On every Mac I've owned (that's a lot of Macs) I've been able to change the direction of the mouse wheel scroll from the Apple 'Natural' to my preferred reverse direction.
This seems to have been removed from Sonoma, along with the 'Mouse' item in System Settings.
How do I get it back? This backwards scrolling is driving me nuts.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Mac Pro, macOS 10.13
System settings --> Mouse --> Disable "Natural Scrolling" (it says "Content tracks finger movement"...
On the iPhone and iPad natural scrolling makes total sense, but I cannot get used to it on the Mac! Hope that helps.
System settings --> Mouse --> Disable "Natural Scrolling" (it says "Content tracks finger movement"...
On the iPhone and iPad natural scrolling makes total sense, but I cannot get used to it on the Mac! Hope that helps.
It's irritating this is in earlier releases of OSX, but not in Sonoma (that I can find).
Go to System Settings-->Bluetooth
Select the mouse (little button with the i), then select mouse settings.
Go to System Settings > Track Pad > Scroll and Zoom > untick Neutral Scrolling to see if that helps.
If that doesn't help, then maybe try > https://pilotmoon.com/scrollreverser/
I tried both of those. There is no 'Mouse' item under 'System Settings'
I looked in 'Accessibility' too, but, although there is some mouse-related stuff there, nothing to do with the scroll direction.
Since 'system settings'>'mouse' is not there is there a way to install it?
As stated in the accepted answer, the setting to change this is called "Natural scrolling".
In my current MacOS version (Sonoma 14.5) it is listed under "Trackpad > Scroll & Zoom > Natural scrolling" (explained as "Content tracks finger movement")
Note that, in their infinite wisdom, Apple has decided to also apply this behaviour to any connected (bluetooth or wired) mouse.
Even though a mouse is something fundamentally different to a trackpad, and scrolling a scroll wheel should have a separate setting:
There is the same "Natural scrolling" setting under "Mouse". (Un)ticking that one also (un)ticks the setting under "Trackpad".
[Edited by Moderator]
MAC Sonoma:
It's not called 'Neutral Scrolling' (as you'll see multiple times here) it is called 'Natural Scrolling'. Untick that box and if your middle mouse is backwards.
In the System Settings scroll down to the bottom for 'Mouse', you'll find 'Natural Scrolling' there in Sonoma.
Did you ever figure out the solution to this because we're having the same problem.
Expanding on MrLord's response:
Does your mouse connect by bluetooth? If so, in Sonoma 14.3.1:
Go to System Settings > Bluetooth > My Devices > then choose your mouse
Next, click on the info button (circled "i"), then Mouse settings, then toggle "Natural scrolling" off
Dear lord thank you. I have a new Mac mini and this has stolen 27 minutes of my life. far too long.
I had several Sonoma settings missing (in what was a new profile with admin rights). I still had the original admin account running as well.
The solution was simple - I deleted the original admin account, so only the new one was running, and all of the settings are now available.
Hmmm..ChinaRider001??? Apple says it's there under Sonoma, see link:
Mouse settings on Mac - Apple Support (CA)
Maybe accessibility....might be under pointers and Trackpads in System Preferences...Then again, I'm using a generic wired USB "gaming" mouse I bought at Dollar General + USB overdrive which is nag-ware, eg, you can use it for as long as you like, but it will nag you once in a while, eg "you should really buy this software, but you can keep using it for now"... which I'm okay with....it works for me....
John B
Also note that scroll wheel behaviour can be decoupled from trackpad scrolling behaviour with third-party applications like UnnaturalScrollWheel (and many others).
[Edited by Moderator]
System settings --> Mouse --> Disable "Natural Scrolling" (it says "Content tracks finger movement"...
On the iPhone and iPad natural scrolling makes total sense, but I cannot get used to it on the Mac! Hope that helps.
How can I restore reverse scroll on my Mac (Sonoma) mouse wheel?
