OS X El Capitan: Pointers in OS X

Pointers in OS X

OS X has several styles of pointers that move when you use your mouse or trackpad.

Pointer
Name
Purpose
Arrow cursor

Arrow

This is the pointer you probably see the most. It’s used to point to and select items, move scroll bars, resize windows, and more.

If you lose track of the pointer on the screen, quickly move your finger on the trackpad or quickly move the mouse—the pointer briefly gets bigger so you can see it. To turn this feature off, deselect “Shake mouse pointer to locate” in the Display pane of Accessibility preferences.

To open the pane, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Accessibility, then click Display.

Disappearing item (“poof”) cursor

Poof

Indicates that the item you’re dragging disappears when you release the button. If the item is an alias, its original is not deleted.

Copy arrow cursor

Copy

Appears when you Option-click a file or folder, and indicates that dragging the item will create a copy of it at a new location instead of moving it.

Curved arrow cursor

Alias

Appears when you Option-Command-click an item, and indicates that dragging the item will create an alias for the item.

I-beam cursor

I beam

Appears when you select and insert text.

Crosshairs cursor

Crosshair

Appears when you select a rectangular area in an image.

Pointing hand cursor

Pointing hand

Appears when the mouse pointer is over a link to a webpage, document, or other item.

Open hand cursor

Open hand

Appears when the mouse pointer is over an item that you can move and adjust within specific bounds—for example, text within a spreadsheet cell or a table row in a document.

Closed hand cursor

Closed hand

Appears when you’re moving and adjusting an item within specific bounds—for example, text within a spreadsheet cell or a table row in a document.

Resize left cursor

Move left

Indicates that a sidebar, toolbar, window, or other location can be moved and resized to the left.

Resize right cursor

Move right

Indicates that a sidebar, toolbar, window, or other location can be moved and resized to the right.

Resize left or right cursor

Move left or right

Indicates that a sidebar, toolbar, window, or other location can be moved and resized to the left or right.

Resize up cursor

Move up

Indicates that a sidebar, toolbar, window, or other location can be moved and resized up.

Resize down cursor

Move down

Indicates that a sidebar, toolbar, window, or other location can be moved and resized down.

Resize up down cursor

Move up or down

Indicates that a sidebar, toolbar, window, or other location can be moved and resized up and down.

Screenshot selection crosshair cursor

Screenshot selection crosshair

Indicates that you can drag to select what you want to include in the screenshot.

Window screenshot camera cursor

Window and menu screenshot camera

Indicates that the screenshot you take will be of an entire window or of commands on a menu.

No access cursor

Not allowed

Indicates that the item you’re dragging can’t be placed in the current location.

Wait (spinning disk) cursor

Items are loading

Appears when items are loading. You can still move the pointer elsewhere.

Wait (spinning disk) cursor

Wait cursor

Appears when a delay of more than 2 to 4 seconds occurs.

Last Modified: Apr 13, 2016
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