Hey everyone, did you know that you can make browsing in Chrome way faster by using mouse gestures? It’s like having secret shortcuts built right into your mouse! If you’re tired of keyboard shortcuts, this is a fantastic alternative to navigate and control the browser with simple mouse moves.
To get this working, you’ll need an extension, and CrxMouse Chrome Gestures is a super flexible one, with tons of options.
Setting up Mouse Gestures in Chrome
Chrome doesn’t have built-in mouse gesture support, so we need an extension. The CrxMouse Chrome Gestures extension is a popular choice and super easy to install.
First, head to the Chrome Web Store at chrome.google.com/webstore and search for “CrxMouse Chrome Gestures.” You can also use this direct link.
Once you’re there, click the “Add to Chrome” button to add the extension.
A confirmation box will pop up, click “Add extension”.
After installation, you’ll land on the extension’s settings page, where you can check out their privacy features and data policies.
You have the choice to “Agree” or “Disagree” with their terms. Agreeing will unlock more advanced features that boost the efficiency of mouse gestures, but it’s totally up to you.
If you click “Agree,” you’ll get a quick tutorial to help you get used to mouse gestures. If you go with “Disagree”, you might not get this tutorial.
Customizing Mouse Gestures in CrxMouse
The CrxMouse Gestures extension has lots of features to speed up your browsing. To tweak it, click the extension’s icon on the toolbar, then hit the gear icon like in the screenshot.
This opens the settings page. You can dig into all sorts of options. If you want to disable the gestures without removing the extension, toggle the “Enable CrxMouse Gestures” switch.
Open CrxMouse settings with a mouse gesture
CrxMouse even lets you access its settings using a gesture. Remember, these gestures only work on actual webpages, not on those blank new tabs.
- To open settings using a gesture, hold the right mouse button and draw a square starting from the right by dragging right (
), then down (
), left (
), and up (
). Check out the image below.
Enabling super drag
The “Super Drag” feature is awesome. It lets you quickly open images or links in new tabs, download images, copy text, and search selected text on Google, just by dragging your mouse.
- If Super Drag isn’t enabled, use the mouse gesture we just talked about to open settings. Then, flip the switch next to “Enable Super Drag”.
Open image in a new tab
With Super Drag, you can open images in new tabs super quick, either to the right or left of your current tab.
- To open an image in a new tab on the right, just grab the image with the left mouse button and drag right ().
- To open it to the left, grab it and drag left ().
Download an image
- To download an image, hold the left mouse button on it and drag down (). It’ll save right to your computer.
Open link in a new tab
Super Drag also lets you open links in new tabs, no more right-click menus needed.
- To open a link in a new tab on the left, grab the link with the left mouse button and drag it left ().
- To open a link in a new tab on the right, grab the link and drag right ().
Google-search text on a webpage
- To google a word, highlight the text and drag it right (), and it will search it on Google in a new tab on the right.
- To open the search in a new tab on the left, highlight the text and drag left ().
Copy text on a webpage
- To copy selected text, highlight it and drag down (). The text will be copied.
Mouse gestures for navigation
Navigating pages and tabs becomes much easier with mouse gestures.
- To go back a page, hold the right mouse button and drag left () on an empty part of the page.
- To go forward, hold the right mouse button and drag right ().
Navigate between tabs
- To switch to the tab on the left, hold right mouse button, drag up (), then left ().
- To switch to the tab on the right, hold the right mouse button, drag up (), then right ().
Mouse gestures for scrolling
Scrolling is more natural with gestures.
- To scroll down, hold the right mouse button and drag down ().
- To scroll up, hold the right mouse button and drag up ().
- To jump to the bottom of a page, hold the right mouse button, drag right (), then down ().
- To return to the top, hold the right mouse button, drag right (), then up ().
Gestures to load pages
You can also manage tabs and pages with gestures.
- To reopen a closed tab, hold the right mouse button, drag left (), then up ().
- To reload the current page, hold right mouse button, drag up (), then down ().
- To reload all open tabs, hold right mouse button, and drag left () then right ().
Window gestures
Managing browser windows can also be done with gestures.
- To close the current window, hold the right mouse button, drag up (), then right (), then down ().
- To open a new window, hold the right mouse button, drag down (), right (), then up ().
Customizing scrolling options
- To customize scrolling, first open the CrxMouse extension settings. Make sure “Enable Scrolling” is checked.
- You’ll then see the “Scrolling” option in the sidebar. Click it to change the scrolling settings.
- Adjust the speed and acceleration by moving the sliders on the scrolling settings page.
How to import/export configurations
- In the CrxMouse settings, click “Advanced Settings” in the sidebar.
- To export your settings, click the “Export” button.
- A code will show up in the textbox above. Copy this code and save it in a doc for later.
- To import, paste the code into the same text box and click “Import”.
Sync gestures across devices
To keep your mouse gesture settings the same on all your computers, sync the extension through your Google account.
- Install the CrxMouse Chrome Gestures extension on Chrome on all your computers.
- Sign into the same Google account on each device. The extension will automatically sync your setups.
By using CrxMouse Chrome Gestures, you can make browsing way more efficient by using simple mouse movements that you can fully customize.