I had the same issue and having 2 BT Magic mouse by mistake connected at the same time was the issue too. Thanks for sharing!
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Cannot left click, Only right click is available.
- Thread starter ksc1213
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I had the same issue and having 2 BT Magic mouse by mistake connected at the same time was the issue too. Thanks for sharing!
I had this issue today as well, although there was no other mouse that appeared to be connected there was another "on" in the vicinity. I turned off bluetooth and everything worked but I couldn't see another bt device to delete. I saw the mouse, keyboard and the trackpad (and a speaker or two I think) so I'm not sure where the bt interference is coming from.
MacBook Pro 17.... For a couple of days now, every time I click on the screen I only get the right menu... sometimes when I open and close my lid it works but then it happens again.
I now have to use a wireless Mac keyboard to type. Before this my Bluetooth was completely off. Also it appears that my Control and or Option key is stuck because when I restart I get the option to choose which drive to startup from. Also my Caps Lock and "P" keys would not work on the internal keyboard.
This is happening on both my El Capitan and Sierra boot disks.
I now have to use a wireless Mac keyboard to type. Before this my Bluetooth was completely off. Also it appears that my Control and or Option key is stuck because when I restart I get the option to choose which drive to startup from. Also my Caps Lock and "P" keys would not work on the internal keyboard.
This is happening on both my El Capitan and Sierra boot disks.
Wow, for a similar stupid reason. I had my iPad standing on my external trackpad on my desk. It prevented the left clicks.
I have done as many other users have said and turned off Bluetooth as well as my Bluetooth mouse and am using a wired Mighty Mouse. I am still encountering the problem of both mouse buttons occasionally functioning as right-click. The problem occurs with any Mac mouse I use, but I haven't tried with a non-apple mouse yet. The problem persists for up to 20 minutes, then disappears for hours. I tried to repair disk permissions but this feature has apparently been removed. The closest I could find was "Perform First Aid" in its place, which did nothing. I checked Keyboard Viewer while the click was malfunctioning and there is nothing wrong with the control key.
Yep. iMac 2009 10.7.5. Left Click erratically not working. Unplugged all USBs AND Printer. Restarted. So far so good. Seems fixed but perhaps not a permanent fix if it’s a “grabbing resources” or OS “overwriting” the original hardware permissions locations with some new (probably Wireless) service on some OS update.
Since reboot without USBs fixes problem, I’m thinking it’s a memory issue that’s interfering with mouse ops when I don’t restart often enough.
I’m flatly refusing all OS updates because they’d disable features and possible entire suites on my legacy software.
I realize that in a few months, 2 years at most, new browser upgrades won’t wirk with my old OS so I’m also refusing browser upgrades. Which means that it’s a matter of months before the only way I’ll get files into and off of my iMac is via USB and hardware connection to my iPhone. Until even THOSE connections become legacy. Well, that’s life in the slow lane.
For now, this fix works.
I had the same problems as OP, but resolved it with a new keyboard - mine must have been throwing a constant COMMAND or CONTROL or something, as long as it was connected to the computer.
Had the same problem... It was simple than I thought: the BT keyboard I use sometimes was nearby and something was on top of it pressing CTRL...
Look for any mouse or keyboard close by! I had this problem before and it was the mouse on my backpack that was turned on and connected.
As usual Apple tries to make things easy and in doing so makes it more complicated. By turning off bluetooth and plugging in a regular wired mouse, the actual control panel for "MOUSE" changes. Instead of the magic mouse "Secondary Click" option, with a plain wired mouse you instead get just radio buttons to select the primary click action, left or right click. The value of this appears to be stored in a different field (in the mouse preferences section of whatever preferences file it is stored in) to the value for the secondary click option for Magic Mouse. For some reason, something, somewhere, resets the primary click field to be the opposite of what it should be, which then causes the phenomenon complained about here.
I've got an older mac here which simply refuses to left click anymore, except for about 2 minutes after I've reset everything in the control panels using the techniques described above. I can't even get it to rebuild the system preferences, as some watchdog keeps renaming the plist file back to plist when I try the old .bkp trick.
This is a very annoying software glitch that I've seen about three times now; not that frequent, but very annoying when it happens.
I've got an older mac here which simply refuses to left click anymore, except for about 2 minutes after I've reset everything in the control panels using the techniques described above. I can't even get it to rebuild the system preferences, as some watchdog keeps renaming the plist file back to plist when I try the old .bkp trick.
This is a very annoying software glitch that I've seen about three times now; not that frequent, but very annoying when it happens.
We were pulling our hair out over this one. Thanks for the quick resolution. I suppose plugging in a wired mouse and going into either bluetooth settings or system prefs, mouse would have pointed in this direction too, but I couldn't plug in a mouse b/c it was a late '18 MacBook Air with no usb port. The user didn't have a dongle. Couldn't get access using the mouse due to the click being disabled. btw having secondary click enabled allowed right clicking, but control+right click doesn't = left click. There was no trackpad access either. The OS code should at least allow trackpad override bluetooth access. You could always have a setting to disable trackpad clicks when bluetooth mouse is connected, but it should default OFF
Ok, this post is 10 years old, but it goes to show that the same problems can still occur years later. In such cases it’s most likely down to common sense ways in dealing with the problem rather than anything to do with software. After reading a number of the comments already made, my problem was solved after seeing what other peripherals I had connected that input in the same way as a mouse. I had a usb roller-ball input device with buttons that I disconnected. Always disconnect other peripherals. Still, the problem persisted. After a painful hour restarting, resetting the pr-ram a few times, I found that I had a Bluetooth trackpad the other side of the room that had the corner of a hard drive I’d carelessly placed on it. That meant that it was the equivalent of a click and hold that was overriding my wired usb mouse! A stupid oversight. I’m so happy that the problem is solved now and that I didn’t have to worry any more about my very expensive Mac Pro!
Hi,
2020 but I had this problem similar. I though my macbook was freezing somehow because of too much activity but no :
I use a BT keyboard and White trackpad (Apple)
- keyboard could access all apps and browser (All works fine with keyboard, so the macbook still responds)
- right key worked
- left key didn't work. (couldn't click)
I just had to turn off the BT keyboard (Apple one) and on again.
I thought for the last 2 weeks this happened that it was activity related. Crash or something.
Just a BT and connected devices somehow screwed up the left click.
Happy.
2020 but I had this problem similar. I though my macbook was freezing somehow because of too much activity but no :
I use a BT keyboard and White trackpad (Apple)
- keyboard could access all apps and browser (All works fine with keyboard, so the macbook still responds)
- right key worked
- left key didn't work. (couldn't click)
I just had to turn off the BT keyboard (Apple one) and on again.
I thought for the last 2 weeks this happened that it was activity related. Crash or something.
Just a BT and connected devices somehow screwed up the left click.
Happy.