Ignore laptop trackpad

By Ricky Buchanan • September 7, 2007

Laptop users who don’t use an external mouse, or have trouble with bumping the trackpad while typing may find a useful preference hidden away in the System Preferences. From the Mac’s help file:

Making the trackpad inactive when a mouse is connected or when typing
If you’re using a portable computer, you can set it to ignore the trackpad while you’re typing or when you have a mouse connected.

To get to the relevant panel:

Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.
Click the Keyboard & Mouse icon in the hardware (second) row.
Click Trackpad.

To make the computer ignore the trackpad while you type, select the “Ignore accidental trackpad input” checkbox. I don’t have a laptop, so I am not sure exactly how this works and what it thinks is “accidental”.

To make the computer ignore the trackpad when an external mouse is connected, select the “Ignore trackpad when mouse is present” checkbox. Apple reports that this doesn’t always work with non-Apple mice which need their own driver software.

- ATMac

Categories: Information, Mac Laptops, Primary Keyboard Users, Primary Mouse Users, Users, VoiceOver
Tags: extraneous trackpad clicks, macbook trackpad, turn trackpad off, unwanted trackpad clicks

About the Author

Ricky Buchanan

Ricky Buchanan is 34 years old and the founder and main writer for ATMac. She's bedridden with severe CFS/ME or perhaps a primary mitochondrial disorder - the doctors are not sure. When she's not working on ATMac or her other websites she composes music, listens to audio books, does other disability advocacy, watches TV with her flatmate, and enjoys her cat.

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