How to middle click on a MacBook trackpad
Apple trackpads have no middle button and macOS has no setting that produces one. You have three realistic options: a keyboard equivalent that works in some apps, an external mouse, or a utility that turns a trackpad gesture into a real middle click.
Option 1: keyboard equivalents (free, app by app)
Many apps offer another route to the thing you'd middle click for:
- Open a link in a new tab: hold ⌘ and click the link. Works in Safari, Chrome, Arc, Firefox and Edge. Add ⇧ to also switch to it.
- Close a tab: ⌘W closes the current tab, but there is no keyboard way to close a tab you're merely pointing at.
- Blender: turn on Emulate 3 Button Mouse in Preferences → Input, then ⌥ + drag orbits. Details.
- Terminal paste: macOS Terminal doesn't do middle-click paste at all; use ⌘V. iTerm2 has an option for it under Pointer settings.
These cover the common cases but not the long tail: CAD viewports, games, remote desktops, Linux VMs, and web apps that listen for the middle button directly.
Option 2: an external mouse
Any three-button or scroll-wheel mouse gives macOS a real middle button with no software. Press the wheel. This is the right answer at a desk and the wrong answer on a train.
Option 3: a real middle click from the trackpad
A small utility can watch the trackpad for a specific gesture and send a genuine middle-button event, so every app sees exactly what a mouse would have sent. The Mid Click does this with a three-finger tap or click:
- Download it, move it to Applications, open it. It appears in the menu bar.
- Grant Accessibility access when asked. This is why it's needed.
- Pick Tap or Click, and Three or Four fingers.
- Try it on the test pad in the window: it reports Left, Right or Middle for each click it receives.
- Tap mode
- Three fingers down and up within about 300 ms, without sliding. Fastest. Fingers must not be resting beforehand.
- Click mode
- Rest three fingers and press the trackpad. The left click becomes a middle click, and holding it gives you middle-drag, which 3D apps need.
- Four fingers
- Same as above with four, for people who already use three-finger gestures.
Gestures that can get in the way
macOS reserves some multi-finger gestures. Check these in System Settings → Trackpad if a tap isn't recognised:
- Look up & data detectors set to "Tap with three fingers" steals three-finger taps. Set it to "Force Click with one finger" or off.
- Three-finger drag (Accessibility → Pointer Control → Trackpad Options) turns a three-finger press into a drag. Use Tap mode or switch to four fingers.
- Swipe between full-screen apps and Mission Control use three or four-finger swipes. Taps and clicks don't trigger them, but a sloppy tap that slides can.
Which should you use?
If you only ever want "open in new tab" in a browser, ⌘-click is enough and free. If you close tabs by pointing at them, work in 3D or CAD tools, use a Linux VM, or just miss the button, a gesture utility is the only thing that behaves like a real middle button everywhere.