645

In System Preferences > Mouse there's a setting "Scroll direction: natural", which I don't like, so I unset. The problem is that this also unsets the setting for Trackpad, which I do like.

How can you have different settings for mouse and trackpad?

(In case you can't understand the rationale for wanting them different, and think this is a ridiculous question, here is the reasoning. Mice have had scroll wheels for decades, and the direction of the wheel turning has always been in sync with the motion of the scrollbar. This is, in my opinion, the most natural way to do things, even though it is the opposite of what Apple calls "natural". On the other hand, I'm perfectly willing to use Apple's "natural" scrolling for trackpads, because the metaphor here is that you're moving your fingers across a page, just as if you were using an iOS device's touchscreen. The idea that Apple treats these as the same thing, when they are conceptually completely different is very odd to me. I don't want to change a decades-old habit with the mouse, just because Apple changed their idea of how a trackpad should work. I embrace the trackpad change because it makes sense to anyone who uses an iPhone or iPad (and I use both) but I'm not willing to rewire my brain's way of using the mouse.)

iconoclast
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    Related question: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/17966/how-can-i-set-a-different-scrolling-direction-for-mouse-and-trackpad-in-lion I have two answers there, both updated for Sierra – Nate Jan 03 '17 at 22:21
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    I wish I could upvote this multiple times – stefan.s Sep 06 '17 at 07:01
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    I hate the fact that I cannot set them separately. Apple, please, you already show the setting separately in trackpad and mouse, why the heck sync them? What a stupid design. – Logan Yang Apr 17 '19 at 14:59
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    Apple must sell you a poor design before it can sell you the fix. – null Oct 02 '20 at 05:33
  • @userJT: it hasn't changed as of 11.4 (20F71). Did you test it or just assume that because there are two places the setting appears in the UI that they are independent? If you test it and it works as you said, please post your version of macOS. – iconoclast Oct 19 '21 at 22:17
  • I deleted my comment since on second test I agree with what iconoclast said. Very annoying from Apple. – userJT Oct 20 '21 at 19:51
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    @null I don't see Apple selling a fix. I only see them irritating users by making a horrible design choice. What fix are they selling? – iconoclast Oct 21 '21 at 18:34
  • @iconoclast In the Apple app store there would be (for sale) apps to "fix" this. Apple gets extra $$. – null Dec 04 '21 at 00:27
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    I'm a new Mac user (always used Windows and Linux before) and I have the exact same issue. I've been using computers and mice with wheels for 25 years, but I'm glad that Apple finally made me realize I was using them in an unnatural way! – cholo14 Feb 08 '22 at 14:09
  • I had same problem, was using app in the past, but then figured it's using non–insignificant amount of energy. So I automated the switch with shortcuts.app and few lines of AppleScript. I documented it on https://ziga.dev/posts/macos-scroll-reverse

    (I only tested this on macOS Monterey Version 12.3)

     – zigomir Mar 23 '22 at 20:11
  • I'd like to add, conceptually and physically. On top of the fact that the option is under "mouse settings" and nowhere does it say anything about the touchpad.

    Short rant: this is the sort of sh*t from Apple we have to deal with on a daily basis. I got fed up of the stupid behaviour of the app bar moving to another screen from an unintuitive gesture. I found a setting to fix that, but then it messed up the screen (eg it forgets windows' positions after logging back in etc)

     – Christian Jun 16 '22 at 10:22
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    8 years later reading this in 2022. I thought something wrong with me but it's so common and Apple did nothing all this time- why to have separate setting for mouse and trackpad when you can't really have separate setting! – VISHAL DAGA Oct 22 '22 at 08:06
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    https://mousefix.org/ has a setting for this and also lets you mostly have browser forward and back buttons on your mouse and they work without polluting the undo redo queue. – Dirk Bester Feb 02 '23 at 13:01
  • Not sure about when this was written, but 2023 I see a "Natural scrolling" option individually in both the mouse and trackpad settings. But the absolute crazy part is, these options are always the same. Change it for the mouse, it changes for the trackpad.

    They have the option separated for mouse and trackpad, but they cannot be different than each other! What!!!

     – Robert Feb 09 '23 at 03:09
  • @Robert: that's exactly the problem this question is about: Apple presents it as though there are separate options, but under the hood it's one option that appears in one place. Apple doesn't let us set them differently. – iconoclast Feb 09 '23 at 21:12
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    @DirkBester: any reason you don't put that in an answer? It looks awesome! – iconoclast Feb 21 '23 at 18:39
  • @iconoclast I lack the required rep in this neck of the stacks. Feel free to snag the glory! – Dirk Bester Feb 24 '23 at 06:57
  • I don't have sufficient reputation here to answer the question, but I'm on the latest Ventura update and just came across https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/334628/334308 - a recommendation for Mos (https://mos.caldis.me/) - and unlike the other suggestions I tried, it's working brilliantly! – therightstuff Jul 11 '23 at 07:27

13 Answers13

262

I had the same problem when I started to use macOS.

I installed this little utility, which lets you reverse the scrolling behavior only for the mouse:

Scroll Reverser for macOS

Guido Preite
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    Scroll reverser doesn't work reliably after waking up from sleep... – binaryanomaly Nov 08 '15 at 10:38
  • @binaryanomaly works perfectly to me, do you mind sharing your configuration? hardware/osx version/ scroll reverser version – Guido Preite Nov 08 '15 at 10:40
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    MacBook Pro 2015 with El Capitan, v 1.7.2. The issue is also mentioned on the developer's site in the FAQ section http://pilotmoon.com/scrollreverser/ – binaryanomaly Nov 08 '15 at 13:44
  • @binaryanomaly then try with Karabiner as the other answer suggested – Guido Preite Nov 08 '15 at 13:54
  • Actually in El Capitan you can administrate the settings for mouse and trackpad independently in System Preferences. So no need for 3rd party tools anymore :) – binaryanomaly Nov 10 '15 at 17:03
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    @binaryanomaly I checked and the "scroll direction: natural" on Mouse settings still affects the trackpad. El Capitan 10.11.1 – Guido Preite Nov 17 '15 at 11:00
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    Unfortunately you're right - it's two places for 1 setting :( weird. Back to Karabiner for now. – binaryanomaly Nov 18 '15 at 08:16
  • Hopefully people will check here with problems after updating to OS X Sierra. My system would freeze up after a random amount of time. First the mouse would become unresponsive and within a couple of minutes the system would totally freeze.

    This happened after the OSX update and was resolved by disabling the ScrollReverser app.

     – Roy Prins Oct 23 '16 at 15:13
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    @RoyPrins thanks for the warning, I added it to my answer – Guido Preite Oct 23 '16 at 15:29
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    @RoyPrins a new version of Scroll Reverser has been released – Guido Preite Nov 07 '16 at 23:12
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    @GuidoPreite It appears that I have falsely blamed Scroll Reverser in my previous comment though. The problems did not disappear with the removal of Scroll Reverser. They did however go away after updating the Logitech Control Center. Sorry for spreading wrong information and I hope you would take the trouble to update your answer yet again. – Roy Prins Nov 11 '16 at 20:22
  • @RoyPrins thanks for your additional tests, I updated my answer – Guido Preite Nov 12 '16 at 01:59
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    Is it for real that you can solve this horrible 'functionality' with such a simple app? I feel ecstatic that I finally found something that solved this problem. This should have come from Apple in the first place. – KumarM Oct 06 '17 at 19:51
  • @KumarM: yes, this is surely one of Apple's UX blunders, but they're not likely to correct their mistake, because that would mean admitting that they did something stupid, and would annoy people who have already adapted to the new way things work. – iconoclast Dec 07 '18 at 18:43
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    worked for me (OS X Mojave 10.14.2) – hiddentao Mar 29 '19 at 10:46
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    You can install it through brew cask install scroll-reverser – garciparedes Apr 19 '20 at 15:40
  • On Catalina, just brew install scroll-reverser. – Noumenon Mar 21 '21 at 17:01
  • Not working with the latest macos :( – Dmitry Sazonov Nov 21 '23 at 23:22
243

I made a free application to solve this issue in recent versions of macOS (10.15+). It also allows you to disable scroll/mouse acceleration and configure the number of lines to scroll per mouse wheel click.

Screenshot

It's meant to solve the problem in the simplest way possible. It's also open source so if you're a bit paranoid about letting an app "control your computer", feel free to look at the code and build it yourself!

https://github.com/ther0n/UnnaturalScrollWheels

aptgetrekt
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    Thank you! I'm lucky to find this question right after your app release. I'm using macOS Mojave. I tried the Karabiner Elements but it doesn't work. Your app is working flawlessly! Thank you! – leoce Jul 28 '20 at 01:44
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    I've tested this on Mojave and it works beautifully. I hope this answer gets more attention. – aggregate1166877 Jul 28 '20 at 20:39
  • You're welcome! I wasn't expecting any issues on older versions of macOS but it was hard to know as I'm only able to test it under Catalina. Good to hear it's working as it should on Mojave! – aptgetrekt Jul 29 '20 at 13:35
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    This should be the accepted answer, thank you @aptgetrekt for you work! Btw, it works very well on Big Sur as well. – Tomas Nov 23 '20 at 08:56
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    Very nice to find an open-source solution, thank you very much @aptgetrekt – sesm Nov 23 '20 at 17:44
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    This is the best solution, open source and easy to setup and install. – utphx Jan 10 '21 at 01:05
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    This works in Big Sur too. Thanks for the time put into this. – Prince Odame Jan 17 '21 at 00:01
  • This should absolutely be the correct answer. Can confirm works flawlessly on M1 Macbook Air through homebrew cask install. Thanks so much! – Aristides Mar 03 '21 at 00:26
  • Now it says "This software needs to be updated". I am using Big Sur v11.5.2. Can you please update it? @aptgetrekt – Sudip Sarker Aug 30 '21 at 08:34
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    The application is not notarized and to do so would require me to pay Apple 100$ a year. Notarization is the only way to get rid of the message. The application doesn't need to be updated, it's just Apple with a misleading message. Please see step 2 "Manual Download" in the readme. @Sudip Sarker – aptgetrekt Sep 09 '21 at 20:14
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    Unfortunately UnnaturalScrollWheels does not support reversing Magic Mice. Scroll Reverser does. – Ben Sep 10 '21 at 18:53
  • Following readme of the github repo worked for me on my M1 macbook air with MacOS Big Sur 11.5.2 . Huge thanks for this utility. – Chaitanya Patel Sep 22 '21 at 02:07
  • Amazing, thanks for this. It also gets rid of the super annoying scroll acceleration "issues" I was experiencing. – belvederef Oct 20 '21 at 08:21
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    So weird that you can't set the two independently. This awesome tool should be unnecessary, but it works very well. – nihilok Oct 27 '21 at 07:29
  • Works well in macOS Monterey on an Apple Silicon computer. Thank you for doing this! – Omid Ariyan Jan 26 '22 at 17:17
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    @aptgetrekt Do you have something on your profile to allow people to buy your a coffee or something?

    Just curious, prior to developing your app, did you consider selling on app store for $0.99?

    This isn't about FOSS vs commercialization, rather I'm just curious about mindset devs have when producing important useful software that many people appreciate would surely pay for

     – user2402616 May 14 '22 at 14:55
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    @user2402616 I do have donation options on my GitHub page. I have considered putting it on the App Store however I'm 90% sure it wouldn't be allowed because it "modifies system functionality". I made this app for myself and just made it polished enough to be used by anyone with a few more hours of work :). If I charged for it I'd feel pressure to continuously add features and keep it updated. There's also the reality that I'd only get a bit over half the revenue from the app after taxes and App Store fees. Apple should include this as a feature of the OS, instead they'd profit off my fix. – aptgetrekt May 15 '22 at 15:39
  • Great valid points! Maybe sell it to Apple haha – user2402616 May 15 '22 at 16:54
  • @aptgetrekt Just sent over a couple bucks to help you buy a coffee and write more great code for the community – user2402616 May 15 '22 at 21:06
  • I downloaded this app using brew command, and it downloaded several hundreds of megabytes of data. Could someone explain me why a simple app requires so much data? – Harsha Jun 14 '22 at 09:54
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    @Harsha Homebrew is (in)famous for downloading mankind's collective knowledge and compiling the universe (a.k.a. updating itself) whenever you want to run a simple command like installing an app. Are you sure it wasn't that? – Andreas Jun 29 '22 at 13:06
  • I just want to thank you for solving this problem for all of us and suggest you add a Paypal donation link at the end of the README file as I would have flicked you a couple $ already and I'm sure others would. – Brad Jul 14 '22 at 05:12
  • You're a lifesaver! Thanks for building and providing this!!! – Christian Oct 18 '22 at 08:43
  • Excellent app! Just installed, working on Ventura 13.0. What luck for me that it also improves the mouse scroll wheel amount AND disables mouse acceleration, since I was doing this in other, more complicated ways. 10/10, a gem of an app! – Magnus Bull Nov 04 '22 at 09:43
  • you just save my life, thanks! – Vítor Oliveira May 30 '23 at 13:37
  • this is such a good software. Thank you!!!! – Oliver Stahl Jun 21 '23 at 16:55
  • Very good solution, thanks! – C0mpl3x Jul 24 '23 at 18:59
  • Still working with Sonoma Beta 4. Thank you! – MarkD Jul 29 '23 at 22:00
  • Thank you, works well. It feels weird that such a feature is not a part of a modern OS, to me it feels like it is self-evident that it is essential. Possibly it forces people to use a Mac mouse, which may work a bit differently. – Boštjan Biber Sep 19 '23 at 10:15
  • worked beautifully. Thanks for the great work. – Lei Chen Oct 27 '23 at 13:38
  • Nice, thanks, works perfectly (Sonoma here) – cedbeu Nov 07 '23 at 11:54
82

Update 2020/12/03: As other's have pointed out, this is not a feature of Karabiner in newer versions.

It appears that this is integrated in the Karabiner app so it works out of the box without any custom XML (which are described above).

You'll need the following settings:

  • Karabiner Preferences > Change Key > Karabiner core settings > Exclude devices > Don't remap Apple's pointing devices
  • Karabiner Preferences > Change Key > Pointing Device > Reverse scrolling direction > Reverse Vertical Scrolling

Set the Enable Natural Scrolling setting in the Mouse/TrackPad PrefPane to 'enabled'. This allows for the internal trackpad to work as it's supposed to. Any connected non-Apple external mouse will scroll in their own natural way.

David Villamizar
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maarten
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    Nice! One less utility to launch & have in the background. – iconoclast Jul 25 '15 at 23:41
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    Karabiner is awesome. – e9t Oct 16 '15 at 08:34
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    Hi. I don't seem to be seing "Don't remap Apple's pointing devices" under System Preferences > General after installing Karabiner. – Jürgen Paul Dec 11 '15 at 09:16
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    Search for the phrase "remap" -- it's there. – Sterling Bourne Feb 11 '16 at 17:29
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    Karabiner worked for me on El Capitan where Scroll Reverser didn't. – Zachary Murray Feb 23 '16 at 19:00
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    This solution doesn't work for the Apple Magic Mouse, which makes sense since both the trackpad and magic mouse are both Apple devices. I was unable to find a way to make the settings such that it would remap one but not the other – Korey Hinton Mar 09 '16 at 15:16
  • Edited answer to show correct config mapping to get to the remap option:
    • Karabiner core settings > Exclude devices > Don't remap Apple's pointing devices
     – jojo Jun 11 '16 at 04:25
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    So this no longer works in Sierra. Anyone found a working solution in the meantime? – swongu Sep 22 '16 at 17:51
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    in El Capitan... Karabiner DOES NOT reverse scroll direction SEPARATELY from the trackpad -- confirmed 2017-03-05 – aequalsb Mar 07 '17 at 15:07
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    Karabiner doesn't work with Sierra. They recommend using Karabiner-Elements instead, but that one doesn't seem to offer this option. So Karabiner is no longer a solution. – orrd Apr 25 '17 at 22:43
51

I found myself in the exact same boat (preferring Natural for TrackPad and normal for Mouse), and in case anyone attempts to do the same, I did file a bug report against Apple for this. They closed it rather briefly with the words "This is intentional" and no other explanation.

I'm guessing that it's a common request, and they're just tired of hearing it.

Peter Marcotte
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    It's possible that they just don't get it, since I'd be willing to bet practically no one at Apple actually uses mice with physically scrolling wheels. (That would be like using a Mac at Microsoft: anathema to management.) For someone who didn't give it much thought it might seem to make sense, but if you use all three devices (iOS devices, Apple mice or trackpads, and wheel mice) you quickly realize Apple's decision was a horrible one. – iconoclast Sep 30 '14 at 14:50
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    "This is intentional" is just Apple's way of avoiding that it admitted it did something wrong. For all of Apple's supposed attention to detail, small usability problems like this are quite ubiquitous in OSX. – AgmLauncher May 13 '15 at 00:03
  • I've the same issue – user454322 Jun 24 '16 at 01:36
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    they need to get UNTIRED of hearing it -- when so many people have this issue, it's a REAL issue -- with the end of Steve Jobs so ends the quality of Apple... – aequalsb Mar 07 '17 at 15:09
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    wow, this is very naive. In what way would fixing this bug help selling apple mice...? – vidstige Apr 16 '18 at 20:33
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    @vidstige I dunno, maybe having more people using Macs would encourage them to buy other Apple things? Or promoting the idea that Apple is consumer-friendly? Or that they at least care about their consumer's wishes? I mean, maybe I'm just naive in thinking that dismissing a major concern from a significant segment of your potential market is a bad idea. Or maybe you didn't think it through, and should try again. –  Jul 26 '18 at 23:59
  • @Nic, This is the company that stopped including chargers to "reduce waste" at the same time that they changed the port standard, requiring users to buy a separate charger... in its own packaging, which increased waste. At this point, they aren't even pretending to be consumer friendly. And they apparently don't need to be friendly, because people still wait in lines to buy their products. – Kyle A Apr 29 '22 at 19:00
  • @KyleA That comment was four years ago, well before what you're talking about. It's also explicitly calling out that Apple's refusal to fix this bug is not any of the good things I said. –  Jun 14 '22 at 00:37
  • @Nic, Sorry. I don't think my tone was clear. I was agreeing with you that Apple was not (and still is not) acting in a consumer friendly way. I was also expressing some of my frustrations with Apple's apparent attitude toward their users. – Kyle A Jun 14 '22 at 17:31
36

Based on Tien's answer, I tried to find some Logitech software that could help me. I have a Anywhere MX 2 mouse and the Logitech Options software really "fix" this problem for me! It can be downloaded here:

https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/options

Here is how I set it:

Logitech Options with 'Standard' scroll direction

Having scroll direction: standard here and natural scrolling on macOS Sierra settings make it work as it makes sense: natural scrolling on trackpad (two thingers up scrolls down) and standard scrolling on the wheel (roll the wheel "back" scrolls down).

Hope it helps!

Bruno Medeiros
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    I don't see these options on Mac OS X 10.12.1. I have a Unifying Mouse, but I cannot add it to the Logitech Options. I guess that needs to be done before I can modify its options? – Erik Nov 01 '16 at 22:25
  • You just need to install Logitech Options Logitech software. – Bruno Medeiros Nov 10 '16 at 15:48
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    Apparently, it only works with wireless mice. – erickrf Dec 20 '16 at 15:59
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    To the top you go.. – Kamil Tomšík Jan 10 '17 at 19:40
  • Logitech Options only works with some Logitech mice. Even if you have a unifying mouse, it's not a guarantee to be supported. – lenooh Feb 24 '17 at 23:22
  • For Logitech mouses this is the answer. – GoTo Mar 14 '19 at 20:02
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    Wow, sometimes it really pays to scroll down and read the less voted answers. This works perfectly – wim Dec 04 '20 at 09:18
  • I've got a Logitech mouse, and I'd like the feature, but the 274 MB download has me spooked; what could they possibly pack into that? – msw Apr 01 '22 at 21:27
  • Awesome thank you for this – Tim Rae Jul 13 '23 at 12:15
  • @msw probably just using some multi-platform framework that takes a lot of space, the software is not as bad as the huge size might lead you to believe. – Bruno Medeiros Jul 17 '23 at 03:39
  • I've done the same on my MX Master 3. Note that this is configurable after installing the Logitech settings app: brew install --cask logi-options-plus. – Jake Ireland Oct 24 '23 at 07:33
  • The successor to Logitech Options software is Logi Options+. It can be downloaded from here: https://www.logitech.com/en-us/software/logi-options-plus.html. I have a Logitech M720 and you can change scrolling modes between natural and standard mode. Works fine. Unfortunately, this is a fix for Logitech mice only... – André Gasser Mar 14 '24 at 09:24
17

You can also use Karabiner:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <devicevendordef>
    <vendorname>SOMEVENDOR</vendorname>
    <vendorid>0x1234</vendorid>
  </devicevendordef>
  <deviceproductdef>
    <productname>SOMEPRODUCT</productname>
    <productid>0x0001</productid>
  </deviceproductdef>
  <item>
    <name>custom</name>
    <identifier>custom</identifier>
    <device_only>DeviceVendor::SOMEVENDOR, DeviceProduct::SOMEPRODUCT</device_only>
    <autogen>__FlipScrollWheel__ Option::FLIPSCROLLWHEEL_VERTICAL</autogen>
  </item>
</root>

You can see the vendor and product IDs from /Applications/Karabiner.app/Contents/Applications/EventViewer.app.

jkmartindale
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Lri
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    To elaborate on this process, run the Karabiner app, which opens the customization UI. Then go to the "Misc & Uninstall" tab at the top. There are buttons on this page to "Open private.xml" and "Open EventViewer" which you can use to get the product ID and edit the XML as shown above. – CodingWithSpike Feb 27 '15 at 13:56
  • Some more details - Replace both occurrences of "SOMEVENDOR" with an arbitrary single word representing your manufacturer (e.g. Microsoft). Replace both occurrences of "PRODUCTNAME" with an arbitrary single word representing your mouse (e.g. MicrosoftSculpt). Replace 0x1234 with the string from "Vendor ID" column in event viewer. Replace 0x0001 with the string from "Product ID" column in event view. Save the xml and hit "Change Key > Reload XML". Make sure to enable the OSX "Scroll direction: natural" in the mouse configuration. – Elad Jun 16 '15 at 11:25
  • For step-by-step instructions: http://apple.stackexchange.com/a/230241/85983 – Jonathan H Mar 08 '16 at 20:23
16

This little app solved my trouble. Works like a charm. https://pilotmoon.com/scrollreverser/

user212609
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  • Hi welcome to AskDifferent, I find if a question is worth answering it is worth upvoting. Also some instructions rather than just a link may get you more upvotes and make your answer more "future" proof. Please take the time to read the Answer and Question section of the help page. – Deesbek Nov 28 '16 at 01:51
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    Confirmed! Works great on Sierra. Karabiner or Scroll Reverse do not currently work on Sierra, so this is the only solution of the ones currently listed that works. – orrd Apr 25 '17 at 22:48
  • Works on Sierra! What a lifesaver! – friederbluemle May 05 '17 at 02:04
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    In this case @Deesbek there really doesn't seem to be any point to elaborate. It really does work like a charm. If you go to the site and download the app it reverses the scrolls (separately for mouse and trackpad, the whole point of the question). Also, F Apple for claiming this is an intentional decision. That's just lazy. – barclay May 27 '17 at 16:27
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    Doesn't work in 10.15, reverses both scrolls. – Huseyin Yagli Jan 10 '20 at 11:08
13

If you have BetterTouchTool (which is worth getting for its own sake), this can be handled with a single checkbox. It's the checkbox for "Inverse scrolling for normal mice only (use system settings for Magic Mouse & Trackpads)".

Works like a charm.

enter image description here

In the new UI, the checkbox has moved to a place a bit more hidden:

  1. Click the cog wheel ⚙️ in the upper right corner
  2. Choose "Normal mouse" on the left (near the bottom of the Advanced Settings)

enter image description here

Bloke
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Wildcard
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    BetterTouchTool is the *best* value in macOS utilities! I recommend buying a lifetime license! (And no, I do not have any affiliation with the author.) – iconoclast Nov 18 '19 at 19:51
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    Oh my, of course! I've lost count of how many times it has happened that I am looking for a solution to a problem online only to come across someone showing how it can be solved with BetterTouchTool *which I already have installed*! Awesome tool <3 – Bloke Sep 21 '22 at 15:23
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    As others have already stated, BTT is well worth it. Didn't even know this scrolling option existed in BTT before I searched Google for a solution. BTT to the rescue yet again! – Art Geigel Apr 13 '23 at 10:58
10

As Tien posted, Logitech now has an app with the option to separate trackpad and mouse scroll directions, but this only works with a unifying receiver or Bluetooth. I have a wonderful Logitech VX Nano that I don’t intend to give up on, which pre-dates unifying receiver.

And Karabiner or Scroll Reverse do not currently work on Sierra.

Instead you can use the free app Reverse Scrolling, which works on Sierra.

https://pilotmoon.com/scrollreverser/ Scroll Reverser

Community
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Jacob
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7

Both Karabiner and Scroll Reverse do not work on Sierra so far (October 2016). I use a logitech M185 and the app from Logitech instead (http://support.logitech.com/en_us/product/wireless-mouse-m185) and it works. Now I can separate the scroll direction between the trackpad and the mouse.

Tien
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6

Clarifying the answer above about Karabiner Settings. To edit the two suggested settings, do the following:

Change Key tab > Exclude Devices > Select "Don't remap Apple's pointing keyboards

Change Key tab > Pointing Device > Reverse Scrolling Direction Select "Reverse Vertical Scrolling"

From here, use Apple > System Preferences > Mouse (or touchpad) and select "natural scrolling"

Brian Dean
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    Rather than say "the answer above" it is better to specify whose answer you are referring to. Whether an answer is "above" or not depends on how users sort the answers, and even that changes over time. Also, new answers are added, so directional references become more and more confusing, even if they seemed relatively clear at first. – iconoclast Jan 06 '16 at 20:43
  • NB: in the current version of Karabiner (10.18.0 in any event), the first setting has been renamed to "Don't remap Apple's pointing devices". – dland Apr 27 '16 at 07:54
  • THIS answer is accurate and correct for me on El Capitan 2017-03-05 -- whereas ALL OTHER answers i read prior to this did not provide the critical two-setting explanation -- therefore i consider "the answer above" and "all the other answers" wrong... and "THIS answer" right – aequalsb Mar 07 '17 at 15:17
3

It's an old question, but I've been using mos for some years now. It lets you adjust white/blacklists for apps, where you don't want to reverse the scrolling behaviour.

And the best part: It makes scrolling on the mouse as smooth as scrolling on your trackpad: Screenshot

Leon D
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2

Another really nice looking solution is Mac Mouse Fix.

In addition to fixing the scrolling direction it allows you to overload buttons with different actions for

  • click
  • double-click
  • hold
  • drag

as well as several other settings.

enter image description here

iconoclast
  • 9,739
  • I can vouch that this works in Mac Mouse Fix [3.0.0 Beta 6 (21668)]: check "Reverse Direction" on the "Scrolling" tab, and in macOS System Settings, check "Natural Scrolling" in either the mouse or trackpad configuration. – Jesse Buchanan Jul 19 '23 at 03:57