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I have two external monitors, positioned horizontally on each side of my MacBook Pro. When I am working in the far left or far right screens, I find it a little annoying to have to move the cursor all the way across to get to the opposite side (usually requires multiple swipes on the touchpad).

Is there some easier way to do this? I already have BetterTouchTool installed but did not see anything in there that would do this. I was thinking of some kind of key combo shortcut I could use that would jump the cursor to the next screen.

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  • Upvote because I think it would be a cool trick if there's something out there that can do it... however afaik, it's not possible :/
    – Tetsujin
    Jan 13, 2017 at 18:54
  • What version of macOS are you running?
    – Monomeeth ♦
    Jan 13, 2017 at 22:50
  • El Capitan 10.11.6 on the machine in question here but I also use machines running Sierra
    – user5359531
    Jan 13, 2017 at 23:16
  • Ironically, I found the easiest solution to this was to just get a single large external monitor and a physical mouse. Utilizing the 'Spaces' feature of macOS also helps.
    – user5359531
    Aug 23, 2017 at 18:59
  • I literally have the SAME exact question.
    – Art Geigel
    May 20, 2020 at 15:55

12 Answers 12

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40

This is definitely possible by using BetterTouchTool.

Since you already have it, there is no need to install new software. Also, it has a lot of other options, so I prefer it.

Anyways, here is how you do it:

  1. Go to BetterTouchTool Preferences > Keyboard.

  2. Click Add New Shortcut or Key Sequence button.

  3. Assign a new "Keyboard Shortcut" from Click to record shortcut, for example:
    for Monitor-1 Ctrl+Shift+1, for Monitor-2 Ctrl+Shift+2 etc.

  4. Then from Trigger Predefined Action dropdown menu, select
    Other Mouse Actions > Move Mouse To Position

  5. A modal window will appear to capture your desired mouse position. Simply take your cursor to the desired position of a monitor and press Space to capture the position. Now Save the position in the modal window.

  6. Repeat steps 2-5 for all your monitors.

Now you'll be able to jump your mouse cursor to Monitor-1 by pressing Ctrl+Shift+1, to Monitor-2 by pressing Ctrl+Shift+2 and to Monitor-3 by pressing Ctrl+Shift+3.

All the best.

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  • 3
    Never would have found this feature on my own, thanks. This appears to be working well. I actually have multiple monitor setups with the same laptop in different offices, so I'll have to play with it a bit to find a configuration that plays well with all monitor configurations.
    – user5359531
    Jan 18, 2017 at 18:43
  • I wish there was a way to simply cycle through the monitors from left to right (then loop back to the first one), instead of having to assign a separate hotkey for each monitor...
    – friederbluemle
    Mar 19, 2020 at 3:38
  • @friederbluemle that's possible using the pointer. However, I didn't check if that's possible with a hot key. It should be possible, but I'm not sure if any tool provide it out of the box.
    – Fayaz
    Mar 20, 2020 at 17:00
  • @Fayaz Thanks for your reply. What exactly do you mean by "that's possible using the pointer"?
    – friederbluemle
    Mar 21, 2020 at 0:14
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    @ShawnW: the developer is hosting the app in a new domain name. I've updated the link accordingly. Technically speaking, the process should still work, but I'm not sure how much change was made to the interface. Just take the idea, and implement it in the new interface. Should work. I'll check & update the answer accordingly if I get time.
    – Fayaz
    Aug 30, 2021 at 15:31
26

The simplest, easiest and free method is to use CatchMouse. Just add a shortcut for each monitor and off you go!.

A link to the app: https://github.com/round/CatchMouse

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  • 1
    Thanks! So simple and beautiful. Great tip, this will save me years of scrolling.
    – edlee
    Jul 5, 2018 at 9:46
  • 1
    this tool is so simple and good!
    – xinnjie
    Aug 31, 2019 at 9:01
  • 1
    to move focus together with move screen: medium.com/thevelops-tech-blog/…
    – Hoang Nguyen Huu
    Oct 14, 2019 at 3:09
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    Several answers to this question (I have read other StackExchange questions, not only this one), and this is the only one that has worked for me. Tested on Mojave (OSX 10.14) but I think it will also work in Catalina.
    – Lucio Mollinedo
    Nov 26, 2019 at 17:38
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    @00-BBB I just tried it. It works fine on Monterey. Open a terminal. git clone https://github.com/round/CatchMouse.git . Open the CatchMouse folder. Right Click the app icon and 'open'. When you first use the app you will also need to allow permissions - but the os should ask for those.
    – user2589273
    Jan 7, 2022 at 2:17
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june 2022

add the below lines to init.lua

mouse_follows_focus = hs.loadSpoon("MouseFollowsFocus")
mouse_follows_focus:configure({})
mouse_follows_focus:start()

feel free to see my example

  • PROFIT!
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    OMG if I could I would upvote this answer 100 times!! I've been looking for this for ages, and I've even checked Hammerspoon some years ago, but didn't see a value until today. THANKS!!
    – Ramiro Araujo
    Jan 12 at 17:25
  • 2
    Note there is a small deprecation warning in the Spoon file. Easily fixed. Just check the Hammerspoon console to see it. :)
    – engineerDave
    Jan 12 at 22:11
  • there is a problem, when i clip use the xnip, it move qucikly in all windows
    – ryanlee
    Aug 23 at 7:02
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Apple mouse and trackpad reaction is strongly affected by speed of movement. Put a mouse in one corner. now drag the mouse very slowly. Back to the corner. now drag faster. you'll see that for the same physical space the mouse moved, you got double/tripple the amount of pixels when you move faster.

Now if you move fast enough, like flicking (or swift swipes on a trackpad) you should be able to cover the whole desktop space in a single movement.

If that's not working for you - open the control panel, and speed up the mouse/trackpad Tracking Speed a little. That should do the trick.

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  • While this is true, sometimes a keyboard shortcut may be more efficient. For example, when monitor sizes (higher/lower resolution) are largely varied, you will not be able to go from one monitor to another with a linear movement from all the positions.
    – Fayaz
    Jan 18, 2017 at 3:47
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    My monitors are different sizes, so sometimes a quick movement just takes to the edge of the monitor, as the vertical position corresponds to an edge that does not lead to the neighboring monitor, so I end up needing to move left, go up to be able to move to the next monitor and then continue left. With three monitors, it seems impossible to get from the far let monitor to the far right monitor in a single movement, even if I don't hit a border.
    – Troy Daniels
    Dec 17, 2019 at 16:31
  • For these scenario (differently sized and unevenly placed monitors) Apple provides a way to align the monitors in the "Displays" system preferences (use the "arrange monitors" option) so that the mouse moves naturally from one monitor to another - without jumps or strange changes in direction. Just "show your Mac" once where are your monitors placed (physically on your desktop) and how they are placed related to one another - and you'll be amazed how comfortable movement becomes afterwards.
    – Motti Shneor
    May 25, 2021 at 11:27
  • Anyway It makes no sense to do this with a keyboard shortcut. Think --- where is the "right place" to put your mouse cursor on the new monitor? is there any "good" position? there actually CANT BE because this is context dependent. and context changes all the time onscreen. Mouse position only has sense visually - related to UI elements onscreen (windows, menus, buttons etc.)
    – Motti Shneor
    May 25, 2021 at 11:30
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For anyone who is looking for an alternative, I've developed Cursr not too long ago, it allows you to configure links between borders and customize where mouse should go when it reaches/crosses those borders.

I've started it as side project but now I'm working on it full time, it's now stable for majority of the users, but any issues can be reported on Github, I try and solve them as soon as I can

I've recently introduced paid tier but that's for advanced features, linking borders together is and will always be free. Also key shortcuts for controlling mouse is an upcoming free feature

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2
  • This is cool! I'm waiting for the lifetime license option :-)
    – palsch
    Jun 15, 2022 at 11:16
  • Coming out in upcoming days, I'm in last stage of testing and making sure everything works as it should :)
    – ragauskl
    Jun 16, 2022 at 14:18
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None of the applications mentioned here worked for me: BetterTouch - not supported; CatchMouse - security warnings; mousebeam - not in App store.

I found this free app in the App store that was really handy - ScreenJump. My fingers will last a few more years :)

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    Should be the new accepted answer, simple and easy to use.
    – Shawn W
    Aug 29, 2021 at 12:37
  • Is this still available? When I follow the link, the app store says it's not available...
    – pianomansam
    Feb 23, 2022 at 21:19
  • It doesn’t seem to be available anymore:(
    – pratyahara
    Feb 27, 2022 at 14:52
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I found https://keytty.com/

  • Press ⌘(Command) twice (quickly) to open the Keytty interface
  • jump monitor
  • left click/right click/double click/many actions
  • Continuous Commanding Mode
  • It's free
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2

I tried Mousebeam from the Mac App Store and it does exactly what I wanted. I can now use keyboard shortcuts to jump the mouse to the middle of a specific screen.

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  • Can you please describe how your answer is different from the answer @Junme already gave?
    – fsb
    Jan 15, 2017 at 1:53
  • @fsb This answer here at explains how the recommended tool works, which actually is better than the earlier one.
    – nohillside ♦
    Jan 15, 2017 at 10:33
  • App is not available anymore
    – pianomansam
    Feb 23, 2022 at 21:26
1

On macOS Monterey, Go to System Preferences > Displays > Universal Controlthen enable Allow your cursor and keyboard to move between any nearby Mac or iPad

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3
  • thanks but I do not think this is applicable, since the question is in relation to multiple monitors attached to a single Mac
    – user5359531
    May 4, 2022 at 16:18
  • @user5359531 The above answer is applicable for a Mac machine connected to multiple monitors.
    – Neha Ahuja
    May 5, 2022 at 17:41
  • @NehaAhuja applicable how? when I enable it on my mac connected to 2 external displays nothing changes.
    – n1kk
    Dec 3, 2022 at 11:33
1

As BetterTouchTool is a paid one. I was looking for another alternative and found a gem: AltTab.

This is a good alternative for Cmd+Tab, along with moving the focus on Tab, it also moves the mouse cursor across screens.

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1

In Amethyst it is also possible in two different ways, provided Mouse follows focused windows setting is enabled:

  • mod1 + W/E/R (moves focus to screen 1/2/3)
  • mod2+ W/E/R (moves focused window to screen 1/2/3)

(mod1: Option+Shift, mod2: Ctrl+Option+Shift by default)

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0

mousebeam I havent used it but I use another app from the same developer mousebeam

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  • Answers on Ask Different need to be more than just a link. It's okay to include a link, but please summarize or excerpt it in the answer. The idea is to make the answer stand alone.
    – nohillside ♦
    Jan 15, 2017 at 10:33

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