UNIVERSAL control is part of Continuity

This great feature isn’t covered too much in the Continuity documentation. But it lets you use the same Mouse, Trackpad and Keyboard attached to the Mac to control the ipad. You need a supported model of both Mac and Pad to make it work. See below. 

If all’s good with system requirements, here’s how you can connect the two together, and share the mouse and keyboard.

Newer MacOS has the new Control Center in the menu bar, the icon with slider bars close to the right side. Click on that to show a drop down menu with shortcuts to system preferences. See the first picture below. It’s a little tricky, but when you hover the mouse on the Displays portion, a right angle or sometimes called less than icon appears. Click that. You should see options to connect the Pad, but it has to be nearby, have bluetooth and WIFI enabled, and be signed into the same Apple account as the mac. 

The nearby Pad should show up. If if does not, click the Display settings to open that system preference. Look for the + icon in displays. Hit that and the Pad should appear in the list. That’s how you add it for the first time. So it goes, if the iPad doesn’t show up under Control center (pict below), do this: hover over the > , then at the bottom of the list hit Settings. Once the prefs are opened, look for the +-downarrow drop down menu in the monitors block showing your attached screens. It should show the connected right Pad in the list. 

Select that Pad and it shows as another monitor used by your mac. That’s it. Now connected. Deciding which mode, Mirror or extend are choices you have. Choose the mode by clicking the pad icon that appears as one of your new monitors now. 

You’ll need to move the Pad to a side of the main display shown in the settings that is most comfortable to mouse to it. Left side, right side, even the bottom of the main display. If you can’t do it, look for an Arrange button in the display settings. Hit that for adjusting positions of the newly chosen Pad as display. Remember where you arranged the Pad in relation to the main display. We’ll say it was put on the left side of main. 

Now just push the cursor to the edge of the screen where the Pad is located then push again and it pops over to the Pad. You can click icons just like you do with your finger on the pad, open Apps and even drag windows (if enabled). Another great feature in mouse and cursor control of the pad is the Mac keyboard also works. Just open an app like Notes that lets you type. Click on the note you want to type in to make that window active. If you see a cursor, its good to go to use your Mac keyboard to do all the typing. Great feature. 

When you want to control the Mac again with the Mouse and Keyboard, you’ll need to move the cursor on the Pad back to the same wall you broke through to control the Pad. Push through again and the mouse is back on the Mac. Go back and forth from Mac to Pad as needed. For example, you can use the Mac to study content and use the Pad to type notes. There are many possibilities for this feature. Even Mirroring the Pad to the Mac screen.