Frequently asked questions

I. Mouse button conflicts

How do I avoid doing a gesture when I want to select text?

When the left mouse button is used for gestures, you might accidently perform gestures while selecting text. Unfortunately, there's no ultimate solution. However, you can fine-tune your settings in the mouse gestures preferences panel to make text selecting a bit easier. You have three options:

For the back and forward gestures, you can set a time limit after which the gestures are cancelled automatically, and you can continue to select text.

Cancel gestures when making a text selection by pausing before releasing the mouse button. The delay is configurable.

Configure Mouse Gestures to use a mouse button other than the left mouse, or to require a modifier like the control key.

How do I avoid selecting text when gesturing with the left mouse button?

Unfortunately, this is currently not possible. Unless you configure Mouse Gestures to use a mouse button other than the left or to require a modifier like the control key, text selection will occur. However, Mouse Gestures automatically resets the selection to the state before the gesture was started.

How can I drag and drop links or images when the left mouse button is used for gestures?

Press the mouse button, wait about a second, then start moving the mouse cursor. This will allow you to drag the element instead of doing a gesture. The amount of time is configurable in the mouse gestures preferences panel.

Unix/Linux: Middle clicking opens the selected web page address - how can I do gestures with the middle mouse button?

Open the mouse gestures preferences, and tick the checkbox labelled "Middle mouse click loads selected URL". Restart the browser.

What to do when the right-click context menu conflicts with gestures?

We made great efforts to ensure mouse gestures can coexist with the right-click context menu. Although we tested various platforms (Windows, Linux/Unix, Macintosh and OS/2), it might still be possible that problems occur. If this is the case, please subscribe and post to our mailinglist or file a bug in bugzilla, so we can work with you finding and fixing the cause of your problems. Thanks!

II. Gesture recognition

I can't make a gesture. It always says "Mouse Gesture aborted".

You're cancelling the gesture by holding the mouse button down after you stop moving. This allows you to cancel a gesture if you want to. Try letting go of the mouse button before the mouse comes to rest. Alternatively, if the default delay of 500 milliseconds is not enough for you, feel free to increase it via the Mouse Gestures preferences panel.

Gestures are recognized incorrectly (1, 3, 7 or 9 appear)

The numbers represent diagonal movements. You can fine-tune their tolerance in the preferences panel (Preferences | Advanced | Mouse Gestures | Additional settings). The default value of 60 gives equal weight to diagonal and left/right/up/down gestures. Decreasing this value makes L/R/U/D more easily recognized while increasing it makes diagonal gestures more easily recognized. If you set the value to 0 then diagonal gestures will be effectively disabled.

III. Configuration

How do I disable a particular gesture or add my own?

Open the mouse gestures preferences (in Firefox/Thunderbird via Tools -> Extensions, in the Mozilla Suite via Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced) and click the Edit mappings button. This launches a window where you can easily add, edit or remove all gesture mappings.

I don't see "Mouse Gestures" in preferences.

If you're using Quick Launch, the preferences should show up after reboot.