How to turn off natural scrolling on a Mac, for a mouse or trackpad
Scrolling on a Mac moves the page with your fingers, which feels backwards with a mouse. Where to change it, and why the mouse and trackpad change together.
How do I change the scroll direction on a Mac?
- Trackpad: System Settings, Trackpad, Scroll & Zoom, then turn Natural scrolling off.
- Mouse: System Settings, Mouse, then turn Natural scrolling off.
Off means the page moves the other way from your fingers, like a scroll bar: wheel down, page down.
Why does changing the mouse change the trackpad too?
macOS keeps one scroll direction for both. Turn natural scrolling off for the mouse, and the trackpad reverses as well. There is no built in way to set them differently; that takes an extra app.
What is natural scrolling?
It moves content the way a touch screen does: push your fingers up and the page goes up with them. It feels right on a trackpad, and wrong to many people on a mouse wheel.
More scrolling settings: scroll speed, scroll sideways, and Logitech mouse gestures.
Checked on 22 October 2026 on a MacBook Air (M1) running macOS 27.0.1: Natural scrolling was read from both the Trackpad and Mouse panes in System Settings.
Questions
How do I reverse scrolling on a Mac?
Turn off Natural scrolling in System Settings, Trackpad or Mouse.
Can I have different scroll directions for mouse and trackpad?
Not with built in settings. macOS uses one direction for both.
What is natural scrolling on Mac?
Content moves with your fingers, as on a touch screen.
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