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Mouse/Trackpad Scroll Options Not Independent

I'm using 10.7 on a MacBook (late 2008 Unibody).


I am getting used to "natural" scrolling with the trackpad (slide up/page down) with Lion, and understand the reasoning behind it (to match iOS--I have an iPhone, so I'm already familiar the the slide up/page down scrolling). However, because of the behavior of scroll wheels on many computers I encounter frequently and habit, I want to keep my scroll wheel with the traditional setup (scroll wheel down/page down).


When I go into System Preferences->Mouse and uncheck the "Move content in the direction of finger movement when scrolling or navigating" box, the mouse returns to traditional scrolling (down/down). Unfortunately, my trackpad now starts behaving in the same manner (down/down), even though the "Scroll direction: natural" box in the remains checked under the Trackpad pane (it should operate up/down with that setting, but doesn't). If I quit System Preferences and then relaunch it, the "Scroll direction: natural" box is now unchecked, even though I did nothing to it. If I recheck it, and then immediately go to the Mouse pane, the "Move content in the direction of finger movement when scrolling or navigating" box remains unchecked. However, both trackpad and the mouse now use the "natural" (up/down) scrolling, when only the trackpad should. If I quit and relaunch System Preferences, the box in the Mouse pane is now checked, even though I did nothing to it.


It seems that the scroll preferences for the mouse and trackpad should and were meant to be separate and independent, since they each have the box under their individual panes, but they are not operating separately. Are there any ways to fix this so I don't have to change the preferences every time I switch from the trackpad to the mouse?

Posted on Jul 20, 2011 9:25 PM

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41 replies

Aug 5, 2011 10:00 AM in response to erik.l

+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

Aug 5, 2011 3:47 PM in response to marcg04

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.

Nov 10, 2011 5:12 PM in response to erik.l

+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.

Dec 16, 2011 10:49 AM in response to erik.l

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...

Aug 26, 2012 5:24 PM in response to erik.l

+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.

Mouse/Trackpad Scroll Options Not Independent

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