OS Monterey Trackpad Too Sensitive, Changing Preferences and Resetting PRAM Doesn't Help

Using a 2017 Macbook Pro 13 inch, i7 3.5 Mhz. Since upgrading to Monterey Trackpad is overly sensitive. Hovering over buttons or links acts as a Click. Cursor jumps out of position when entering text, especially in Mac Mail. Have set Speed to Slowest and Pressure to Highest in Preferences. Disabled three finger scroll and Hapatic and Force Click buttons. Have closed all Open Windows and Reset PRAM. None of these remedies has solved overly sensitive problem or cursor jumping out of position. Have run Disk First Aid on internal HD, no problems.


Is there any solution? See Screen Captures of Trackpad settings.


iMac, macOS 10.13

Posted on Jan 22, 2024 11:53 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 25, 2024 10:04 AM

Maybe try deleting the Tracpad .plist preference files from "~/Library/Preferences" folder in case one of them is corrupt or has some odd setting embedded in it. On my Mac, I see two possibilities:

com.apple.preference.tracpad.plist
com.apple.AppleMultitouchTrackpad.plist


After deleting these two files, log out of your macOS user account, then log back in. macOS should recreates these files with default settings. See how the Trackpad behaves.


Have you ever used any third party app to modify the trackpad settings which may now be causing problems?


Have you tried booting into Safe Mode to see how the Trackpad behaves?


Try booting into Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R) to see how the Trackpad behaves.


Also, check to see if you notice any swelling of the battery. Does the Trackpad appear to be raising a bit higher than normal? Does the laptop still sit firmly on a flat table top (assuming all four rubber feet are intact)? A swollen battery can change the behavior of the Trackpad.



4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 25, 2024 10:04 AM in response to Basiliog

Maybe try deleting the Tracpad .plist preference files from "~/Library/Preferences" folder in case one of them is corrupt or has some odd setting embedded in it. On my Mac, I see two possibilities:

com.apple.preference.tracpad.plist
com.apple.AppleMultitouchTrackpad.plist


After deleting these two files, log out of your macOS user account, then log back in. macOS should recreates these files with default settings. See how the Trackpad behaves.


Have you ever used any third party app to modify the trackpad settings which may now be causing problems?


Have you tried booting into Safe Mode to see how the Trackpad behaves?


Try booting into Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R) to see how the Trackpad behaves.


Also, check to see if you notice any swelling of the battery. Does the Trackpad appear to be raising a bit higher than normal? Does the laptop still sit firmly on a flat table top (assuming all four rubber feet are intact)? A swollen battery can change the behavior of the Trackpad.



Jan 23, 2024 6:36 AM in response to Basiliog

Basiliog wrote:

Using a 2017 Macbook Pro 13 inch, i7 3.5 Mhz. Since upgrading to Monterey Trackpad is overly sensitive. Hovering over buttons or links acts as a Click. Cursor jumps out of position when entering text, especially in Mac Mail. Have set Speed to Slowest and Pressure to Highest in Preferences. Disabled three finger scroll and Hapatic and Force Click buttons. Have closed all Open Windows and Reset PRAM. None of these remedies has solved overly sensitive problem or cursor jumping out of position. Have run Disk First Aid on internal HD, no problems.

Is there any solution?


What exact macOS is this...?


All I see is <iMac, macOS 10.13 > (?)



verify your software is up to date…

The current stable release of Monterey including bug fixes, security updates is macOS 12.7.3

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support




Jan 24, 2024 8:27 AM in response to Basiliog

After installing OS Monterey 12.7.3 and doing some work, some of the Trackpad sensitivity issues are slightly better; however, hovering over certain buttons or links still acts as a Click - not as much, but not entirely eliminated. Cursor jumping out of position when entering text is still as bad as ever - especially in Mac Mail.


A new problem related to this, never experienced before is that when entering a simple formula in an Excel cell, the entry appears to take place in a different cell, which sometimes obscures being able to see what is in the different cell. Eg.: trying to enter the formula =B2/16.7 in Cell G2, the formula entry appears temporarily over the Cell B2 instead of within G2. Using Office 2021 for Mac 16.78 - the latest version which will work with OS Monterey.


One last observation: prior to reporting these issues and upgrading OS to 12.7.3, all the troubleshooting I did regarding Preference settings and Reset PRAM reduced the issues for a few days, and then the issues became more prevalent after a week or so passed.

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OS Monterey Trackpad Too Sensitive, Changing Preferences and Resetting PRAM Doesn't Help

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