsers. Simply:



- press the right button, drag mouse down, and release

	- opens a new tab in the current browser window

- press the right button, drag mouse down, then to the right, and release

	- this will result in closing the currently focused tab in the active browser window



How neat! 🙌



### Mouse scroll gesture example



Now, to quickly cycle between the selected tabs even without releasing the right mouse button, you can set the gesture to be triggered on every match using the “⚡️” checkbox at the end of the Rule line.



So by defining the following rules:



| Gesture | Filter                   | Action   | Note     |  ⚡️  |

| :-----: | :----------------------- | :------: | :------: | :-: |

| `U*u`   | `*safari`|`*chrome` |   ⇧⌘\[   | Prev Tab |  ☑️  |

| `U*d`   | `*safari`|`*chrome` |   ⇧⌘\]   | Next Tab |  ☑️  |



you can simply:



- right click, drag mouse upwards, and every `u` (mouse wheel scroll up) triggers a **Prev Tab** action,

- right click, drag mouse upwards, and every `d` (mouse wheel scroll down) triggers a **Next Tab** action.



Switching between multiple tabs in the browser is now a piece of cake! 😎



### Exporting and importing MacGesture preferences



#### Recommended way



Use “Import” and “Export” buttons in the **General** Panel.



#### Geek-ish way



Open the _Terminal_ app, Do this in your old computer:



```shell

defaults read com.codefalling.MacGesture backup.plist

```



And then copy that file to your new computer, then:



```shell

defaults import com.codefalling.MacGesture backup.plist

```



All settings should be successfully brought over. If that's not the case please file an issue.



### Excluding an app in a certain rule



You can prepend `!`, then the app you want to exclude (still wildcard).



For example, the original one:



| Gesture | Filter             | Action   | Note     |  ⚡️  |

| :-----: | :----------------- | :------: | :------: | :-: |

| `U*d`   | `*`                |   ⇧⌘\]   | Next Tab |  ☑️  |



Then, in order to exclude Safari, change this to:



| Gesture | Filter              | Action   | Note     |  ⚡️  |

| :-----: | :------------------ | :------: | :------: | :-: |

| `U*d`   | `*`|`!*safari` |   ⇧⌘\]   | Next Tab |  ☑️  |



Then you will experience the expected behaviour.



## Found a Bug?



Feel free to open [an issue on GitHub](https://github.com/MacGesture/MacGesture/issues)! 👍



## Contributors



- [CodeFalling](https://github.com/xcodebuild) – original author

- [username0x0a](https://github.com/username0x0a) – maintainer

- [jiegec](https://github.com/jiegec)

- [zhangciwu](https://github.com/zhangciwu)



## License



This project is made under [GNU General Public License](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License).



App icon & other icons designed by [username0x0a](https://github.com/username0x0a).