Using the mouse with voice over on macOS

By jim pickens, 16 August, 2021

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macOS and Mac Apps

Hi, new Mac user here, is there a way to use the apple magic mouse with voiceover on macOS? I am running macOS Big Sur 11.5.2.

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By CuriousNetEntity on Sunday, August 29, 2021 - 11:52

Do you mean the magic trackpad or an actual mouse? If you hold down the Voiceover key/keys while rotating 2 fingers clockwise on the trackpad it will turn on trackpad commander which means you can control Voiceover using the trackpad. There are a long list of commands and you can create new ones as well. Many of the commands are the same as on an iPhone. You can experiment or turn on keyboard help with VO-k. You can use the mouse option in Voiceover settings navigation to say wether VoiceOver focus should ignore the mouse, move the mouse, or follow the mouse. You can turn off VoiceOver's use of the trackpad by holding down VO while rotating 2 fingers counter clockwise. While the trackpad is set this default way it only controls the mouse pointer. If VoiceOver is set to follow the mouse it will speak what the mouse moves over. VO f5 will speak what is under the mouse. Of course this isn't a very efficient way for a blind person to use the trackpad/mouse but the option is there.