How to Right Click and Ctrl-C in a Mac

Switching from Windows to Mac has its jarring moments. Among the first things that will jolt you are the lack of a second mouse button on the Macbook touchpad and the Apple mice; and the fact that Ctrl-C does not copy anything in a Mac. (You probably found this blog entry looking for a way to do a right-click, right?)

So let me give the emergency relief to you and write other useful tips after.

• To do a right-click: Press and hold down the ctrl key and then click the mouse or touchpad button.
• Alternately, you may also right-click using the multi-touch trackpad. First, position the pointer over the link or button you wish to right-click. Press the trackpad with your index finger. While holding the first finger down, tap another finger on the the track pad (try your middle finger). This will generate a right-click. BUT you need to activate this feature. Open System Preferences > Trackpad. In Trackpad Gestures, check the box for "Tap trackpad using two fingers for secondary click."
  
• The equivalent of a Ctrl-C in a Mac is Command-C (or Cmd-C for short). The command key, by the way, is that key with the Apple icon and the strange square with four outward loops (⌘).
  
• Bear in mind that most "Ctrl" shortcuts on Windows can be substituted with the "Cmd" key. Example, Ctrl-V in Windows (shortcut for paste) is Cmd-V in Mac.
  

Switching to a Mac requires some patience at the start. After all, some things you do in Windows are done differently in a Mac. And although at first you may get frustrated with this "cultural change", you'll realize that tasks in Mac are actually simpler than in Windows. Plus Mac does not let you do some Windows commands simply to protect you from hurting yourself :). (More on this in future posts).

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Coming up next:

Top 5 things you need to do after you've switched from Windows to Mac.