What is Smooth Scrolling on macOS?
macOS uses a feature called “Smooth Scrolling” (or momentum scrolling) to make navigating through long documents and web pages feel fluid and natural. Instead of snapping down the page in rigid, predefined chunks (like an old Windows mouse wheel), the page glides smoothly and gradually slows down after you lift your fingers off the trackpad or magic mouse.
While this feels great on an Apple Magic Trackpad, it can feel completely broken if you are using a third-party, non-Apple mouse with a traditional notched scroll wheel. The operating system tries to apply “smoothness” to the mechanical clicks of the wheel, resulting in a delayed, floaty, and unresponsive scrolling experience. You can disable this to restore standard, rigid scrolling.
How to Disable Smooth Scrolling for Third-Party Mice
Apple does not provide a simple toggle for this in the standard System Settings. You must use the Terminal to write a hidden preference command.
- Open your Mac’s Terminal application (found in Applications > Utilities).
- Copy and paste the following command exactly as written:
defaults write -g NSScrollAnimationEnabled -bool false- Press Enter.
- For the changes to take effect globally across all applications, you must restart your Mac (or log out and log back in).
After rebooting, the artificial momentum and gliding animations will be gone. When you scroll one “notch” on your third-party mouse wheel, the page will instantly jump a set number of lines without any floaty delay.
To Re-enable Smooth Scrolling:
If you switch back to an Apple trackpad and want the momentum back, simply run the command again, replacing false with true:
defaults write -g NSScrollAnimationEnabled -bool true