Trackpad gestures to navigate/control Thunderbird (Mac)

[steiney]

Hello all,

Is there any established method for linking Macbook trackpad gestures to commands/actions in Thunderbird by making use of an extension or built in feature of Thunderbird? I have tried searching for an answer extensively but have not found anything other than by making use of a paid app called BetterTouchTool. I'm trying to find something simple and free as I don't need anything more than the functionality listed below. Specifically, I am wanting to link the following:

Three finger swipe left - mark as read
Three finger swipe right - delete message
Three finger swipe up - go forward one message
Three finger swipe down - go back one message

I have all the commands figured out, and already have them all linked to customized keyboard shortcuts for when I want to navigate via the keyboard.

Any help is appreciated!

EDIT: I don't know how I missed it before, but the three finger swipe up and down currently seem to be linked to the commands to just to the earliest message in the list and the latest message in the list. So, hopefully, that means that the gestures can be customized.

[tanstaafl]

"Is there any established method for linking Macbook trackpad gestures to commands/actions in Thunderbird by making use of an extension or built in feature of Thunderbird? "

Not that I'm aware of. You could try the dorando keyconfig add-on at https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/th ... keyconfig/ . If three finger swipes output something different than what one fingered gestures do than you might be able to remap them to the desired command.

[morat]

Here are the commands for the keyconfig extension.

Code: Select all

goDoCommand('cmd_markAsRead');
goDoCommand('cmd_delete');
goDoCommand('cmd_goForward');
goDoCommand('cmd_goBack');

[steiney]

"Is there any established method for linking Macbook trackpad gestures to commands/actions in Thunderbird by making use of an extension or built in feature of Thunderbird? "

Not that I'm aware of. You could try the dorando keyconfig add-on at https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/th ... keyconfig/ . If three finger swipes output something different than what one fingered gestures do than you might be able to remap them to the desired command.

Hey, thanks for the suggestion! I have that extension installed. That's how I got my keyboard shortcuts mapped. I tried googling but can't figure out the code that I need to link a given trackpad gesture to a command in KeyConfig, like how I would link a keystroke combo. I'll keep digging, but I suspect the trackpad gestures are controlled by the OS and I might not be able to link them to commands using KeyConfig. I'm not too knowledgeable on programming and the like, so I'm just having to google a bunch and see what I come up with.

[steiney]

Here are the commands for the keyconfig extension.

Code: Select all

goDoCommand('cmd_markAsRead');
goDoCommand('cmd_delete');
goDoCommand('cmd_goForward');
goDoCommand('cmd_goBack');

I appreciate the help! I'm now trying to figure out what code to use to link the trackpad gestures to the commands. I'm not sure it's possible but am going to continue googling my way through!

[morat]

Can you simulate a keyboard shortcut with a trackpad gesture?

e.g.

trackpad gesture: Three finger swipe left simulates Ctrl+Shift+1
dorando keyconfig: Ctrl+Shift+1 executes goDoCommand('cmd_markAsRead');

[steiney]

Can you simulate a keyboard shortcut with a trackpad gesture?

e.g.

trackpad gesture: Three finger swipe left simulates Ctrl+Shift+1
dorando keyconfig: Ctrl+Shift+1 executes goDoCommand('cmd_markAsRead');

Not as far as I've been able to determine, outside of using the Mac app BetterTouchTool. It's obviously doable as proven by the fact that BetterTouchTool exists, but I'm pretty lacking in programming knowledge so I'm pretty much starting from scratch to figure out anything like that, sadly.

I've been telling myself for years to start learning some basic programming. I need to just do it already.