How to avoid accidental use of the Trackpad with El Capitan

Question

Level 1

4 points

How to avoid accidental use of the Trackpad with El Capitan

I have a Macbook installed with El Capitan.

I constantly use it to type documents, however I also regularly have to battle with the trackpad being accidentally hit by a part of my hand thus moving the cursor elsewhere with the result that I end up writing elsewhere!

This is really frustrating and does limit my typing capabilities as I constantly have to ensure that I have not, erroneously, hit the trackpad!

I have tried to see if there are any solutions but, other than using an external apple keyboard, I cant find any other solution to avoid hitting this trackpad erronously!

Is there any setting I can avail of to render the trackpad less sensitive and thus avoid this inconvenience?

Thanks.

MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015), OS X El Capitan (10.11.4)

Posted on May 8, 2016 2:45 AM

Reply

Answer 1

May 8, 2016 3:32 AM in response to Cesco70

I don't know if you would want to do this but you could use an external mouse or trackpad and check the "Ignore built-in trackpad..." option in apple Menu > System Preferences > Accessibility > Mouse & Trackpad. See below:

dick glendon

Reply

Answer 2

Cesco70 Author

Level 1

4 points

May 8, 2016 3:38 AM in response to W. Richard Glendon

Thanks Dick for your advice.

I was contemplating it, to be honest, however I was hoping that Apple, being all that innovative and advanced, would have found a simple solution for this basic obvious problem, which solution which did not entail me having to purchase and carry around a separate trackpad, thus defeating the whole idea of having a laptop!!! 😟

Meanwhile, I am making use of an external keyboard but, I guess, Ill soon be going off to buy and external trackpad!!

Thanks once again for your advice, however! 🙂

Reply

Answer 3

Lanny

Level 6

13,235 points

May 8, 2016 12:32 PM in response to Cesco70

Try turning off some of the trackpad features that only require a single touch.

Reply

Answer 4

Cesco70 Author

Level 1

4 points

May 8, 2016 12:33 PM in response to Lanny

Lanny,

great idea!!

It actually did solve my problem! Its true that one has to click to use the trackpad, but at least I am saved the hasstle of constantly having accidental touches!

Thanks again, Boss! 🙂

Reply