Make the Most of your Mouse: A Journey Into Automation
Apps and Tools to Maximize Your Mouse. BetterMouse, SteerMouse, BetterTouchTool, Kando, and More. My Setup as a Power User.
Hey everyone! I'm excited to share a new video with you. This one took longer than expected because there's so much to cover about mouse automation. In the end I decided to make it more of an overview rather than diving deep into one specific app, as I think this will be a better introduction to future content I might share.
In this overview, I explore several powerful tools including BetterMouse, SteerMouse, BetterTouchTool, Keyboard Maestro, and Kando, each offering unique ways to enhance your system and overall productivity.
To be clear - I don't cover EVERYTHING you can do with the different apps I mention. That would be impossible since these apps are incredibly powerful and flexible. You can basically do almost anything you can imagine with them. Instead, I focus more on how I have set them up to work with one another with my mouse, I share some pros/cons, and I also share ideas that hopefully will inspire you to be more efficient with your system interactions and therefore improve your daily workflows.
Feel free to watch or keep reading for more info.
BetterTouchTool and the Master 3S
BetterTouchTool used to be great for all my trackpad and Magic Mouse automation needs. When I got the Logitech MX Master 3S, I naturally wanted to set it up the same way. However, I quickly discovered a problem - BTT doesn't fully detect all buttons on third-party mice. While there are free apps that improve scrolling or add basic features, after some research BetterMouse and SteerMouse stood out as the most complete options for third-party mice.
Why avoid the default Logitech Option + software? While it works, it has several issues: high CPU usage, constant internet requests, unnecessary bloat, big files, and a messy uninstallation process. This is where BetterMouse and SteerMouse shine - they unlock your mouse's full potential without the drawbacks of official apps.
BetterMouse vs SteerMouse
When comparing BetterMouse and SteerMouse, I found they share many core features. Both apps let you customize scrolling, set up app-specific actions, and create triggers using single taps, press-and-hold, or modifier keys. However, there's a few things that set them apart:
BetterMouse
Offers incredibly natural gesture controls. This means you can press and hold a button, then drag up/down/left/right for different actions
If you have Master MX 3S there's some handy features, like using the thumbwheel as a button
Interface is a bit more modern/user friendly over SteerMouse
SteerMouse
Offers "chording." The ability to perform actions when pressing multiple mouse buttons at the same time
Now, while both apps offer similar actions that can be assigned to gestures, chords, and clicks, the real power comes from how they connect with other automation apps. With the apps I have on my system, here's what I found: BetterMouse sends keyboard shortcuts that are recognized by Keyboard Maestro and Alfred, but not by BetterTouchTool. SteerMouse's shortcuts work with BetterTouchTool, but not with Keyboard Maestro.
I personally preferred the experience of using BetterMouse over SteerMouse. Even though I was more familiar with BetterTouchTool and all its actions, I chose BetterMouse. This pushed me to learn Keyboard Maestro better. It turned out to be a great choice—Keyboard Maestro allows me to do so much more than I ever did with BetterTouchTool. Both are amazing apps, and actually a bit later I found that BetterTouchTool can also create chords without conflicting with BetterMouse, and in this way I've added some more actions to my mouse.
KANDO
A few months after setting up BetterMouse and Keyboard Maestro, I found Kando - a free circular menu app that appears over your cursor. It works on Windows, Linux, and Mac, and it's incredibly powerful. This is one of those apps that has revolutionized how I use my system. Once you open a Kando menu you can navigate inside other submenus or perform different actions. It allows you to runs commands/scripts, opens files/urls, simulate keyboard shortcuts, etc. You can customize it extensively, it connects with other automation apps without issues, it's fun to use, and it's VERY user friendly. In fact, I'd just recommend Kando before anything else to anyone, regardless of their level of expertise with automation, and regardless of the mouse model they have.
With Kando, I can quickly control Dropover, Clop, run Alfred Workflows, open websites, control Cleanshot X, run Keyboard Maestro macros, perform text transformations (using Quill), access my most-used apps—all from a quick menu that appears right around my cursor. It's become an essential part of my daily workflow.
Questions or Feedback Welcome!
In the video, I go into more detail about everything I mentioned here. If you have any questions about a specific app, or if you would like to see more about a specific area of my setup, please feel free to ask or give me suggestions for more content. Remember you can reply to this email or simply comment below the post.
Oh, and if you found this helpful, I'd be so grateful if you consider buying me a coffee to support me :)
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I bought a mouse with many buttons, and Onboard Memory. I set each mouse button key to an "F1, F2, F3,etc" keyboard key. Better Touch Tool, doesn't or can't read the currently pressed modifier keys from this mouse. I don't know how to fix that. I thought you would be probably one of the very few who would know. I also love tinkering with tools, but I can't crack this problem out with BTT alone so far. I do not use any other software to read my shortcuts and automations apart from BTT.