Two-finger scroll not working on MacBook Pro

Restart it. I had the same issue on my MacBook, I was able to move the mouse w one finger but not scroll w 2 or 3. Once I restarted, it worked again!

I had the same issue with this after upgrading to Maverick. I think that "notifications" failed to properly hide.

The gesture for notifications is two fingers going in from the right of the trackpad (starting off the trackpad), and for closing it it's a two finger swipe to the right.

I just opened and closed notifications and scrolling worked again in my browser.

n most cases, various multifingered gestures seem to work just fine, with only the two-finger scrolling not functioning properly.

This problem seems to happen only when people are migrating, and not with new hardware or when fresh system software is installed on the newer computers, which indicates the problem is a software setting and not a faulty trackpad. More than likely this is from the global preferences (which hold trackpad information) for the old computer being on the new one with a setting or some other format that is preventing the trackpad from working properly. Apple has made the global preferences file hidden by default, but you can use the terminal to enable the preference settings needed for two-finger scrolling.

Fix:

1. Use the Terminal to enable proper scrolling behavior.

If you have just transferred your software and data to a new MacBook or MacBook Pro and are having troubles with two-finger gestures, then entering the following command in the Terminal should re-enable it:

defaults write -g com.apple.trackpad.scrollBehavior 2

After entering this command, either restart the computer or log out and log back in for the changes to take effect.

Thank You! I've had this problem since I first got my Macbook, and even the Genius at the store could not get it to function. I figured that it was a preference migration problem, and this solved it.

2-finger scrolling did not work on my wife's laptop. I was testing the problem in a long Word document.

In this case the problem was in System Preferences:Accessibility.

In Accessibility, Trackpad items "Scrolling" was only enabled with a (sorry I forgot what it said) extra key. Turned that off. And turned on "Enertia". Works like a charm without even a reboot or restart of Word.

Haven't tested it in browsers (she's busy playing with in in Word) but it fixed Word and I bet it fixed browsers too.

And found this fix elsewhere, cannot take any credit.

That fixed it for me, many thanks. It bugged me like no other issue.

I'm having problems with two-finger scroll, but only with certain applications. Right now, for example, it's working fine with Safari (I can scroll through this discussion thread just fine), but it's not working in iTunes or iPhoto. For the last few months it has periodically stopped working with iPhoto; today's the first time I've noticed the problem with iTunes. Restarting the application doesn't help. It's very odd and annoying. Restarting the computer seems to make it go away, but that's a pain. I'm using a 2012 Macbook Pro with OSX 10.3.9.

The System Preferences:Accessibility option did the trick. Thank You! I've been without the 2 finger scroll for almost a year now.

None of the answers in this thread so far helped me. In my case, though, the solution turned out to be straightforward. I enabled "Zoom in or out" under System Preferences/Trackpad/Scroll & Zoom.

Why is this setting described as it is if it controls scolling as well as zoom? That I cannot say.

same issue, this worked! thanks

I had this problem and solved it as follows:

I upgraded my wife's 2006 MacBook Pro (Snow Leopard) to a brand new (July 2014) MacBook Pro Retina 15". I used the migration assistant right after the initial boot of the new machine, importing everything, apps, users, settings.

Right off the bat, 2 finger scrolling did not work.

It turned out that I had to go to System Preferences and choose the ACCESSIBILITY pane, then choose "Mouse & Trackpad" from the list, then click the "Trackpad Options..." button and then click the "Scrolling" button. (I also chose the "with inertia" and set the speed to tick #3 starting from the right.) This immediately corrected the problem.

If someone said this was Windows I'd have believed it. That's just crazy. That option should be in the Trackpad preferences and it isn't.

Couldn't have solved it without other posts on this board, but I've tried to make one clear posting of the solution that worked for me. Thanks.

I was having the same issue with my wives MacBook Air. In her case, the problem was actually the result of changes in the Accessibility section. To fix I went to System Preferences -> Accessibility -> Mouse & Trackpad -> Trackpad Options. In there, I enabled Scrolling.

Thank you. All better after restart.

Tropithunder, your disconnect/connect advice worked like a charm. THANK YOU!