Gestures and the wheel
Shake or circle the pointer to open the command center, bring up the wheel, close a tab, and more.
Mouse gestures are movements of the pointer that the browser watches for: a quick shake, or a circle. Each one does something, and you can change the shape, how big and fast it has to be, and where in the window it counts.
The gestures
These come built in. Settings → Gestures → Pointer gestures lists them, each with its own switch:
| Gesture | Does | Starts as |
|---|---|---|
| Tab dialog | Opens the command center | On: shake any way |
| Wheel | Brings up the wheel | Off: circle either way |
| Close tab | Closes the tab you're on. Pinned tabs stay | On: shake any way with ⌘Ctrl⇧Shift held |
| Panic | Hides every window behind a safe page | Off, with no shape until you pick one |
Close tab needs its keys held, so an ordinary shake opens the command center and never closes a tab.
Add gesture gives any of the wheel's commands a gesture of its own, like Reopen closed tab or Screenshot. Added gestures have Remove in their options.
When one movement could count as two gestures, the one higher in the list wins. Drag the rows by their handle to change the order, or right-click a row for Move up and Move down.
Tuning a gesture
Click a gesture's row to unfold its options:
| Option | Choices |
|---|---|
| Shape | None, Shake up and down, Shake side to side, Shake any way, Circle clockwise, Circle counterclockwise, Circle either way |
| Movement | Small, Medium, or Large: how far the pointer has to move |
| Pace | Relaxed, Normal, or Quick |
| Shakes or Loops | Fewer, Normal, or More |
| Where | Anywhere in the window, a half, or a corner |
| Keys | Keys to hold while you make it. With keys, it's a different gesture from the same shape without them |
| Off on these sites | Sites where the gesture does nothing, subdomains included |
Reset to defaults puts a gesture back the way it came.
Panic
The panic gesture hides every browser window, mutes every tab, and puts a safe page on screen in their place. Make the gesture again, or close the safe page, and everything comes back. Its options add:
- Safe page: what shows instead. Wikipedia to start with.
- Window: Maximized, Full screen, Like the hidden window, or New window size.
Turning them all off
The Mouse gestures switch at the top of Settings → Gestures turns every gesture off at once and keeps each one's own switch for when you turn them back on. The browser menu has the same switch. Under it, Keyboard shortcut lets you pick keys that flip it from any tab; there are none until you pick some.
The wheel
The wheel is a ring of buttons in the middle of the window. Bring it up, point at a button and press, or press its number.
- Press ⌘Ctrl⇧ShiftSpace to bring it up, and again to put it away.
- Or turn on Shake to open the wheel in Settings → Wheel to open it with a gesture. It's off to start with, and the gesture is a circle either way.
In the wheel:
| Keys | Does |
|---|---|
| 1 to 9, 0 | Run the button in that place, clockwise from the top |
| Arrow keys, Tab, ⇧ShiftTab | Move round the ring |
| Enter or Space | Run the lit button |
| Delete or Backspace | Close the lit recent tab |
| Esc | Put the wheel away |
Buttons
The wheel starts with Tab dialog, Reload, Forward, Settings, Close tab, Reopen closed tab, Back, and Home. In Settings → Wheel → Buttons:
- Add action adds a command: Hard reload, Duplicate tab, Pin tab, Mute tab, Copy link, Find in page, Screenshot, Sleep tab, History, Downloads, and more.
- Add site adds a button that opens a site.
- Drag rows, or use the arrow keys on a row's handle, to move buttons round the ring.
- A wheel holds 2 to 16 buttons.
Any of the wheel's commands can also have its own keys in Settings → Keyboard shortcuts → Your shortcuts. See Keyboard shortcuts.
Behavior
Settings → Wheel → Behavior:
| Setting | Does |
|---|---|
| Sites open in | A new tab, or the tab you're on, for site buttons |
| Behind the wheel | Gray and dimmed, or Dimmed |
| Size | Small, Medium, or Large |
| Recent tabs | How many of your last-used tabs show round the wheel, each with a snapshot. Point at one to switch to it. 5 to start with, up to 13 |
| Highlight | Slide, Fade, or Instant, for how the lit button moves |
| Gray site icons | Site icons stay gray until you point at one |
| Roulette | Circle round the wheel a few times and it turns into a roulette table |
| Glow | A halo of your theme's accent color round the wheel |
Gesture on or off lets you pick keys that turn the wheel's gesture on and off. Its keyboard shortcut works either way.
Mouse back and forward buttons
Turn on Settings → General → Back and forward → Switch tabs instead of pages to make your mouse's side buttons go to the previous and next tab instead of the previous and next page. On Windows and Linux, ⌥Alt with the left and right arrows does the same. Hold ⌘Ctrl with a mouse button to go back or forward a page.