Flick down with two fingers on a trackpad or Magic Mouse in Mac OS X and you’ll experience inertial scrolling, where after your finger has stopped moving the page continues to scroll in the intended direction until it slowly stops. This fluid and natural scrolling experience comes from the iOS world, and while it works quite well on the desktop, it’s not for everyone.
Here’s how to disable inertia scrolling systemwide in Mac OS X for any version of system software that you may be running for trackpad and touch surface devices:
Turning Off Inertia Scrolling in MacOS Sierra & OS X EL Capitan
Modern versions of MacOS and Mac OS X allow users to disable inertial scrolling through the Accessibility panel:
- Open System Preferences from the Apple menu
- Go to Accessibility
- Choose Mouse & trackpad
- Click on “Trackpad Options”
- Look for Scrolling, then select “Without inertia”
Disabling Inertia Scrolling in Mac OS X Mountain Lion, Lion
Disabling Inertia Scrolling in older versions of Mac OS X including Lion, Mountain Lion, and is done through a slightly different setting section:
- Open System Preferences from the Apple menu
- Click on “Universal Access” and then click on “Mouse & Trackpad”
- Near the bottom, click on “Trackpad Options” button
- Next to the “Scrolling” checkbox, click so that “without inertia” is set then click “OK” and close out of System Preferences
Intertial scrolling is now off. Try to scroll now, and even if you flick your fingers the scrolling will end immediately when you lifted them from the trackpad, just like it’s 2005 again.
What about inertia scrolling in older Mac OS X versions?
Note that in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, intertial scrolling was called “scrolling with momentum” instead, and the option was contained within the standard Trackpad & Mouse preference panel.
From OS X Lion onward through OS X Mavericks, El Capitan, Sierra, and onward, it’s simply referred to as Inertia Scrolling, but disabling it remains an option if you’re not a fan of the behavior.
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