How to scroll sideways on a Mac with a mouse or trackpad
Wide spreadsheets, timelines and code need sideways scrolling. Two fingers on a trackpad, Shift with a mouse wheel, and the settings that make it smoother.
How do I scroll sideways with a mouse?
Hold ⇧ and turn the wheel. The content moves left and right instead of up and down. It works in nearly every Mac app.
A mouse with a tilting wheel or a side wheel scrolls sideways on its own. A Magic Mouse scrolls in any direction with one finger.
How do I scroll sideways on a trackpad?
Slide two fingers left or right. In browsers, a quick sideways swipe may go back a page instead; see swipe between pages to control that.
Why does sideways scrolling go the wrong way?
It follows the same direction setting as up and down. See natural scrolling.
That is why ClutterFreeMac scrolls its strip of windows only while ⌃ ⌥ are held, or with a three or four finger swipe: plain two finger scrolling stays with the app under the pointer. Try it in the demo.
Questions
How do I scroll horizontally with a mouse on a Mac?
Hold Shift and turn the scroll wheel.
How do I scroll sideways on a MacBook trackpad?
Slide two fingers left or right.
Why does my Mac go back a page when I scroll sideways?
Swipe between pages is on. Change it in Trackpad, More Gestures.
Read next
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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.
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Scrolling too slow or too fast? The mouse slider is in Mouse settings, the trackpad one is hidden in Accessibility. Both, plus how to turn off scroll momentum.
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