Pro Mouse Help
Everything you need to get the most out of Pro Mouse: shortcuts, permissions, customization, and answers to common questions.
Getting started
Pro Mouse lives in your menu bar. Look for the halo icon at the top right of your screen. There's no Dock icon; the menu bar is home base.
- Click the icon and choose Turn Pro Mouse On (or Off) to enable or disable everything at once.
- Use Toggle Functions to switch Mouse Halo, Zoom, Spotlight, Drawing, or Display Keystrokes on and off individually.
- Choose Open Pro Mouse Preferences… to customize colors, sizes, shortcuts, and behavior.
After an update, Pro Mouse shows you what changed. You can open that list anytime from the menu bar icon under Help → What's New in Pro Mouse….
Default shortcuts
Every shortcut is hold-to-activate: press and hold the key while you need it, release when you're done.
| Hold | To |
|---|---|
| fn | Zoom |
| ⌥ option | Draw |
| ⌃ control | Spotlight |
| ⌘ command | Clear drawings |
You can change any of these in Preferences → Shortcuts. Enabling custom shortcuts lets you define any key combination; this requires the Accessibility permission below.
Permissions
Zoom needs Screen Recording
Zoom works by capturing your screen to render the magnifier, so macOS requires your permission. Everything stays on your Mac. Pro Mouse never records, stores, or transmits anything.
On macOS 13 or later:
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording
- Turn on Pro Mouse
- Quit and reopen Pro Mouse if macOS asks
On macOS 12 and earlier: System Preferences → Security & Privacy → Privacy tab → Screen Recording.
Updated the app and Zoom stopped working? macOS ties this permission to each version of an app, so it may ask you to grant it again after an update. Same steps as above.
Custom shortcuts need Accessibility
To watch for your custom key combinations, Pro Mouse needs the Accessibility permission. Without it, the standard single-key shortcuts still work.
On macOS 13 or later:
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility
- Turn on Pro Mouse
On macOS 12 and earlier: System Preferences → Security & Privacy → Privacy tab → Accessibility.
Keystrokes needs Accessibility
To show the keys you press in other apps, Pro Mouse needs the same Accessibility permission. Without it, nothing appears outside Pro Mouse's own windows: the playground still works, but keys you press in other apps are not shown. The Keystrokes pane shows an Open System Settings button until the permission is granted.
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility
- Turn on Pro Mouse
Customizing each tool
Open Pro Mouse Preferences from the menu bar icon. Each pane covers one tool:
- Settings: Start at login, remember on/off states between launches, hide the halo or drawings after a chosen number of seconds of inactivity, play a click sound (fourteen to choose from), and show notifications.
- Shortcuts: Switch between standard hotkeys and custom key combinations, set shape shortcuts for lines, circles, arrows, and rectangles, and manage Shortcut Sets (below).
- Mouse Halo: Halo color, size, border style (solid or dashed), border thickness, and whether the center is filled.
- Zoom: Zoom Glass size and zoom quality (Nominal or Best).
- Spotlight: Spotlight color, size, and opacity, from a subtle transparent tint to a solid color.
- Drawing: Line color and thickness, and whether clearing removes all drawings or just the last one.
- Keystrokes: Show recent keystrokes on one line or give each one its own bubble, and set the border color, text size, position on screen (nine spots, from top left to bottom right), and Auto, Light, or Dark appearance. You can show modifier keys as symbols, limit the display to keyboard shortcuts only, and try it all in the built-in playground. There is no hold key: switch Keystrokes on from Toggle Functions → Display Keystrokes or from the pane itself. It is off by default and starts off at every launch unless Remember on/off states is turned on in the Settings pane.
Shortcut Sets
Shortcut Sets are named profiles of shortcuts. Bind a set to an application and Pro Mouse activates it automatically whenever that app is frontmost.
- Open Preferences → Shortcuts and click Manage Shortcut Sets…
- Create a new set and give it a name, such as "Keynote".
- Use Automatically enable for Application to bind the set to an app.
- Configure that set's shortcuts. Pro Mouse now switches sets for you as you change apps.
FAQ
Zoom shows a message instead of magnifying.
That's the Screen Recording permission; see Permissions above.
My halo disappeared.
Check Toggle Functions in the menu bar to make sure Mouse Halo is on, and look at Preferences → Settings, where the halo may be set to hide after a few seconds of inactivity.
Does Pro Mouse work with multiple displays?
Yes. The halo, Zoom Glass, Spotlight, and drawings all follow your cursor from screen to screen.
Custom shortcuts are grayed out.
Custom shortcuts require the Accessibility permission; see Permissions above.
Keystrokes show up in the playground but not in other apps.
Keystrokes need the Accessibility permission to see keys pressed in other apps; see Permissions above. Also check that Display Keystrokes is on under Toggle Functions: it is off by default.
Are my keystrokes recorded or sent anywhere?
No. Keystrokes are drawn on screen only: nothing is recorded or stored, and secure fields like passwords are never shown. Pro Mouse has no network access, so nothing can leave your Mac.
Does Pro Mouse collect any data?
No. Nothing is collected, stored, or transmitted. Read the full privacy policy.
How do I get a refund?
Purchases are handled by Apple, so refunds go through them: visit reportaproblem.apple.com and sign in with the Apple ID you purchased with.
Contact
Stuck, found a bug, or have an idea? Email support@promouse.app. A human reads every message.