How to quickly move mouse cursor between monitors?

Question

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.

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 '17 at 18:54
El Capitan 10.11.6 on the machine in question here but I also use machines running Sierra — user5359531, Jan 13 '17 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 '17 at 18:59

score 39 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 30 '21 at 17:43

39

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:

Go to BetterTouchTool Preferences > Keyboard.
Click Add New Shortcut or Key Sequence button.
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.
Then from Trigger Predefined Action dropdown menu, select
Other Mouse Actions > Move Mouse To Position
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.
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.

edited Aug 30 '21 at 17:43

agarza

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answered Jan 15 '17 at 18:47

Fayaz

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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 '17 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 '20 at 03:38
@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 '20 at 17:00
@Fayaz Thanks for your reply. What exactly do you mean by "that's possible using the pointer"? – friederbluemle Mar 21 '20 at 00:14
@friederbluemle by pointer I mean mouse/touchpad pointer, cursor. Cursor can be set to rotate among the screens in a circular manner. – Fayaz Mar 23 '20 at 06:54
This tool is awesome and still works perfectly in 2020 thank you – backus Oct 18 '20 at 20:50
Does not work in 2021 unfortunately. – Shawn W Aug 29 '21 at 12:33
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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 '21 at 15:31
Just bumping this. Actually, would be great if Mac OS does this by default somehow! – villancikos Feb 24 '23 at 18:32

score 25 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 21 '17 at 08:56

25

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

answered Sep 21 '17 at 08:56

user2589273

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Thanks! So simple and beautiful. Great tip, this will save me years of scrolling. – edlee Jul 05 '18 at 09:46
It would be even better if I could move focus with cursor using CatchMouse. – elquimista Jan 19 '19 at 00:14
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this tool is so simple and good! – xinnjie Aug 31 '19 at 09:01
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to move focus together with move screen: https://medium.com/thevelops-tech-blog/how-to-switch-focus-between-screens-in-macos-21c6f02883a6 – Hoang Nguyen Huu Oct 14 '19 at 03:09
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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 '19 at 17:38
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Absolutely amazing! I tried paid apps (on trial period) that have failed to do this. – Nikita Rybak Jul 01 '21 at 08:41
Still works in BigSur! (the link is a bit sketchy) – xtrimsky Aug 05 '21 at 12:57
Anyone got this working on Monterey? I cannot work out how to download / install..? – 00-BBB Jan 06 '22 at 10:18
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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 07 '22 at 02:17
Guys! It's NOT open source, the code is already compiled. Who know what's inside? – Loris Foe Jul 29 '22 at 10:15

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 17 '17 at 21:24

4

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.

answered Jan 17 '17 at 21:24

Motti Shneor

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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 '17 at 03:47
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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 '19 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 '21 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 '21 at 11:30

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 30 '21 at 18:49

4

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

answered Nov 30 '21 at 18:49

ragauskl

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This is cool! I'm waiting for the lifetime license option :-) – palsch Jun 15 '22 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 '22 at 14:18

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 08 '22 at 23:13

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june 2022

download hammerspoon
download this spoon MouseFollowsFocus

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!

answered Jun 08 '22 at 23:13

ipatch

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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 '23 at 17:25
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Note there is a small deprecation warning in the Spoon file. Easily fixed. Just check the Hammerspoon console to see it. :) – engineerDave Jan 12 '23 at 22:11

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 29 '21 at 16:15

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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 :)

answered Apr 29 '21 at 16:15

pratyahara

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Should be the new accepted answer, simple and easy to use. – Shawn W Aug 29 '21 at 12:37
Is this still available? When I follow the link, the app store says it's not available... – pianomansam Feb 23 '22 at 21:19
It doesn’t seem to be available anymore:( – pratyahara Feb 27 '22 at 14:52

score 2 · Answer 7 · edited Jan 15 '17 at 10:35

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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.

edited Jan 15 '17 at 10:35

nohillside

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answered Jan 15 '17 at 01:41

user220017

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Can you please describe how your answer is different from the answer @Junme already gave? – fsb Jan 15 '17 at 01:53
@fsb This answer here at explains how the recommended tool works, which actually is better than the earlier one. – nohillside Jan 15 '17 at 10:33
App is not available anymore – pianomansam Feb 23 '22 at 21:26

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 02 '21 at 03:03

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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

answered Aug 02 '21 at 03:03

zmx

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score 1 · Answer 9 · edited Apr 21 '22 at 19:12

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

edited Apr 21 '22 at 19:12

agarza

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answered Apr 20 '22 at 19:14

Neha Ahuja

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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 04 '22 at 16:18
@user5359531 The above answer is applicable for a Mac machine connected to multiple monitors. – Neha Ahuja May 05 '22 at 17:41
@NehaAhuja applicable how? when I enable it on my mac connected to 2 external displays nothing changes. – n1kk Dec 03 '22 at 11:33

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Jan 14 '17 at 02:15

0

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

answered Jan 14 '17 at 02:15

Junme

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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 '17 at 10:33

score 0 · Answer 11 · edited Nov 16 '22 at 20:42

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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.

edited Nov 16 '22 at 20:42

agarza

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answered Nov 16 '22 at 20:06

userab

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How to quickly move mouse cursor between monitors?

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