Use your keyboard, mouse, and trackpad on Mac
The keyboard, mouse, and trackpad are your primary input tools on Mac.
If you have a MacBook Air, MacBook Neo, or MacBook Pro, your keyboard and trackpad are built directly into your Mac. If you choose, however, you can connect additional accessories, like an external keyboard or a mouse.
If you have an iMac, Mac mini, or Mac Studio, you’ll need to connect accessories in order to use your Mac.
There are two ways to connect a keyboard, mouse, and trackpad on Mac: using a wired connect with a cable, or wirelessly with Bluetooth. You can adjust settings for your accessories, like tracking speed, click pressure, and keyboard input sources.
Tip: Before you connect an accessory, refer to the documentation that came with it for set up instructions, including how to turn it on, if it requires batteries or needs to be plugged in for power, what sort of cable it requires (for a wired accessory) or if it has a switch or toggle to turn on Bluetooth (for a wireless accessory).
Connect a wireless accessory Scroll, zoom, and navigate with Multi-Touch gestures. | Connect a wired accessory If you have an accessory that uses a cable, you need to connect it to one of the ports on your Mac |
Adjust settings for your mouse, keyboard, or trackpad Learn the modifier keys and shortcuts that work across every app. | Get to know your keyboard shortcuts Quickly copy, paste, print, save, and more—with just a few keys. |
Connect a wireless accessory
The first time you use a Bluetooth accessory with your Mac, you must pair it to your Mac. After your Bluetooth accessory is paired to your Mac, your Mac remembers the accessory and will connect to it automatically when it’s turned on and in range.
To pair your Bluetooth accessory, see Bluetooth settings.
You can easily adjust which Bluetooth accessories your Mac is connected to. Click Control Center in the menu bar, then click > next to Bluetooth
. A list of paired devices appears; click a device to connect to it.
Connect a wired accessory
To connect a wired accessory, use the cable that came with your accessory. If your accessory didn’t come with a cable, or you don’t have the cable the accessory came with, refer to the documentation that came with your accessory to understand what type of cable to use. You may also need an adapter to connect the cable to a port on your Mac.
If you’re not sure what port to use on your Mac, or what ports you have, see the Apple Support article Identify the ports on your Mac.
After you connect a wire accessory to your Mac, it should be ready to use.
Adjust settings for keyboard, mouse, and trackpad
You can adjust the settings for your keyboard, mouse, and trackpad in the Settings app. Depending on the capabilities of your accessory, you may have different settings to adjust.
Keyboard Settings Adjust keyboard settings, like key repeat rate (how quickly characters repeat when you press and hold), what certain keys do, and how to adjust language. See Keyboard settings. | Mouse settings Adjust settings like tracking speed (the rate at which your pointer follows your mouse), how to perform a secondary click, and gestures. See Mouse settings |
Trackpad settings Adjust settings like tracking speed, how to perform a secondary click, and turning on or off tap to click. See Trackpad settings. |
Keyboard shortcuts
You can press key combinations to do things on your Mac that you’d normally do with a trackpad, mouse, or other device. Here’s a list of commonly used keyboard shortcuts.
Tip: The shortcuts below all used the Command key as a modifier key—that is, a key that changes, or modifies, the behavior of another key. If you’re use a keyboard that doesn’t have a Command key, you can set up a key to act as a Command key in Keyboard Settings. See Change the behavior of the modifier keys.
Command + X Cut the selected item and copy it to the clipboard. | Command + C Copy the selected item to the Clipboard. |
Command + V Paste the contents of the Clipboard into the current document or app. | Command + Z Undo the previous command. Press Command + Shift + Z to redo. |
Command + F Open a Find window, or find items in a document. Use Command + G to find the next occurrence of the item you’re searching for. | Command + M Minimize the front window to the Dock. Press Command-Option-M to minimize all windows of the front app. |
Command + N Open a new document or window. | Command + P Print the current document. |
Command + S Save the current document. | Command + Q Quit the current app. |
Want to learn more?
Control Center Quickly change settings like screen brightness, connect to Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, and turn on Do Not Disturb. | Print from your Mac Set up a printer—or learn how to save a document as a PDF. | Accessibility features on Mac Customize the way your keyboard and mouse or trackpad work best for you with accessibility features for vision, hearing, mobility, speech, and cognition. |
Or if you’re ready for something new, check out how you can customize your wallpaper on your desktop to add a personal touch. Then, get familiar with Safari (the built-in browser on your Mac) by searching the web, take a screenshot using a keyboard shortcut, or download a new app to your Mac.