Natural Scroll Direction: On with trackpad, Off with mouse

Question

I already tried this:
Changing trackpad scroll direction with AppleScript in Yosemite

But it didn't work.

What I need is when I use the internal macBook Pro trackpad, natural scroll direction is enabled, and when I use an external mouse, it is disabled.

If this is impossible, how about the following alternative: when I plug in a mouse switch to "non-natural" scroll direction, and when I disconnect the mouse switch back to natural.

score 16 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 28 '16 at 15:27

16

Hi just found a great app that totally fixed this and so simple! You can set the scroll direction for each device separately.

SCROLL REVERSER http://pilotmoon.com/scrollreverser/

answered Sep 28 '16 at 15:27

Sean C.

176

Not working on catalina. – Bartek Pacia Jul 20 '20 at 10:19
@PiotrWittchen When I use Scroll Reverser in Monterey to only reverse external mice it makes trackpad scrolling go both ways, arbitrarily. While scrolling down, at certain speeds it starts scrolling up... – Andreas Jun 29 '22 at 11:45
I don't know how it can behave with different external mouses. I'm not using Apple mouse. I'm using Logitech MX mouse. – Piotr Wittchen Jun 29 '22 at 12:53

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 26 '20 at 18:18

5

I got frustrated about this too. I found scroll reverser but it didn't seem to work reliably and other report it doesn't work at all on Catalina. I decided to develop my own app to fix the issue called UnnaturalScrollWheels, it also allows to disable scroll acceleration and modify the number of lines each wheel click scrolls.

https://github.com/ther0n/UnnaturalScrollWheels

answered Jul 26 '20 at 18:18

aptgetrekt

2,761

1

Thank you for your work. I had this problem for a week now your software fixed my problem. – Lex Bryan Apr 15 '21 at 06:46

bjbk · Answer 3 · 2015-08-11T15:17:34.790

3

Try this:

Go to Accessibility settings for Mouse & Trackpad in System Preferences.

Tick the

"Ignore built-in trackpad when mouse or wireless trackpad is present"

option.

Then, with your mouse connected, go back to your Mouse settings in the System Preferences and adjust scrolling accordingly.

edited Aug 11 '15 at 15:17

answered Aug 11 '15 at 15:10

bjbk

9,463

Glad it helped you some! – bjbk Aug 11 '15 at 17:51
6

Doesn't seem to work in Sierra – makerofthings7 Nov 01 '16 at 14:01
1

The answer was for Yosemite as per OP question. Written long before Sierra existed. – bjbk Nov 14 '16 at 22:23
1

Ignoring trackpad does not mean, setting different scroll directions for mouse and trackpad or this option does something different, than it says. – Piotr Wittchen Mar 25 '22 at 14:41

Natural Scroll Direction: On with trackpad, Off with mouse

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