The unsung hero making your digital journey smooth and seamless is the humble mouse cursor. It discreetly and faithfully blinks away, allowing you to navigate desktops, conquer spreadsheets, craft emails, and fulfill your drag-and-drop functions. But have you considered the hidden customization potential of the cursor?
Yes, you can personalize the cursor to make it for you and align it with your working style. So, let’s explore this.
Why Consider Personalizing your Cursor?
For some, the default Mac cursor is sufficient. But if you are among those craving a touch of personal style or wish to enhance the cursor’s visibility, customization is the way to go.
Imagine a playful emoji bouncing alongside your clicks or a colorful rainbow trail streaking across the screen. It would be cool, right?
Some of the benefits you will enjoy if you decide to tailor the cursor:
- Visually impaired users benefit from bolder, larger cursors with custom animations and colors. This allows them to see the cursor on the screen easily.
- If the cursor designs are unique, it helps users with focus issues or ADHD. The unique design makes it easier to track the cursor movements and stay engaged.
- Personalization allows individuals to unleash their inner artists and express their individuality.
- The custom cursor turns mundane tasks into exciting adventures with sound effects and playful animations.
Now, let’s dive into the different ways you can personalize the cursor for improved style and visibility.
Steps to Personalize your Mac’s Cursor
Shake the Cursor to Locate it on the Screen
The mouse pointer is black in color with the recent updates (macOS Big Sur and later), and this makes it challenging to locate the pointer, especially when you have a cluttered desktop. Therefore, you can enable the Shake Mouse Pointer to Locate feature to pinpoint the cursor easily.
Here’s how you can enable this feature:
- System Preferences/System Settings > Accessibility > Display > Pointer tab > tick the box next to Shake Mouse Pointer to Locate.
Once this option is enabled, you can move your finger back and forth on the trackpad to quickly locate the pointer. If you are using a Magic Mouse, move it back and forth.
Highlight Mac Cursor
You can highlight mouse pointer on your Mac by changing the size and/or color of the pointer.
If you have a large monitor and think the pointer’s size is too small, you can bump its size. Naturally, a large mouse cursor size is easier to find and use. You can change the cursor size by clicking the Apple icon > navigating to System Preferences or System Settings > clicking Accessibility > choosing Display > clicking on the Pointer tab > adjusting the Pointer size by using the slider.
Besides the size, you can also modify the color of the cursor. This can make it easier to spot the pointer on the screen because it is highlighted, or it can simply be a way of showing off your creativity. To change the color of the cursor, click Apple menu > System Preferences or System Settings > Accessibility > Display > Pointer tab > select the pointer’s color you prefer next to the Pointer Outline Color option > choose the color you want next to Pointer Fill Color.
The changes will take place in real time. Hence, you can quickly make your decision or change the color and size of the cursor as many times as you want. If you are unhappy with how the cursor looks, you can also go back to the default settings by clicking Reset.
Modify the Tracking Speed
Is your Mac’s pointer moving too fast? Whether it is moving too slowly or too fast, the tracking speed of the mouse cursor can be modified to align with your workflow needs.
To modify the tracking speed, click the Apple menu and go to the System Preferences app or the System Settings app. Head to the Trackpad option and click the Tracking Speed tab. Then, move the slider to the right or left to adjust the speed of the cursor.
Once you have moved the slider, move the pointer to see whether you like the new tracking speed. You can repeat the same steps as many times as you want until you are fully satisfied with the tracking speed.
The Bottom Line
So, are you excited to tailor the cursor? The Mac’s cursor can be customized according to your preferences, requirements, and workflow speed. Whether it is increasing or decreasing the pointer size, changing the cursor color, or adjusting the tracking speed, you can quickly make the changes and continue working.
Hopefully, with this guide, you have learned how to modify and tailor the default cursor settings on your Mac computer.
Have you customized your Mac cursor yet? If so, do not hesitate to share your experience with your fellow Mac users. Leave a comment so they can feel confident taking this step.
