Back-button of mouse: evernote should go to previous note

[Jay_G 14]

Pressing the "back" button of your mouse should load the previous note in the history list. (Like it's happening in any browser.)

Currently nothing happens... Have to click the back-button in evernote itself...

[jefito 5,589]

I don't know what a "back button" of a mouse is; I only have left, middle, and right buttons, and none of them go to a previous page in my browser (Chrome, so that doesn't work in "any browser").

You should specify which Evernote client (Windows, Mac, web, etc.) you are using to get better help here. In the case of the Windows client, Alt+Left Arrow goes to the previous note in your Note History, and Alt+Right Arrow goes to the next note in the Note History.

[Jay_G 14]

A lot of mouses have extra buttons on the side for added productivity. I attached a picture for clarity, it's not my exact mouse but you get the idea. A lot of programs map these buttons (automatically) to do (more or less) the same action:

• Browser (I use firefox and Chrome): go to the previous (or next) page
• IntelliJ (my IDE): go to the previous class (code document)
• NotePad++: go to the previous note...
• ...

I use the evernote windows client (see my signature). I understand that if you don't have these keys on your mouse it's not relevant for you, and there's a keyboard shortcut for that already. But I see no reason why it couldn't be a mouse click either...

[jefito 5,589]

Ah yeah, my old MS Mouse used to support those, and I did use them, but those models (I had two of these) eventually developed problems with inadvertent double-click generation, so I had to retire them, unfortunately, and MS had stopped making that model by then. 

Alt+Left/Right Arrow keystrokes work as page back/forward operations in Chrome (and probably Firefox);  I would check with your mouse driver software to see if there's a way to map those mouse buttons to Alt+Left/Right Arrow keys in the Evernote application. Failing that, maybe the 3rd-party AutoHotkey application could do the trick.

[Jay_G 14]

Good idea, I just did it with the driver program i could download from the MS website (I have a MS mouse). I could set this shortcut for evernote specifically ...

[jefito 5,589]

Glad to hear it. That's probably useful to other Windows Evernoters as well.  

[Don Dz 165]

I voted for this because I have no reason to buy another mouse just to get to do this with the mouse.  

I think it would add a nice functionality, unless someone knows of a way to get a regular mouse to simulate the back button or Alt+Left/Right Arrow keys.  I do use Autohotkey, but I am not sure what combination would be useful to assign to this function.

[jefito 5,589]

23 minutes ago, Don Dz said:

I do use Autohotkey, but I am not sure what combination would be useful to assign to this function.

I don't know the syntax, but basically you're designate some mouse operation (Alt+Left Click?) to generate the Alt+LeftArrow keystroke. Ditto for Alt+RightArrow. Maybe one of the existing AutoHotkey boffins who float around here can come to your aid.

[Don Dz 165]

I couldn't find a mouse only solution on the Autohotkey documentation which I could make to work with my basic mouse, so for now I have settled for shift-click, like this:

+LButton::Send !{Left}
+RButton::Send !{Right}

 

[jefito 5,589]

OK, semi-cool, then...  

You might try asking for help in the AutoHotKey forums: https://autohotkey.com/boards/

[Don Dz 165]

On 11/29/2016 at 8:15 AM, jefito said:

OK, semi-cool, then...  

You might try asking for help in the AutoHotKey forums: https://autohotkey.com/boards/

Thanks,  I found on that site a way to improve it a bit, though it is not perfect (it causes the first one to active the right click as it normally functions):

~RButton & LButton::Send !{Left}
~LButton & RButton::Send !{Right}

At least it does work as intended, mostly.  

Will have to investigate more to make it work only on Evernote. 

[Don Dz 165]

Finally figured out how to prevent the activation of the normal left and right clicks while running the above scripts, the improved scripts follow below:


~RButton & LButton::
KeyWait RButton, L
Send !{Left}
return

~LButton & RButton::
KeyWait LButton, L
Send !{Right}
return

Keywait prevents the action that follows from taking place until the button being held is released, the parameter L is an additional check, seems to eliminate an irregular behavior I was noticing (not always preventing the activation of the held down key).

Pending: how to limit the script to Evernote.

[Don Dz 165]

The script is finally complete, including limiting it to run only in Evernote!

#IfWinActive ahk_class ENMainFrame
~RButton & LButton::
KeyWait RButton, L
Send !{Left}
#IfWinActive
return

#IfWinActive ahk_class ENMainFrame
~LButton & RButton::
KeyWait LButton, L
Send !{Right}
#IfWinActive
return

[jefito 5,589]

Nice work!