How to Customize input devices and shortcuts

Mouse gestures

In the Magic Mouse tab, click Add New Gesture. Click the pop-up menu under Magic Mouse Gesture (near the foot of the window) to see what’s available. One of the best extra gestures to trigger is the 3 Finger Double-Tap.

Choose an action

From Three Finger Gestures, choose 3 Finger Double-Tap. From the Predefined Action, choose Application Switcher in the OS X Functionality group. Double-tap your Magic Mouse with three fingers; the app switcher should appear.

Edit your gesture

What you define is customizable. In the list of configured gestures above, click the one you just created. Now that’s selected, you can pick new options from the menus in steps one and two – try the 3 Finger Tap and Start Siri settings.

Keyboard shortcuts

Next, we’ll use a BetterTouchTool keyboard shortcut as a way to instantly open an app. In the Keyboard tab, click ‘Add New Shortcut or Key Sequence’. Click where it says ‘Click to record shortcut’, then press Shift+Ctrl+S.

Try Hot Corners

In System Preferences, open the Mission Control pane and click Hot Corners. Make a note of any corners you currently have configured, because you don’t want to duplicate or override these settings in BetterTouchTool.

Button triggers

Now let’s set up a trigger so that Cmd-clicking the green (zoom)/yellow (minimize) buttons will make any open window fill the screen/revert to its original size. In the Other tab, click Configure New Trigger.

Select an action

Under Trigger Predefined Action, choose Launch Application from the Controlling Other Applications section. In the sheet that appears, select Safari and click Open. Try your shortcut. Safari will open (or come to the front).

Open a folder

In BetterTouchTool, go to the Other tab. Click Configure New Trigger and pick a ‘Move Mouse To… Corner’ setting that isn’t used as a Hot Corner. For the action, use the same one as in step 5, but set it to open a favorite folder.

Power up zoom

In the Trigger pop-up, pick Leftclick Green Window Button (Window Buttons & Click Actions). Tick Cmd below, so the action occurs when that key is held. Set Predefined Action to Maximize Window (look in Window Resize & Move).

Experiment further

Add more keyboard shortcuts for favorite apps and folders, and then experiment with other actions, such as pasting custom (prewritten) text. Make sure your shortcuts do not clash with existing ones from other apps you use.

Add a time delay

Move the pointer to your chosen corner and the folder will open. To avoid triggering it by accident, tick a modifier (such as Cmd) below the Trigger pop-up menu, or adjust the trigger’s timing by clicking the gear to the left of that menu.

Minimize revert

Repeat the process with a second trigger. This time use Leftclick Orange Window Button for the trigger and Restore Old Window Size for the action. Open a Finder window and test Cmd-clicking the zoom/minimize buttons.