It’s 2025, and you’ve got a brand new laptop. It’s shiny, fast, and the screen is beautiful. But then you try to do something, anything, that requires a right-click. You stare at the smooth, buttonless expanse of the mousepad, poking it, and nothing happens. You’re not alone. This is a thing that a lot of people run into, feeling a little bit silly for not knowing something that seems so basic.
The truth is, it’s not you. Laptops have changed. The old, clunky buttons are gone, replaced by these sleek touchpads. And how to get that right-click menu to pop up has changed right along with them. It’s a common point of confusion that trips up even people who have used computers for years. So let’s get this sorted out, once and for all. This guide will walk you through exactly how to right click on pretty much any mousepad you’ll find today.
The Old Days: Why Did Right-Clicking Get So Weird?
Remember older laptops? They were usually these chunky plastic things. Below the little square touchpad, there were almost always two physical, clicky buttons. One for the left click, one for the right click. It was obvious. You couldn’t miss it. You just pressed the button on the right.
Then, designers decided that laptops needed to be thinner and look cleaner. Those physical buttons were one of the first things to go. They broke up the smooth look of the device. Getting rid of them meant they could make the entire mousepad bigger which is generally better for moving your cursor around the screen.
So, the job of the right-click button was given to the touchpad itself. The computer now had to figure out what you meant to do based on how you touched the pad. This move from a hardware solution (a real button) to a software one (gestures and taps) is the entire reason this can be so confusing at first.
The Main Ways to Right Click on Most Laptops in 2025
So how do you actually do it? Well, normally there are a few standard methods that work on almost every modern Windows laptop, MacBook, and even Chromebook. One of them is almost guaranteed to be the default for your machine.
The Two-Finger Tap: Your New Best Friend
This is the big one. This is the method that has pretty much become the standard across the board. It’s simple and once you get used to it you might even find it faster than moving your finger to a specific button.
To do it, you just lightly tap the mousepad with two fingers at the same time. Don’t press down hard to make it “click.” Just a quick, gentle tap with two fingertips together.
Place two fingers (usually your index and middle finger) on the touchpad.
Tap them down on the surface at the same time.
Lift them up immediately.
The context menu, the one you get from a right-click, should appear.
It is this particular motion that has been adopted by nearly all manufacturers. The reason for this is because it feels quite natural after you do it a few times. It doesn’t require you to look down, you just do it.
The Corner Click: A Classic That Sometimes Still Works
This method is a holdover from the time when laptops were transitioning away from physical buttons. On many Windows laptops, the bottom-right corner of the mousepad is often set up to act as a dedicated right-click zone.
Unlike the two-finger tap, for this one you actually need to press down. Push on the bottom-right corner of the touchpad until you feel and hear a physical click. The computer knows that a click in that specific area is supposed to be a right-click.
This is becoming less common, though. Many new laptops, especially very thin ones or MacBooks, have a “diving board” mechanism where the whole pad clicks, and it can’t tell where you clicked, only how many fingers you used. But if the two-finger tap isn’t working for you give the corner a try.
The Press and Hold (For the Mac Crowd… Mostly)
Mac users have another old-school option that still works perfectly. It’s not the main way to do it anymore, but it’s a reliable backup. It’s a keyboard-and-touchpad combo.
You simply hold down the `Control` key on your keyboard. While you’re holding it down, just perform a normal one-finger click on the mousepad. This action tells macOS that your regular click should be interpreted as a right-click, or a “secondary click” as they sometimes call it. Some Windows setups can be configured to do something similar, like a long press, but it’s not a typical out-of-the-box setting.
What If It’s Not Working? Troubleshooting Your Mousepad Mayhem
So you’ve tried tapping with two fingers. You’ve tried clicking in the corner. Nothing. Before you get too frustrated, there are a few common reasons why your right-click function might not be working, and they’re usually easy to fix. It’s often not a case of the hardware being broken but a setting that’s gone a bit sideways.
Check Your Settings: This is the number one cause. Sometimes a system update or another program can change your mousepad settings without you realizing it. You need to go into your computer’s system settings and make sure the right-click gesture you want to use is actually turned on.
Update Your Drivers: Drivers are the little pieces of software that let your computer’s brain talk to its body parts, like the touchpad. If these drivers are old or corrupted, things can stop working. Checking for a driver update is always a good step.
Is the Touchpad Just Dirty?: It sounds silly, but a layer of grime, oil from your fingers, or even a little bit of moisture can mess with the touchpad’s sensitivity. It might not be able to correctly register two distinct fingers. Give it a gentle wipe with a soft, dry cloth.
Restart Your Computer: The oldest trick in the book, and it still works a surprising amount of the time. A simple restart can fix a host of temporary software glitches that might be causing the problem.
Customizing Your Right Click Experience (Because You Can!)
The great thing is that you’re not stuck with the default settings. You can go in and change how your touchpad works to better suit your own preferences. Maybe you hate the two-finger tap and want to use the corner click instead. You can probably change that.
For Windows 11 users, you’ll generally find these options in `Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touchpad`. In there, you’ll see a section for “Taps” or “Gestures.” You can turn the two-finger tap for right-click on or off, and sometimes assign other actions to different gestures.
On a MacBook running a modern version of macOS, you’ll go to `System Settings > Trackpad`. Under the “Point & Click” tab, you’ll see an option for “Secondary Click.” You can choose to have it activated by a two-finger tap, a click in the bottom-right corner, or a click in the bottom-left corner.
This is a good area to check out. You might find some other cool gestures you didn’t know your laptop could do, like using three fingers to swipe between programs. It lets you make the machine work the way your brain does.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q1: Why did my laptop suddenly stop right-clicking with two fingers?
This is almost always a software issue. A recent Windows or macOS update might have reset your settings to their default. Go into your touchpad settings and make sure the “two-finger tap” option for a secondary click is still checked on.
Q2: Can I set up my mousepad to right-click with just one finger?
Yes, usually. The most common way to do this is by enabling the “corner click” feature in your settings. This makes the bottom-right corner of the pad act as a dedicated right-click button, so you only need one finger to press it.
Q3: Is right-clicking the same on a Chromebook mousepad?
Generally, yes. The standard method on almost all modern Chromebooks is the two-finger tap, just like on Windows and Mac. You can also hold the `Alt` key and do a single-finger tap, which works like the `Control`+click on a Mac.
Q4: How do I right-click on a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro mousepad?
The default and most common method is to tap with two fingers. You can also press and hold the `Control` key on the keyboard while you click with one finger. You can change these options in System Settings under the Trackpad menu.
Q5: What is the point of a right-click anyway?
A right-click, also called a secondary click, opens up a context menu. This menu gives you a list of actions you can perform on whatever you clicked on. For example, right-clicking a file might give you options to Copy, Paste, Rename, or Delete it. It’s a shortcut to many useful commands.
Key Takeaways
Most modern laptops have ditched physical buttons for a buttonless touchpad.
The most common way to right-click in 2025 is to lightly tap the touchpad with two fingers at the same time.
An alternative method on some laptops is to press down and click the bottom-right corner of the touchpad.
Mac users have the additional option of holding the `Control` key while performing a normal one-finger click.
If your right-click isn’t working, the first place to check is your computer’s touchpad settings, as the feature might have been turned off.
You can customize these settings to make your touchpad work in a way that feels most comfortable for you.
