11 Things You Didn't Know Your Mouse's Middle Button Can Do

If there's one gadget in your home office you can replace without having to relearn it, it's a computer mouse. But beyond these everyday functionalities, you might be surprised that your mouse actually hides some lesser-known tricks in the form of the middle button. Yes, that scroll wheel is also a button designed to do more than just scrolling. It comes in handy whenever you're browsing the web and reading documents, providing quick shortcuts to what should have been multistep actions.

In case you're using a laptop's trackpad with no middle button, you can configure Windows 11 so that tapping the trackpad with three fingers will act as a middle button click. Just go to Bluetooth & devices in your Settings menu, select Touchpad, then Three-finger gestures, and finally click the dropdown menu next to Taps to select Middle mouse button. On macOS, you can achieve effects similar to a middle mouse button click by holding Command on your keyboard and clicking on the trackpad. So, here are 11 things you can do with your mouse's middle button to boost your productivity.

Some of the most practical functions for your mouse's middle button are right in the browser. Generally, you'll use it to open new tabs, close existing ones, and auto-scroll, but to be more specific, here's a closer look at those functions:

• Open a link in a new tab: Just press the middle button on any link. Test it in our article on Windows Touchpad tips and tricks.
• Open other pages in a new tab: When you middle-click on the back, forward, refresh, or home icon in the top-left of your browser, it opens certain web pages in a new tab. The back button opens the previous page, forward opens the next page (if you've just gone back in your recent history), refresh opens the current page, and home redirects you to the home page, but all in a new tab.
• Open an autosuggestion in a fresh tab: If you type something on the address bar, some autocomplete suggestions appear. Middle-click on one to open it in a new tab.
• Open a bookmarked page or folder in a new tab: In the bookmark bar, simply middle-click on a bookmark or bookmark folder to open it in a new tab. If the folder has multiple pages, all of them will open in different new tabs.
• Close a tab: You won't need to precisely click the X mark to close a browser tab. Just hover over it in the tab bar and click the middle button to exit it.
• Auto-scroll a web page or PDF: Whenever you're on a scrollable page or reading a PDF, middle-click on any empty space and move your mouse slightly downward to activate the auto-scroll feature and start scrolling down. Move the mouse slightly up to scroll up the page. The farther you move your mouse from the starting point, the faster it will scroll. To exit auto-scroll, middle-click anywhere on the page.

Your mouse's middle-click button works outside the browser too. Here are a couple of hidden tricks you can do on Windows and on some essential Windows apps:

• Open a File Explorer folder in a new tab: This works just like how you open items in a new browser tab. Middle-click on a folder to open it in a new tab in the same File Explorer window. You can't, however, use middle-click for folders on the left-side panel.
• Close a folder in a different tab in File Explorer: If you have multiple tabs open on a single File Explorer window, hover over any of the folders and middle-click. That specific folder will then close.
• Open a new window of any app in your taskbar: If you have an active app shown on the taskbar and need a new window for it, go to the app icon in the taskbar and press the middle button. This also works for apps pinned to the taskbar that aren't active yet.
• Close app windows from the taskbar: You can close minimized windows without having to open them in full screen. Hover over the app icon in the taskbar and middle-click on any window you want to exit. No need to press the X icon.
• Auto-scroll on Notepad: The same auto-scroll feature in your browser works on your Notepad.