A Mac trackpad does a lot more than point and click, but most people only use the gestures they found by accident. The built-in ones are spread across three tabs of Trackpad settings and a couple of places most people never look, and some are switched off on a new Mac.
This guide lists every built-in gesture, grouped the way System Settings groups them, and then picks out the few settings worth changing. Everything here is for current macOS (Sonoma, Sequoia and Tahoe), where the settings live in System Settings → Trackpad. On Monterey and earlier the same options are in System Preferences → Trackpad. If you are unsure what a gesture looks like, hover over it in Trackpad settings and a short video plays showing the movement.
Pointing and Clicking
These live on the Point & Click tab of Trackpad settings.
| Gesture or setting | What it does | Options |
|---|---|---|
| Tap to click | A light tap with one finger counts as a click, without pressing the trackpad down | Off on a new Mac |
| Secondary click | Right-click | Click or tap with two fingers (default), click in the bottom right corner, click in the bottom left corner, or off |
| Look up & data detectors | Shows a definition for the word under the pointer, or a preview for a date, address, phone number or link | Force Click with one finger, or tap with three fingers |
| Force Click and haptic feedback | Pressing harder after a click triggers extra actions (see below) | On or off |
| Click | How hard you have to press for a click to register | Light, Medium or Firm |
| Tracking speed | How far the pointer moves for a given finger movement | Slider |
Force Click, the click pressure setting and the haptic "click" you feel all need a Force Touch trackpad. That covers every MacBook that can run Sequoia or Tahoe and the Magic Trackpad from the second generation onwards. The original Magic Trackpad has a physical click and doesn't support Force Click, so on that one you would set Look up to the three-finger tap.
Scrolling and Zooming
The Scroll & Zoom tab has four gestures, all using two fingers:
- Natural scrolling: content moves in the same direction as your fingers, as it does on an iPhone. It is on by default. Turn it off and scrolling behaves like a traditional mouse wheel instead.
- Zoom in or out: pinch two fingers together or apart. It works in apps that support zooming, such as Safari, Preview, Photos and Maps.
- Smart zoom: double-tap with two fingers to zoom into the part of the page under the pointer, and double-tap again to zoom back out. It is most useful on web pages and PDFs.
- Rotate: twist two fingers to rotate a photo or map, in apps that support it.
Ordinary two-finger scrolling isn't on this tab because it can't be turned off. It is always there, in every direction.
Swipes and System Gestures
The More Gestures tab holds the system-wide swipes and pinches. Most of them let you choose between three and four fingers.
| Gesture | Movement | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Swipe between pages | Two fingers left or right (can be changed to three, or two or three) | Back and forward in Safari, Chrome, Finder and other apps with a history |
| Swipe between full-screen applications | Three fingers left or right (or four) | Moves between desktops (Spaces) and apps in full screen |
| Notification Center | Two fingers swiping left from the right edge | Opens Notification Center and widgets |
| Mission Control | Three fingers up (or four) | Shows every open window and your desktops |
| App Exposé | Three fingers down (or four); off by default | Shows all the windows of the app you are using |
| Launchpad / Apps | Pinch with your thumb and three fingers | Opens Launchpad on Sequoia and earlier; on Tahoe, which replaced Launchpad, it opens the Apps view |
| Show Desktop | Spread your thumb and three fingers apart | Moves windows aside to show the desktop; reverse the movement to bring them back |
One rule explains most of this tab: a movement can only do one job. A three-finger swipe sideways can switch desktops or go back a page, but not both, and the same goes for anything else that claims three fingers, such as three-finger drag or a third-party gesture app. That is why the menus offer four fingers as an alternative.
Gestures Outside Trackpad Settings
A few useful gestures aren't listed in Trackpad settings at all.
Force Click actions
With Force Click turned on, click and then keep pressing until you feel a second, deeper click. What happens depends on what is under the pointer:
- A word: shows its definition (if Look up is set to Force Click).
- A link in Safari: shows a preview of the page without opening it.
- A file in Finder or on the desktop: opens a Quick Look preview of it.
- A file's name: lets you rename it.
- An app in the Dock: shows all that app's open windows, like App Exposé.
Three-finger drag
Three-finger drag lets you move windows, select text and move files by sliding three fingers, with no pressing. It lives in System Settings → Accessibility → Pointer Control → Trackpad Options…, and turning it on moves your three-finger swipes to four fingers. Our guide to turning on three-finger drag covers the setup and the trade-offs.
Zoom the whole screen
Pinch to zoom only works inside apps that support it. To magnify everything on screen, go to System Settings → Accessibility → Zoom and turn on Use scroll gesture with modifier keys to zoom. Then hold the modifier key (Control by default) and scroll with two fingers to zoom in and out. It is handy for small text in apps that don't zoom.
Safari's tab overview
In Safari, pinching in with two fingers on a page shows all the tabs in that window as a grid. Click a tab to open it. Chrome and most other browsers have no equivalent.
The Ones Worth Changing
Most defaults are sensible. These are the settings that most often make a difference, depending on how you work.
1. Turn on Tap to click, if you don't rest your fingers
Tapping is quicker and quieter than pressing, and it is off on a new Mac. Turn it on under Point & Click → Tap to click. The exception is if you tend to rest a finger or thumb on the trackpad while you type or point: you may get stray clicks, in which case leave it off.
2. Turn on App Exposé
App Exposé is off by default, and nothing else uses the swipe down, so turning it on costs nothing. It is useful when one app has several windows open, such as a few Finder windows or documents. Turn it on under More Gestures → App Exposé, then swipe down with three fingers (or four, if you have moved your swipes) to see just that app's windows.
3. Set the tracking speed and click pressure to suit you
If you find yourself lifting and repositioning your finger to get across the screen, especially on a large external display, raise Tracking speed a notch or two. If clicking feels like hard work, set Click to Light. Both take effect immediately, so you can try a setting and change it back.
4. Move Look up off Force Click if it keeps popping up
If definitions or previews appear when you only meant to click, you are pressing hard enough to Force Click. Set Look up & data detectors to Tap with three fingers instead, or switch off Force Click and haptic feedback altogether, which also turns off the other Force Click actions listed above.
5. Use a corner for right-click, if you are coming from Windows
Many Windows laptops right-click when you press the bottom right of the touchpad. If that is what your hand expects, set Secondary click to Click in bottom right corner.
6. Decide what three fingers are for
This is the biggest choice on a Mac trackpad, and it is worth making on purpose rather than by default. A three-finger sideways swipe can switch desktops, go back a page, drag things (with three-finger drag) or be handed to a third-party app. If you use several desktops all day, the default is right. If you rarely use desktops or full-screen apps, you may get more from giving that swipe a different job, and set Swipe between full-screen applications and Mission Control to four fingers. Both still work exactly the same way with one more finger.
The Ones to Leave Alone
- Swipe between pages on two fingers. Moving it to three fingers takes the three-finger sideways swipe away from desktops, and two fingers is what web pages and most apps are designed around.
- Smart zoom and Rotate. They rarely get in the way, and you lose little by keeping them.
- Notification Center. Starting from the very right edge means it is hard to trigger by accident.
- Natural scrolling, unless it really bothers you. Be aware that it is a single setting shared with Mouse settings. If you turn it off for a mouse, it turns off for the trackpad too.
What macOS Has No Gesture For
For all those gestures, there is one obvious gap: switching browser tabs. Two fingers sideways goes back and forward through a page's history, and three or four switches desktops, but no built-in gesture moves to the next or previous tab, in Safari or any other browser. Safari's pinch overview is the closest, and it shows a grid rather than stepping between tabs. That leaves keyboard shortcuts or clicking the tab bar.
That gap is what our app, TabSwipe, fills. It puts tab switching on a three-finger sideways swipe in Chrome, Safari, Arc, Edge, Brave and other browsers. You can glide across several tabs in one movement, with a haptic tick as you land on each one, and Tab Bookends stop you at the first and last tab instead of wrapping around. It uses the three-finger swipe, so Mission Control and desktop switching move to four fingers; setup walks you through that change. If you would rather keep three fingers for desktops or three-finger drag, it isn't the right fit. Our guide to switching browser tabs with a trackpad on Mac compares all the options, including the free ones.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I create my own trackpad gestures in macOS?
Not with the built-in settings. System Settings only lets you turn each gesture on or off and, for some, choose the number of fingers. Custom gestures, such as a four-finger tap that runs a shortcut, need a third-party app like BetterTouchTool.
Why can't I see the Force Click or Click options?
They only appear when the trackpad supports Force Touch. If you use an original Magic Trackpad, those options are missing, and Look up works with a three-finger tap instead.
Do these gestures work on a Magic Trackpad as well as a MacBook?
Yes. The same settings apply to a MacBook's built-in trackpad and to a Magic Trackpad connected to the Mac. A Magic Mouse has a smaller set of gestures with their own page under System Settings → Mouse.
My three-finger swipes suddenly need four fingers. Why?
Something has claimed three fingers. Usually it is three-finger drag, turned on in Accessibility, or a gesture app. Check Trackpad → More Gestures to see which number of fingers each swipe is set to now.
Want a trackpad gesture for the tabs you switch between all day? Download the TabSwipe free trial and try it in your own browser.