Q: Mouse/Trackpad Scroll Options Not Independent

+1 here as well.

I actually called Apple Care about this yesterday, and their response (after a few minutes of "investigation") was:

1. The lack of independence issue between mouse and trackpad scrolling is "as designed". The rep explained that if I wanted to have them independent, I should submit a feedback per the above, which I did.

2. The issue related to the checkboxes only updating after a restart of System Prefs seems to be a bug. The rep filed one on my behalf but also suggested I submit feedback, which I also did.

What I'm now wondering is whether there's a command line we can run in Terminal to update a system setting (com.apple.something...) manually to "fix" the independence issue.

Can anyone technically savvy enough here volunteer to look into this option?

Thanks,

-Marc

I have decided that, until Apple makes the scrolling settings for the mouse and trackpad independent (which may never happen), I'm going to use SteerMouse to reverse the scrolling behavior of the mouse while keeping the scrolling for the trackpad set to "natural scrolling". This gives me what I want. Natural scrolling makes sense to me for a trackpad. It does not make sense for a mouse (and it causes issues when I'm forced to use a Windows computer for work and I have to move from a Mac to Windows and back again).

For those using SteerMouse, simply launch the app, click the "Wheel" tab, and set "Roll Up" to "3 x Scroll Down" and "Roll Down" to "3 x Scroll Up". This reverses natural scrolling for the mouse but leaves it alone for the trackpad.

I believe that USB Overdrive will also accomplish this same goal. That software is distributed under a shareware license, but, according to the software's Web site, "There are no feature limitations and no time limits in the unregistered version. The only annoyances are a gentle reminder at login and a short countdown when you open the user interface."

I'm sure there is other software that will do what SteerMouse can do.

There is a free app out there that fixes this. I tried it and it does what we want.

http://pilotmoon.com/scrollreverser/

+1

This behaviour must be fixed!

+1 I'd like seperate options too.  I want the scroll direction of my trackpad and mouse scroll wheel to be different, to be opposite.  I want to scroll up to page down with my trackpad, but scroll down to page down with my mouse. I go back and forth between Lion and Windows a lot, and for my sanity I'd like my mice to be consistent, even though I love the new "natural" scrolling with the trackpad in Lion.

to users of USB Overdrive -- there is already a workaround to this issue

this issue just came to my attention today -- i noticed that my brain would function properly with natural scroll direction only when using the trackpad, and that it felt backwards when using the scrollwheel on my logitech mouse

i remembered that i am using a third-party mouse control software called USB Overdrive (i paid $20). it does a GREAT job at configuring mouse button and scrollwheel behaviors of all kinds of pointing devices

i wondered if there was a workaround here. i used the Mac settings to set scroll direction to natural under the trackpad settings then i used USB Overdrive to set my wheel scroll direction to the OPPOSITE (up to down, and down to up)

to be clear, natural scroll direction simulates moving the CONTENT in the direction you want where traditional scrolling moves the WINDOW in that direction. so when natural scroll direction is activated and your mouse is set to the opposite of that, the trackpad moves the content and the mouse SEEMINGLY moves the window and thereby fulfilling the expectation of my brain

of course, a fix to do this natively under the Mac OS X is definitely in order -- and it seems such a simple fix: just allow mouse and trackpad to be configured separately...

+1. This issue should be sorted by Apple. However, this app is a nice work around the issue until they do.

http://pilotmoon.com/scrollreverser/

Very frustrating that Apple didn't get this simple thing right the first time. Going after scroll reverser, but it feels "dirty" having to use freeware to do something that should be built in.

I bought my MacBook Pro last month and these little things keep cropping up. (iOS Backups are incomplete, iCloud won't sync with Outlook, Photo Stream is either all-on or all-off). I'm seriously considering booting to Windows7 all the time and only using the OSX partition when I have to.

SMH

The free Scroll Reverser utility app that Raptor T Wiked mentioned did the trick for me.

Thanks for the solution - http://pilotmoon.com/scrollreverser/ !!!

+1. This is a major bug, and an embarrassing one IMO.  This bug critically and fundamentally affects the most basic user interface experience. As people have already described, the 'natural scrolling' makes sense in the trackpad context, but not at all in a mouse context.  There are two independent settings for the mouse and trackpad so it's clearly a bug that you can't set them independently.

I hope that Apple fix this critical embarrassing bug soon.

+1

Really annoying bug! Please fix it soon!

+1

Only because I can't post "+50"

I dislike switching back and forth everytime I connect my trackball mouse. (Necessary for ACAD/Adobe products.)

+1 to this issue.

Note that while the scrollreverser application does work it will prevent 2 and 3 finger gestures on the trackpad from working if you select "reverse horizontal".

I would like to see this fixed so mouse and trackpad are independent.