A right-click context menu in Windows 10. A context menu is a list of options that changes depending on where you click or which application you’re using. Generally, most operating systems reserve the left mouse button as the “primary click” for selecting items on the screen or for opening apps or documents, and they reserve the right button as a “secondary click” used for canceling selections or for opening a context menu. Having two mouse buttons that do different things allows you to perform more tasks using your mouse, which can save you clicks and keyboard presses. RELATED: Windows 95 Turns 25: When Windows Went Mainstream Why Is Right-Click Different Than Left-Click? Right-clicking came natively to macOS with Mac OS X Beta in the year 2000, although OS 8 and 9 included a context menu accessible by holding down Control on the keyboard while clicking. But the idea of clicking the right button to open a context menu originated in the Smalltalk environment on the Xerox Alto in the mid-1970s, and then later made its way to the Windows operating system with Windows 95. Right-clicking, as a physical action, originated with the first multi-button mice created in the 1960s. An early right-click context menu, seen in Smalltalk-76 on a Xerox Alto. Usually, this opens a context menu related to the item that you clicked on. If you see instructions asking you to “right-click,” it means to press the button on the right side of your mouse.

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