Speed Up Your Workflow With Trackpad Gestures [Mac laptops]
March 15, 2011 by Evan Kline 
7 Comments
Coming from Windows, I am accustomed to doing only the basics with my laptop’s trackpad – dragging my finger around to navigate, and clicking on links and other items. With the trackpad on Mac laptops, though, you can do much more. Here is a list of a few of the maneuvers you can perform with a trackpad on a newer Mac.
1. Secondary clicking with 2 fingers, or with a secondary zone
This has to be enabled in the options, but you can perform the equivalent of a right-click one of two ways. You can set your Trackpad preference so that tapping two fingers on the trackpad operates as a secondary click, or you can set your preferences to set up a secondary zone in the bottom left or right corner of the trackpad.
2. Two finger scrolling for fast scrolling
You can scroll with two fingers at a time to quickly scroll up, down, or sideways.
3. Two finger rotating
In some situations, you can rotate photos, pages, and more by forming an open pinching gesture with your thumb and forefinger, and rotating your hand.
4. Two-finger pinching to zoom
By pinching your thumb and forefinger together, you can zoom in or out on PDFs, images, photos, and more.
5. Three-finger swiping to navigate quickly
Swiping with three fingers lets you rapidly page through documents, move to a previous or next photo, and more. Swiping left and right with three fingers als operates just like the forward and back buttons in your browser.
6. Four-finger swiping to switch and view applications
If you swipe left or right with four fingers, you can switch among open applications with a menu that pops up. You can navigate this menu with a two finger swipe left or right, and then make a selection with your finger.
if you swipe upward with four fingers, your desktop appears and your application disappears. If you swipe downward, the application returns. If you’re in an application, the downward swipe will show you tiles with your open apps.
7. Magnify with Control + a two-finger swipe
To zoom in on the screen, hold down the control key and perform a two-finger swipe.
Did we miss any?
Sources:
DanielMiessler.com: The List of Apple Trackpad Gestures
Image by D’Arcy Norman
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This is another one of those small things that make me want to buy a Mac. And i’ll probably do it once i get some free time to learn it and get used to it, because i’ve been a Windows users for 15 years and change is hard.
Maria Pavel´s last post ..Certified Nursing Assistant Practice Test
I was in the same boat, Maria. I still use both systems, actually, and the change wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.
That’s interesting, i’ve never thought of using both of them.
My fear comes from a few years ago when i made an attempt to switch to Linux. And that failed so bad that i still have nightmare :)
Maria Pavel´s last post ..Certified Nursing Assistant Practice Test
I swear at my Macs (home) far less than my Windows machine (work). Not saying that’s the best test, but it’s an indicator.
Personally, I think it boils down to whatever works the best for you, personally. There’s really no “right” or “wrong”.
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I think you’re getting cause and effect backwards. I bet that it is precisely because you swear at the Windows machine that it acts up on you more. Computers have feelings, too.
Ah, I’m glad to find this reference! I’ve always had a Windows laptop, so I’m accustomed to what one has to do with one of those when there’s not a mouse available, but I’m honored to say that Google is letting me be in the pilot program for the Chrome notebook. The first night, I was a little disappointed – do I have to click on the scrollbar and drag it down every time I want to scroll down? And am I unable to right-click? Hah – not at all.
The next day I let a Mac user use it and he pointed out to me that it has a couple of gestures like the Macs – namely the two-finger scrolling and the two-finger tap to right-click. (OK, I never read the fine instructions but this was probably in there).
I’ve found that if I just let myself forget about worrying about my fingers then everything works great and the gestures just flow. I have a feeling the Mac would be the same way, if I ever have the $ for one – just lose yourself in enjoying using the Mac and the gestures will become effortless.
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I’m glad that you liked it, Christie. And I’m jealous that you got into the Chrome notebook program!