# What do you use your extra mouse buttons for? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 9, 2003, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-use-your-extra-mouse-buttons-for/147523 "2003-01-09T15:10:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Geoduck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c37758/32.png) [@Geoduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geoduck)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-use-your-extra-mouse-buttons-for/147523/21 "2003-01-14T05:13:57Z")
I use the the various programmable buttons on my MS mouse in various ways for many of my applications. It seems to speed up my work nicely. In Photoshop Elements, one button locks the selection so that I can focus on delicate brushing actions etc. instead of dealing with holding the button down at the same time. In my scanner software, one button deselects the multiple selections the software sometimes does in Preview mode, and another button selects the whole image for scanning. In the Mac finder, one button instantly turns my window to “view by list” and another selects all the files. And another does an auto-sort on a particular file type (so I can then drag all the same .aif files to Toast for burning). Lots more and growing every week. ---
**Author:** ![wei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90ced4/32.png) [@wei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wei)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-use-your-extra-mouse-buttons-for/147523/22 "2003-01-14T06:43:35Z")
Mouseman Dual Optical: Scrollwheel: Scroll/Jump Thumb Button: Back/Walk ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-use-your-extra-mouse-buttons-for/147523/23 "2003-01-14T06:48:46Z")
Extra buttons? Plural? Extra, as in extraneous? What is this of which you speak? Extra mouse buttons? tlw, proud Mac user since 1989 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-use-your-extra-mouse-buttons-for/147523/24 "2003-01-14T11:54:44Z")
I use my wheel for double click. It really does seem easier on your fingers after a while and you can’t go back to normal double clicking. The 2 side buttons I use for pgup/pgdn. I really dont see much use from useing back/forward and I reguarly need to scroll through large chunks of text when reading message boards. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-use-your-extra-mouse-buttons-for/147523/25 "2003-01-14T11:57:07Z")
Just on the back/forward thing. I found that whenever I go back or forward, its usually multiple pages at once and I’m too impatient to wait for each page to render again before being able to go back another. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-use-your-extra-mouse-buttons-for/147523/26 "2003-01-14T14:57:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tlw \* > \*\*Extra buttons? Plural? Extra, as in extraneous? What is this of which you speak? Extra mouse buttons? > > tlw, proud Mac user since 1989 😃 \*\* Welcome to the 21st century. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-use-your-extra-mouse-buttons-for/147523/27 "2003-01-14T17:32:35Z")
Hmm. Extra…extra…hmm. I’m looking at my Apple optical mouse and I don’t see any extra buttons. Come to that, I don’t see _any_ buttons. I love the 21st Century 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-use-your-extra-mouse-buttons-for/147523.md?page=1)