BezelMouse

Support

Set up in five minutes. Answers for the rest.

How to get two Macs talking, what the shortcuts are, and what to check when something doesn't cross.

Setting up

From download to crossing

  1. Install BezelMouse on every Mac

    Open the download and drag BezelMouse to Applications. It runs in the menu bar; there's no Dock icon until you open its window.

  2. Allow Accessibility

    macOS asks the first time. Accessibility is what lets an app move the pointer and type on your behalf; every app that shares a keyboard and mouse needs it. Turn BezelMouse on under System Settings, Privacy & Security, Accessibility.

  3. Allow the local network

    macOS also asks whether BezelMouse may find devices on your network. That's how your Macs find each other. Allow it on each Mac.

  4. Confirm the pairing code

    When two Macs see each other, both show the same six-digit code. Check that they match and confirm on both. You only do this once per pair of Macs.

  5. Arrange your screens

    Open BezelMouse and go to Arrangement. Drag each Mac to where it sits on your desk, with every display it has. Then push the pointer off the edge.

Shortcuts

The keys worth knowing

All of them can be changed under General in BezelMouse, by pressing the keys you want.

Control-Option-BTake back control from the Mac you're controlling. Changeable in General.
Control-Option-1 to 9Jump to that Mac, by its number in the arrangement.
Control-Option-ArrowJump to the Mac in that direction.
Control-Option-LKeep the pointer on the Mac it's on, or let it cross again.
Escape, while draggingCancel a drag that has crossed to another Mac.

Requirements

What it needs

Nothing beyond the Macs themselves and the network they already share.

macOSmacOS 13 Ventura or later, on every Mac
NetworkThe same local network: Wi‑Fi, Ethernet, or a Thunderbolt cable
PermissionsAccessibility and Local Network; Automation only if you drag tabs from Chrome
AccountsNone. Macs pair with a six-digit code

If something is off

The usual snags, and the fix for each

The Macs don't find each other

They need to be on the same network: the same Wi‑Fi, an Ethernet switch, or a Thunderbolt cable between them. A VPN that routes all traffic can hide them from each other; try with it off. On each Mac, check System Settings, Privacy & Security, Local Network, and make sure BezelMouse is allowed. If your firewall blocks incoming connections, allow BezelMouse there too.

The pointer won't cross

Check the arrangement: the pointer crosses where the two Macs touch in it. If you pressed Control-Option-L, the pointer is locked to this Mac; press it again. A mouse button held down while dragging something the other Mac can't take (a window, say) also keeps the pointer here until you let go.

System Settings shows Accessibility on, but BezelMouse still asks for it

macOS remembers the permission for the exact copy of the app it was granted to. After replacing the app, select BezelMouse in System Settings, Privacy & Security, Accessibility, remove it with the minus button, then open BezelMouse and allow it again.

I am stuck on the other Mac and can't get back

Press Control-Option-B (or the shortcut you chose) on the keyboard you're using. Moving the other Mac's own mouse or keyboard also takes control back at once. If BezelMouse has stopped responding, its event tap releases your mouse and keyboard by itself within a second.

A browser tab won't cross, but everything else does

Safari and Chrome tabs cross. For Chrome, macOS asks once whether BezelMouse may control the browser; it needs that to find out which page the tab holds. Other browsers are untested for now; in any of them, dragging the site icon from the address bar carries the page across.

Media keys stay on this Mac

They go to the Mac that is playing sound. If nothing is playing, or the setting Media keys follow the music is off, they stay where they were pressed. Something that holds the speakers without sound, like a call, counts as playing.

Copied files don't paste on the other Mac

Press Command-V there. Files are sent only when pasted, and the paste waits for them; Activity in BezelMouse shows the progress. Paste from the Edit menu doesn't fetch them. If you copied something else on that Mac in between, Command-V pastes that instead.

More questions are answered on the home page.

Get in touch

Still stuck? A person will answer.

Join the waitlist below and reply to the email we send. Say which macOS version each Mac runs and what you saw in Activity in BezelMouse, and a person will get back to you.