Show right clicks and drags clearly in a tutorial video
To show right clicks and drags clearly in a Mac tutorial, the video needs a click mark that looks different for each mouse button and a mark that follows a drag from start to finish. The macOS recorder’s Show Mouse Clicks option marks clicks, but it is a single switch, with no setting for size, color, right clicks or drags. The rest comes from how you move and what you say, or from an overlay such as Typebar, whose click ripples have their own shape for left, right and middle clicks and whose drag trail draws the movement.
Below: why these two actions get lost, the habits that fix most of it, and how to mark them on screen.
Why right clicks and drags disappear on video
On your own Mac, you feel the difference between a left click and a right click in your hand. Viewers only see a pointer. A right click looks exactly like a left click: the pointer stops, and then a menu appears. Someone following along clicks the same spot with the left button and opens the file instead of the menu, and now they are lost.
Drags have the opposite problem. The pointer moves the same way whether the button is held down or not. Viewers cannot see when you pressed, so a drag that selects text, moves a window or drops a file into a folder can look like you simply moved the pointer and something happened by itself.
Both get worse at the size most tutorials are watched: a laptop window or a phone, with video compression smearing the pointer whenever it moves fast.
Three ways to right-click, and what viewers see
Your viewers right-click in different ways, and so might you. It helps to know what each one looks like in a recording.
| How | Where it is set | What the recording shows |
|---|---|---|
| Two-finger click on a trackpad | System Settings > Trackpad > Secondary click | A click, then a menu |
| Right button on a two-button mouse | Nothing to set | A click, then a menu |
| Right side of a Magic Mouse | System Settings > Mouse > Secondary click | A click, then a menu |
| Control-click | Nothing to set | A click, then a menu, with no sign of the key |
Apple calls the menu that appears the shortcut menu; most people say context menu or right-click menu. Whatever you call it on camera, use one name and stick to it.
Control-click needs a word of its own. On video it looks like any other click, because the key you hold does not show. Unless the Control key is on screen too, viewers see what looks like a plain click open a menu, try a plain click themselves, and get a different result. When you record, use your real secondary click, the two-finger click or the right button. If Control-click is how you work, show your keys while you record; Show clicks and keystrokes together so viewers see the whole action covers that.
In your narration, say “right-click” every time, and once, early in the video, add “on a trackpad, click with two fingers, or hold Control and click”. That one sentence covers every viewer’s hardware.
What the built-in recorder can show
The Screenshot toolbar is the recorder built into macOS. Press Command-Shift-5 (⇧⌘5), choose Record Entire Screen or Record Selected Portion, open Options and choose Show Mouse Clicks. From then on, clicks get a black circle around the pointer in the video. QuickTime Player’s File > New Screen Recording opens the same toolbar.
It is free and quick, and for many clips it is enough, as long as you say out loud which button you pressed. Its limits for this job:
- Options has only the switch, with no setting for size, color, right clicks or drags. Do not count on the circle to tell viewers which button you used or when a drag starts; say it.
- It belongs to that one recorder. OBS, Loom and a screen share on a call do not get it.
How to show mouse clicks in a screen recording on a Mac goes through it step by step.
Mark each button with its own shape
Typebar is a keyboard overlay for screen recordings, demos and learning shortcuts: every key you press lights up on an on-screen keyboard, and a keystroke pill names each shortcut as you press it. Its Mouse settings add three things that help here:
- Click ripples. Left, right and middle clicks each get their own shape, so a right click looks like a right click without you having to say so. Viewers learn the two shapes in the first minute and stop wondering.
- Show clicks in the pill. The pill can list clicks next to your keystrokes, as Click, Right Click or ⌘ Click. “Right Click” spelled out in words is hard to misread, even on a phone.
- Drag trail. A drag leaves a trail behind the pointer, so it reads as one continuous movement from here to there, not as a click followed by a jump.
Turn these on in Settings > Mouse. Because they are drawn on the screen, they show up in whatever records or shares that part of it: the Screenshot toolbar, QuickTime Player, OBS, Loom, or a call where you share your entire screen. Two things to know:
- Ripples and the trail show while Typebar’s overlay, the keyboard, the pill or both, is on screen, so keep it up while you record.
- Like any window, they are not part of a capture of one other app’s window. Record the whole display or an area that includes them.
If you use the ripples, switch off Show Mouse Clicks in the Screenshot toolbar, or every click gets two marks on top of each other.
How to perform a drag on camera
Even with a trail, a drag is easier to follow when you do it in a way viewers can see. These habits make the difference:
- Start still. Put the pointer on the item and stop for a moment before you press. Viewers need to know what you are about to pick up.
- Press, then wait a beat. In Finder, the icon lifts and follows the pointer. Give viewers half a second to see that before you move.
- Move slowly and in a straight line. Fast, curved movements are where compression loses the pointer.
- Hover before you drop. Hold over the target until it highlights, such as a folder in Finder. That pause tells viewers where the drop is going.
- Say where it starts and ends. “Drag the PDF from Downloads onto the Invoices folder” matches what they see, and helps anyone only listening.
- Show the result. After the drop, point at the item in its new place.
A mouse usually makes long, steady drags easier than a trackpad, where lifting a finger halfway can drop the item early. If a drag goes wrong on camera, stop, undo with Command-Z where the app allows it, and do it again. A clean second take beats an explanation.
Watch out for drags that do two things. In Finder, dragging a file to another folder on the same disk moves it, but dragging it to a different disk copies it. If the difference matters to your viewers, say which one is happening.
A setup for click-heavy tutorials
For a video that is mostly right-clicking and dragging, such as file management, a design app or a settings walkthrough, this combination works well:
- A pointer a little bigger than normal, set in System Settings > Accessibility > Display, under Pointer. Make the Mac pointer bigger and easier to find has the details.
- Click ripples and the drag trail on, so each button and each drag has its own mark.
- Clicks in the pill, if you also show keystrokes.
- Record a selected portion around the app instead of a whole large display, so every mark is bigger in the final video.
- A ten-second test: right-click, drag, stop, and watch the file at the size your viewers will.
Questions
How do I right-click on a Mac with no right mouse button?
Hold Control and click. On a trackpad, click with two fingers, which is set under Secondary click in System Settings > Trackpad. On a Magic Mouse, set Secondary click in System Settings > Mouse to use the right side.
Can the built-in recorder show which mouse button I pressed?
Do not count on it. Show Mouse Clicks is a single on or off switch, with no setting for right clicks or drags. Say which button you used out loud, or use click marks that differ by button.
Will viewers see the drag trail on a Zoom or Google Meet call?
Yes, if you share your entire screen while Typebar’s overlay shows. If you share a single app’s window, the trail is left out, because Typebar draws it in a window of its own.
Typebar is $9 once for up to 5 Macs, and free for 24 hours with everything on.