October 6, 2024

How to Setup and Use Multi-touch on Your MacBook Pro

Posted March 9, 2008 at 10:01pm by iClarified
These are instructions on how install and setup gesture based Multitouch on your MacBook Pro.

You can pinch, swipe, or rotate to zoom in on text, advance through a photo album, or adjust an image. The gesture-based input so successful on iPhone and iPod touch is now available on the MacBook.

Step One
Select System Preferences from the Apple Menu at the top left of the screen.
How to Setup and Use Multi-touch on Your MacBook Pro


Step Two
Select Keyboard & Mouse from the System Preferences window.
How to Setup and Use Multi-touch on Your MacBook Pro

Step Three
Select the Trackpad tab from the Keyboard & Mouse window.
How to Setup and Use Multi-touch on Your MacBook Pro

Step Four
Select the multitouch gestures you would like to enable from the list along the left side. I have selected them all for this tutorial.
How to Setup and Use Multi-touch on Your MacBook Pro


MULTI-TOUCH GESTURES
Tap to Click
This gesture allows you to tap with one finger simulating a mouse click. So use the trackpad to move the pointer over something you wish to select, then tap the trackpad once with one finger.

Dragging
To drag an item, for example a window, you double tap with one finger and on the second tap keep your finger on the trackpad and begin dragging.

Drag Lock
To drag an item, for example a window, you double tap with one finger and on the second tap keep your finger on the trackpad and begin dragging. The window is now locked. You can raise your finger and place it back on the trackpad. The window will keep dragging until you tap once with one finger on the trackpad.

Secondary Click
There are two ways you can use Secondary Click. Secondary click is similar to the right mouse button in Windows. It will usually bring up a contextual menu.

First, place two fingers on the trackpad and use your thumb to press the trackpad button.

Second, tap the trackpad with two fingers.

Scroll
You can use the trackpad to scroll through a long page such as a text document or webpage. To do this simply place two fingers on the trackpad and move them up or down, left or right depending on the direction you would like to scroll.

Pinch Open & Close
You can use the pinch open and close gesture to perform useful tasks such as zooming in and out of a photo. To zoom in, for example, place your thumb and index finger together on the trackpad, then gradually expand them. To zoom out, for example, place your thumb and index finger apart on the trackpad, then gradually bring them together.

Rotate
You can also use multitouch gestures to rotate items. To use the rotate gesture, place your thumb and index finger on the trackpad about 1 inch apart and rotate them. This will cause the item selected to rotate in a similar manner.

Screen Zoom
Macs have a really neat feature by which you can actually zoom into your screen. To use this feature with multitouch simply hold down the control button on the keyboard and place two fingers on the trackpad. Move your two fingers up to zoom in and move them down to zoom out.

Swipe to Navigate
Perhaps one of the most useful multi-touch gestures is the Swipe to Navigate action. This gesture can be used to move between pages or to navigate through images. To use the gesture place three fingers on the trackpad and swipe right to navigate to the right or swipe left to navigate to the left!


How to Setup and Use Multi-touch on Your MacBook Pro

How to Setup and Use Multi-touch on Your MacBook Pro

How to Setup and Use Multi-touch on Your MacBook Pro
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Comments (16)
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wallville
wallville - November 26, 2008 at 7:16pm
checkout "multiclutch" for the os x (intel) Add gestures to any application.
alisam@yahoo.com
alisam@yahoo.com - August 23, 2019 at 12:45am
mac out service
chrisbone123
chrisbone123 - August 13, 2008 at 8:37pm
i just tried it.. i think its only for new MBP's
alisam@yahoo.com
alisam@yahoo.com - August 23, 2019 at 12:40am
update version macos
philip
philip - July 9, 2008 at 5:51pm
Old mac, so you can rotate, pinch/zoom and swipe? How did you get it to do that? I've kept my macbook pro updated since I bought it in Nov and I can't do it.
alisam@yahoo.com
alisam@yahoo.com - August 23, 2019 at 12:41am
tanx baby
iClarified2
iClarified2 - July 9, 2008 at 2:06pm
Good point. I forgot that they released multitouch with the iphone 1.
old mac
old mac - July 9, 2008 at 1:54pm
i bought my mac pro over a year ago and i updated my system and the multi touch work just fine on my system
Number_41
Number_41 - June 25, 2008 at 9:32am
This is only for the newer MacBook Pros released in March of 2008
Philip
Philip - May 24, 2008 at 4:31pm
I bought my macbook pro in november. Is this available for it? I'd love to be able to have it but I can't find it anywhere.
leavestone
leavestone - April 10, 2008 at 10:43am
and how activate this menu on an older MacBook Pro?
loranger
loranger - March 11, 2008 at 7:31pm
Is there any way to reverse the swipe action and get the same behaviour as swipe on iPhone ?
iClarified
iClarified - March 10, 2008 at 9:53am
Setup is exactly the same. The demo videos posted are the same ones that Apple uses for the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.
alisam@yahoo.com
alisam@yahoo.com - August 23, 2019 at 12:42am
full service
kryšpín
kryšpín - March 10, 2008 at 5:00am
Its for all Macbook Pro version?
alisam@yahoo.com
alisam@yahoo.com - August 23, 2019 at 12:39am
full update download macbook pro frimwwe
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