If you have recently switched from a Windows PC to an Apple Mac, you probably noticed something infuriating the very first time you tried to read a long webpage: the mouse scroll wheel is completely backward.
When you spin the scroll wheel down on a Windows mouse, the page goes down. On a Mac, spinning the wheel down makes the page go up. Apple calls this “Natural Scrolling,” as it mimics the way you physically push a piece of paper on a touchscreen (pushing up moves the paper up). However, for traditional mouse users, it feels completely unnatural.
Fortunately, you can disable this feature and return your mouse to the traditional Windows-style scrolling behavior in just a few seconds.
How to Disable Natural Scrolling for a Mouse
If you are using a standard external mouse (with a physical scroll wheel) plugged into your Mac via USB or Bluetooth, follow these steps:
- Click the Apple Logo in the top-left corner of your menu bar.
- Select System Settings (or “System Preferences” on older versions of macOS).
- Scroll down the left-hand sidebar and click on Mouse.
- Look for the setting labeled Natural scrolling.
- Click the toggle switch to turn it OFF (the switch will turn from blue to gray).
The change is instantaneous. Grab your mouse and test it on a webpage; spinning the wheel down will now pull the page down, exactly as you expect.
How to Disable Natural Scrolling for a Trackpad
If you are using a MacBook or an external Apple Magic Trackpad, the setting is located in a different menu.
- Click the Apple Logo and open System Settings.
- Scroll down the left-hand sidebar and click on Trackpad.
- At the top of the Trackpad menu, click the Scroll & Zoom tab.
- Look for the Natural scrolling option.
- Click the toggle switch to turn it OFF.
Now, when you drag two fingers down on the trackpad, the content on your screen will move down.
The Apple Ecosystem Catch
There is one frustrating quirk in macOS that you should be aware of: macOS links the mouse and trackpad scrolling directions together.
If you use a MacBook and you turn off Natural Scrolling so your external USB mouse works like Windows, your MacBook’s built-in trackpad will also switch to the Windows style. For many people, “Windows style” feels great on a mouse wheel but feels terrible on a trackpad.
Unfortunately, Apple does not provide a native way to have Natural Scrolling turned ON for the trackpad but OFF for the mouse simultaneously. If you want this split behavior, you will need to download a free, third-party utility app like “Scroll Reverser” to separate the two devices.