Safari browser in Mac offers lot of keyboard shortcuts. You can make use of these keyboard shortcuts to improve productivity and save plenty of time. Besides those keyboard shortcuts, you can also use the mouse clicks for various purposes. These mouse click shortcuts for Safari are useful especially for opening hyperlinks in new tab or window.
Mouse Click Shortcuts for Safari
Though mouse clicks work with default trackpad, they will be super useful when you have an external mouse. In this article, we will simply use click to refer left click for easier understanding.
1. Command + Click
Normally clicking on a link in Safari will open it in the same tab. However, in many situations, you want to keep the current page and open the link in new tab. In this case, simply hold the command key and click on the link. This will open the clicked link in a new tab but keep you staying in the current tab.
You can also use the “Command + Click” shortcut on a bookmark to select the item without opening it. You can hold the command key and click on multiple items to select them all. After selecting items, you can delete or move them to a folder.
2. Command + Shift + Click
This works like ⌘ + Click to open the clicked link in a new tab. The difference is that you will be taken to the new tab instead of staying in current tab.
3. Command + Option + Click
If you want to open a link in new window, then hold command, option keys, and click the link. This will open the link in background and keep you stay in the current tab. You can go to “Window” menu and switch the page opened in different Safari windows.
4. Command + Option + Shift + Click
This works like previous shortcut to open the linked page in a new window. However, the difference is that you will be taken to the newly opened window instead of staying in the current page.
5. Option + Click
Holding option and clicking on a hyperlink will download the page in HTML format. This will also work to download the bookmarked page when you hold option key and click on the page title from bookmarks. Remember, downloaded HTML will be a single page without any embedded images or videos.
6. Shift + Click
You can easily add a webpage to reading list by hovering over the website address and click the ⊕ icon showing left corner of the address bar. However, for adding links to reading list you should right click and select “Add Link to Reading List” option. The simple mouse click shortcut is to “Shift + Click” on any hyperlink in the webpage you read. You will see a Safari icon flying to the “Show sidebar” icon and add the link in your reading list. The added page will be in “Unread” section, you can right click on it and select “Save Offline” to save the page for reading offline later without internet.
Note that using “Shift + Click” on bookmarks will select a block from the first item till the selected item.
7. Option + Click on Close Icon on Tab
If you are always working with too many tabs, then this mouse click shortcut for Safari is for you. Hold one of the option keys and hover over the current tab. Click on the close icon showing on left corner of the current tab. This will instantly close all other open tabs except the current tab. This will save lot of time avoiding in closing all other tabs one by one.
8. Click and Hold ⊕ Icon in Address Bar
The address bar in Safari browser is called as Smart Search Field. When you hover on the website address, you will see a + icon on the left. You can click on that ⊕ icon to add the page to your reading list. However, do you know that you can click and hold on the ⊕ icon to see additional options? You will see a menu to move the page directly to favorites or bookmarks.
9. Force Click on Bookmark
Normally, you can right click and select “Rename” option for changing the bookmarked page title. However, you can simply force click on any bookmarked item to quickly edit its name. Press escape key, if you want to cancel the renaming or click on the X icon showing after the text box to delete the item.
10. Force Click on Any Word
Want to quickly find the meaning of any word in Safari? Simply force click on a word to see a pop-up appears and showing the look up details from dictionary.
11. Middle Click or Press Mouse Wheel on Tab
Have too many open tabs? Simply use the middle click or wheel in your mouse to click on a tab. This will instantly close the tab without any warning prompt. If you have mistakenly closed a tab, press “Command + Shift + T” keys to reopen the closed tabs.
Setup Mouse Clicks in Mac
If you are using trackpad, make sure to setup the clicks by navigating to “Apple Menu > System Preferences > Trackpad > Point & Click” section.
- Enable “Look up & data detectors” and select “Force Click with one finger” option.
- Enable “Secondary click” and select “Click in bottom right corner” option. If you do not want to setup secondary click, you can hold control key and press trackpad to use it as a right click.
- You can enable “Tap to click” option to use tapping as left click.
- Finally, enable “Force Click and haptic feedback” option showing at the bottom. Force clicking is to press the trackpad and then continue pressing hard (you will head another sound).
Enable Command Click Shortcuts in Safari
If Command click shortcuts are not working, then you need to enable it in Safari.
- Open Safari and press “Command + Comma” keys to open preferences.
- Go to “Tabs” section.
- Enable “⌘-click opens a link a new tab” against “Navigation” option.
Summary of Mouse Click Shortcuts for Safari
Here is a summary of mouse click shortcuts for Safari browser in Mac for a quick reference.
| Shortcut Keys | Action |
|---|---|
| ⌘ + Click | Open link in new tab and stay on current tab |
| ⌘ + ⇧ + Click | Open link in new tab and go to that tab |
| ⌘ + ⌥ + Click | Open link in a new window and stay on the current tab |
| ⌘ + ⌥ + ⇧ + Click | Open link in a new window and go to that page |
| ⌥ + Click | Download HTML page to “Downloads” folder without any prompt |
| ⇧ + Click | Add to Reading List |
| ⌥ + Click X icon on tab | Close all other tabs except the tab on which you click the close icon |
| Click and Hold ⊕ Icon on Address Bar | View menu to add the item to favorites / bookmarks |
| Force click a bookmark | Edit it for renaming |
| Force click a word | Look up the word in dictionary |
| Middle click or Press mouse wheel on tab | Close the tab |
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