Touchpad Gestures and Settings

macOS has the best trackpad support of any OS. All settings are in one place.

Opening trackpad settings:

Go to System Settings > Trackpad. There are three tabs:

Point & Click tab:

• Tap to click – tap the trackpad surface instead of pressing it down. Off by default; most people prefer it on
• Secondary click (right-click) – set to two-finger click or click in a corner
• Tracking speed – the slider controls how fast the cursor moves relative to your finger. Start in the middle and adjust from there
• Click strength – how hard you need to press for a click (Light, Medium, or Firm)
• Force Click and haptic feedback – enables a deeper press for Quick Look, Look Up, and other features

Scroll & Zoom tab:

• Natural scrolling – when on, content moves in the direction your fingers move (like a phone). When off, it scrolls the "traditional" way. This is personal preference
• Zoom in or out – pinch with two fingers to zoom
• Smart zoom – double-tap with two fingers to zoom in on a page
• Rotate – rotate with two fingers (useful in image editors and maps)

More Gestures tab:

• Swipe between pages – two-finger swipe left or right to go back/forward in browsers and other apps
• Swipe between full-screen apps – three or four-finger horizontal swipe to switch between desktops and full-screen apps
• Mission Control – three or four-finger swipe up to see all open windows
• App Expose – three or four-finger swipe down to see all windows of the current app
• Launchpad – pinch with thumb and three fingers to open the app launcher
• Show Desktop – spread thumb and three fingers apart to push all windows aside

Each gesture shows a preview video when you hover over it so you can see exactly what it does.