Using the mouse

The mouse can be used for a lot more than just clicking links, including powerful mouse gestures and flexible drag-and-drop operations.

Basic mouse usage

Single-click the left button to activate buttons, follow links on webpages, open items in panels, and so forth.

Press Shift while clicking to open a link or bookmark in a new tab. If you also press Ctrl, the new tab will open in the background instead of popping up on top of your current tab.

Most of Opera's browser elements as well as webpage elements have their own context menus containing multiple options. To display the context menu, click the right button.

Context menu activation

The context menu for selected text can be accessed by clicking repeatedly on the word or expression you want to select.

• Double-click to select the word
• Triple-click to select the full sentence
• Click four times to select the entire paragraph

The menu contains options like dictionary and encyclopedia searches. If a web address (URL) is not marked up as a link, double-click it and select "Go to URL" from the context menu.

The context menu is also available when you right-click any selected text.

Mouse gestures

Mouse gestures is a really useful way to move the mouse and click buttons to perform common actions. When mouse gestures are enabled, a visual guide displays when you hold the right mouse button down and move the mouse to show you the available gestures. See more in the Mouse gestures topic.

Drag and drop

Dragging and dropping items can speed up your browsing and facilitate customization of the browser.

"Pick up" the desired item by clicking on it and holding the mouse button, then moving it to the desired location and dropping it. To drag and drop links, make sure to drag them directly up or down at first to initiate dragging.

Items you can drag

• Links and images in webpages
• Items on the bookmarks bar
• Items in panels
• Tabs on the tab bar
• All buttons and other toolbar items available in the Appearance dialog

Dragged items can be dropped on toolbars and panels, and they can also be dragged to your computer desktop. Examples of uses:

• Dragging a link to the bookmarks panel or a toolbar saves it as a bookmark.
• Dragging a bookmark to the workspace/webpage area opens the bookmark.
• Tabs can be rearranged by dragging them on the tab bar.
• Notes can be dragged into email messages for automatic pasting.
• Drag a download link to the downloads panel to start downloading.

The best way to learn more about dragging and dropping is to play around and discover all the possibilities.

Changing the mouse setup

If you wish to change the default mouse setup:

1. Go to Settings > Preferences > Advanced > Shortcuts.
2. Select the configuration you wish to change, and click "Edit".
3. Find the operation you wish to edit by typing in the "Quick find" field or clicking the list.
4. Click "Edit" and enter a sequence of mouse movements to associate with the event.

The "Middle click options" dialog lets you choose what Opera should do when you click the middle button or scroll wheel on your mouse. The default action is to open the clicked link in a background tab.

You can also download mouse setups.

Related topic

• Mouse gestures