Practical tip: Change the scrolling direction of the mouse or trackpad on the Mac

Under System Settings -> Mouse the option "Scroll direction: natural" can be deactivated, which since El Capitan has ensured that the mouse scroll direction is suddenly the wrong way round.

Today I got from a reader (Hello Merrit!) Who just got her Mac switched to El Capitan (so Adobe CS5 is still running), asked why the mouse scrolling direction suddenly turned upside down after installation.

The answer is that in 2015 (when El Capitan was released as OS X 10.11) Apple was striving to bring the mobile devices like the iPad and iPhone “closer” to the Mac again. Since you can move the content on the display with your finger on the iPad, it made sense to transfer this to the Mac as well. If you scroll down with the mouse, for example, the content of a web page moves down and you scroll up on the web page. Before it was the other way around.

Under System Settings -> Mouse the option "Scroll direction: natural" can be deactivated, which since El Capitan has ensured that the mouse scroll direction is suddenly the wrong way round.
Under System Preferences -> Mouse the option “Scroll direction: natural” can be deactivated, which since El Capitan has caused the scrolling direction of the mouse to suddenly be the wrong way around.

Natural scroll direction annoys Mac users

For many Mac users, this change was surprising and annoying at the same time, because it is not so easy to get used to scrolling in the opposite “wrong” direction. I briefly hesitated whether to join in or switch back to the “normal” scrolling direction straight away. In the end I stuck with the “natural scroll direction”, as Apple calls it. After a few hours, the movement was internalized and the Mac was just as easy to use as before.

In the "Trackpad" control field there is the "Scrolling and zooming" tab. This hides the option "Scroll direction", with which you can set how, for example, a website scrolls when you scroll the mouse up or down.
In the Trackpad control panel there is a Scroll and Zoom tab. This hides the "Scroll direction" option, which you can use to set how a web page scrolls when you scroll up or down with the mouse.

System settings offer a remedy

However, if you don't want to or can't get used to this change, Apple also gives you the option of bringing everything back to the old state. To do this, go to the “Mouse” or “Trackpad” control panels in the system settings and uncheck the “Scroll direction: natural” option. You can already scroll down again on websites and in folders if you move your finger down on the Magic Mouse. The corresponding screenshots in this article show you where to find the setting for the trackpad (particularly interesting for MacBook and MacBook Pro) or for the mouse.

 

Did you like the article and did the instructions on the blog help you? Then I would be happy if you the blog via a Steady Membership would support.

Post a comment

Your e-mail address will not be published. Required fields are marked with * marked

In the Sir Apfelot Blog you will find advice, instructions and reviews on Apple products such as the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, iMac, Mac Pro, Mac Mini and Mac Studio.