How to Enable or Disable Natural Scrolling in Ubuntu for Mouse and Touchpad

When you transition to an Ubuntu workstation from macOS or modern mobile devices, one of the first physical interactions you experience is scrolling through a webpage or document. On smartphones, tablets, and Mac trackpads, “Natural Scrolling” is the universal standard: moving your fingers upward pushes the content upward, mirroring direct physical contact with a sheet of paper.

Conversely, traditional Windows PCs and classic desktop computer mice have historically used traditional scrolling: rolling the mouse wheel downward moves the page downward. Depending on your personal muscle memory, an unfamiliar scroll orientation feels disorienting and unnatural. Ubuntu’s GNOME desktop environment includes straightforward controls to toggle Natural Scrolling independently for touchpads and mice. This guide explains how to configure scrolling directions.

Natural Scrolling vs Traditional Scrolling

Understanding the mechanical philosophy behind both modes helps you choose the right setup:

• Natural Scrolling (Touchscreen Logic): Moving your fingers upward pushes the content upward (scrolling down). Moving fingers downward pulls content downward (scrolling up). Ideal for laptop touchpads.
• Traditional Scrolling (Scrollbar Logic): Rolling the wheel downward moves the scrollbar downward, revealing lower parts of the document. Preferred by many desktop mouse users.

Configuring Touchpad Natural Scrolling in Ubuntu Settings

To adjust the scrolling behavior on your laptop trackpad:

1. Click the System Menu in the top-right corner of your desktop panel (the volume/battery cluster) and open Settings.
2. In the left-hand navigation sidebar, click on Mouse & Touchpad.
3. Scroll down to the Touchpad section.
4. Locate the setting labelled Natural Scrolling.
5. Toggle the switch to On to enable touchscreen-style scrolling, or toggle it to Off to restore classic scrollbar direction.
6. Test the behavior immediately in any browser window; the change applies in real-time without restarting.

Configuring Mouse Wheel Natural Scrolling Separately

Many users prefer Natural Scrolling on their laptop touchpad, but dislike it when plugging in an external desktop mouse. Ubuntu allows you to decouple them:

1. Inside Settings > Mouse & Touchpad, locate the Mouse section at the top of the page.
2. Find the independent Natural Scrolling toggle under the Mouse heading.
3. Set your mouse preference (typically leaving Mouse Natural Scrolling Off while keeping Touchpad Natural Scrolling On).

Toggling Natural Scrolling via Terminal (gsettings)

If you are managing desktop machines via command line or automated configuration scripts, you can toggle both settings via gsettings:

For Touchpads:

# Enable Natural Scrolling on Touchpad
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad natural-scroll true

# Disable Natural Scrolling on Touchpad
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad natural-scroll false

For Mice:

# Enable Natural Scrolling on Mouse
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.mouse natural-scroll true

# Disable Natural Scrolling on Mouse
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.mouse natural-scroll false

The terminal commands register instantly across the active desktop session.