How to Customize Mac Trackpad Gestures: 15 Ways

Your Mac trackpad has more to offer than you might realize. In this guide, I’ll show you how to unlock its full potential by customizing trackpad gestures to fit your needs and navigate your Mac effortlessly.

How to Customize Mac Trackpad Gestures

You can easily change your trackpad settings to enhance your user experience and productivity. Here’s how to customize Mac trackpad gestures:

1. Turn on Tap to Click on Mac

Enabling Tap to Click on your Mac allows for a quieter, more responsive interaction by letting you tap the trackpad to click. Here’s how to turn it on:

1. Click the Apple menu and select System Settings.

2. Click Trackpad in the left sidebar and navigate to the Point & Click tab.

3. Toggle on the Tap to click switch.

2. Adjust Tracking Speed

To adjust the tracking speed on a Mac, follow these steps:

1. Go to System Settings from the Apple menu.
2. Click Trackpad and navigate to the Point & Click tab.
3. Adjust the Tracking speed slider to set your preferred speed: move it right to increase speed and left to decrease it.

4. As you adjust the slider, you’ll get a preview of the cursor speed. Choose a setting that feels comfortable for you.

3. Turn on Silent Clicking

Here’s how to turn on silent clicking on a Mac:

1. Click the Apple menu > System Settings > Trackpad.
2. Navigate to the Point & Click tab.
3. Toggle on the Silent clicking switch.

Once silent clicking is enabled, you can click the trackpad without any audible sound.

4. Turn on Force Click and Haptic Feedback

To turn on Force Click and Haptic Feedback on a Mac, follow these steps:

1. Click the Apple menu > System Settings > Trackpad.
2. Toggle on the Force Click and haptic feedback switch under the Point & Click tab.

After enabling this feature, you can perform a Force Click by pressing down firmly on the trackpad with one finger or using a two-finger click, depending on your model. The haptic feedback provides a subtle vibration to simulate a physical click.

5. Customize Look Up & Data Detectors Gesture

To customize the Look Up & Data Detectors gesture on a Mac, follow these steps:

1. Go to System Settings from the Apple menu.
2. Click Trackpad and find the Look up & data detectors option under the Point & Click tab.

3. Click the dropdown menu next to Look up & data detectors, and select your desired gesture from the list.

6. Customize Secondary Click

Here’s how to customize the secondary click (also known as right-click) on a Mac:

1. Click the Apple menu > System Settings > Trackpad.
2. Scroll down the Point & Click tab and click the dropdown menu next to the Secondary click option.
3. A list of options will appear, typically including Click or tap with two fingers, Click in the bottom-right corner, or Click in the bottom-left corner. Pick an option that suits you.

7. Customize Swipe Between Pages

To customize the swipe gesture for navigating between pages on a Mac, such as in Safari or other apps, follow these steps:

1. Go to System Settings from the Apple menu.
2. Click Trackpad in the left sidebar and navigate to the More Gestures tab.
3. Find the Swipe between pages option, click the dropdown menu next to it, and select your desired gesture from the list.

8. Customize Swipe Between Full-Screen Applications

Here’s how to customize the swipe gesture for switching between full-screen applications on a Mac:

1. Click the Apple menu > System Settings > Trackpad.
2. Go to the More Gestures tab.
3. Click the dropdown menu next to Swipe between full-screen applications and select your desired gesture from the list.

9. Customize Mission Control Access Gesture

To customize the gesture for accessing Mission Control on a Mac, which provides an overview of open windows and spaces, follow these steps:

1. Go to System Settings from the Apple menu.
2. Click Trackpad and go to the More Gestures tab.
3. Click the dropdown menu next to the Mission Control option and select your desired gesture.

10. Customize App Exposé Gesture

Follow these steps to customize the gesture for triggering App Exposé on a Mac, which shows all open windows of the active application:

1. Click the Apple menu > System Settings > Trackpad.
2. Go to the More Gestures tab.
3. Find the App Exposé option, click the dropdown menu next to it, and choose your desired gesture.

11. Turn on Smart Zoom on Mac

If you want to zoom in and out on your screen by using a gesture on the trackpad, you have to enable this feature. Here’s how to turn on Smart Zoom on a Mac:

1. Go to System Settings from the Apple menu.
2. Click Trackpad in the left sidebar and navigate to the Scroll & Zoom tab.

3. Toggle on the Smart zoom switch.

12. Turn on Natural Scrolling on Mac

If you want your scrolling direction to mimic the movement of content on a touchscreen device, you have to enable Natural Scrolling. Here’s how to turn on Natural Scrolling on Mac:

1. Click the Apple menu > System Settings > Trackpad.
2. Go to the Scroll & Zoom tab and toggle on the Natural scrolling switch.

So, now, scrolling up moves the content up, and scrolling down moves it down, just like interacting with a touchscreen.

13. Turn on Zoom in or Out on Mac

If you want to magnify the entire screen or a portion of it, here’s how to enable Zoom In or Out on Mac:

1. Click the Apple menu > System Settings > Trackpad.
2. Go to the Scroll & Zoom tab and toggle on the Zoom in or out switch.

14. Turn on Rotate on Mac

Here’s how to turn on rotation on Mac:

1. Click the Apple menu > System Settings > Trackpad.
2. Go to the Scroll & Zoom tab and toggle on the Rotate switch.

15. Turn on Show Desktop Gesture on Mac

To enable the Show Desktop gesture on a Mac for quickly minimizing all windows and showing the desktop, follow these steps:

1. Go to System Settings from the Apple menu.
2. Click Trackpad and navigate to the More Gestures tab.
3. Toggle on the Show Desktop switch.

Take Control of Your Mac Trackpad Gestures

You can customize Mac trackpad gestures to optimize your system and make it more personal. Here are some more tips to maximize your productivity on Mac:

• You must know the correct finger movements to effectively use Mac trackpad gestures.
• Master Mac keyboard shortcuts to quickly perform recurring tasks and save time.
• Familiarize yourself with the correct keyboard commands to type special characters on Mac.