Mouse Click Test: Check Left, Right, Middle and Double Clicks
Press each button and scroll inside the box. The diagram lights up, every press is counted, and presses that arrive too close together are flagged as possible double clicks.
This test needs a mouse. On a phone or tablet, taps only register as left clicks.
Event log
Press any button in the box above.
Button presses
| Button | Presses | Flagged |
|---|---|---|
| Left | 0 | 0 |
| Middle | 0 | 0 |
| Right | 0 | 0 |
| Back | 0 | 0 |
| Forward | 0 | 0 |
Double click detector
- Suspected double clicks
- 0
- Last gap
- n/a
- Shortest gap
- n/a
Click timing
- Hold time, last
- n/a
- Hold time, average
- n/a
- Between presses, last
- n/a
- Between presses, average
- n/a
How to test each mouse button
Move the pointer into the test box and press each button once. The matching part of the mouse lights up while the button is held and its counter goes up by exactly one per press. If a counter jumps by two, or a button does not light up at all, you have found the problem.
- Left and right: press and release normally, then press and hold for a couple of seconds. The button should stay lit the whole time. Flickering while held points to a switch that is losing contact.
- Middle: press the scroll wheel down like a button.
- Scroll: roll the wheel up and down. Each notch adds to the matching counter. Counts in the wrong direction suggest a dirty or worn wheel encoder.
- Side buttons: if your mouse has back and forward buttons, press them in the box.
How to spot a failing switch
The most common mouse fault is a button that double clicks on its own. You click once to select a file and it opens, or a drag lets go halfway. It happens because the metal contact inside the switch wears and bounces, so one press reaches the computer as two.
The detector compares every press with the previous press of the same button. If the gap is shorter than the threshold, 80 ms by default, it is flagged in coral. People rarely press the same button twice that quickly on purpose, while a bouncing switch often produces a second press within a few milliseconds. To test, click the suspect button slowly, about once a second, 30 to 50 times. Zero flags means the button is probably fine. A handful means the switch is on its way out.
Use the slider to tune it. Lower it toward 40 ms if you double click very quickly on purpose and keep getting flagged. Raise it toward 150 ms to catch borderline cases.
Hardware or software?
Hardware causes
Worn or oxidized switch contacts are the usual cause. Each mouse also filters bounce in its firmware with a short debounce delay, and some gaming mice let you raise that setting in their companion software, which can hide a bouncing switch for a while. On wireless mice, a low battery or a crowded 2.4 GHz environment can cause missed or stuck clicks.
Software settings
Windows and macOS decide how close two clicks must be to count as a double click. On Windows the setting is under Settings, Bluetooth & devices, Mouse, Additional mouse settings, Double-click speed. On macOS it is under System Settings, Accessibility, Pointer Control, Double-click speed. These change how the system groups clicks, not how many presses the mouse sends. If this test shows flags while you click once at a time, the fault is in the mouse. If the test is clean but files still open unexpectedly, check that setting, the File Explorer option for single-click opening, and any button macros in your mouse software.
What the timing numbers can and cannot tell you
Hold time is the time between a button going down and coming back up. A relaxed click is often somewhere around 80 to 150 ms. A single press with a hold time of only a few milliseconds, followed straight away by another press, is a typical sign of switch bounce. Between presses is the gap from one press to the next on any button.
These figures come from the timestamps the browser puts on input events. They are measured after the mouse, its USB or wireless link, the operating system and the browser have all handled the click. They cannot measure true end-to-end latency, the time from pressing the button to something changing on screen. That needs hardware such as a high speed camera or a dedicated latency tester. Use the numbers here to compare: the same mouse before and after a cleaning, or two mice on the same computer.
Need repeated clicks instead? Simple Auto Clicker is a free Chrome extension that clicks a picked element or the cursor position at any interval from 50 ms, with no tracking. Get it from the Chrome Web Store.
Mouse click test FAQ
How do I test if my mouse is double clicking?
Click the suspect button slowly and deliberately in the test box, about once a second, 30 to 50 times. Any press flagged by the double click detector means the button sent two presses when you made one. A healthy button should show zero flags at that pace.
Why does the right-click menu not appear?
The test box blocks the context menu, middle-click scrolling and back/forward navigation so every button can be pressed without leaving the page. Outside the box, the page behaves normally.
Can this test measure mouse latency or polling rate?
No. It measures the time between browser input events, such as how long a button was held and the gap between presses. True end-to-end latency, from pressing the button to a change on screen, needs external hardware such as a high speed camera.
Does it work with a laptop trackpad?
Yes. A tap or press registers as a left click and a two-finger click usually registers as a right click. Middle click depends on your trackpad settings.
Does it work on a phone?
Only partly. Touchscreens send taps as left clicks, so the right, middle and side buttons cannot be tested. Use a computer with the mouse plugged in.