How to Disable Reverse Scrolling in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion

Jul 20, 2011

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Muscle memory is a powerful thing; for years, computer users have used scroll bars, trackpads and mouse wheels to scroll pages and documents by moving down to scroll down and up to scroll up. iOS devices have changed that; on the iPhone and iPad, you swipe up to scroll down, and down to scroll up, as if you were pushing an actual piece of paper on a desk. Although the natural scrolling method of iOS devices is what makes the most sense, sometimes it is just too difficult to combat years of learned behavior — especially if you have not yet purchased an iPhone or iPad. Disable reverse (natural) scrolling in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion with these simple steps.

Trackpad

1. Open the Apple menu in the upper-left corner of the screen and select “System Preferences.”
2. Click the “Trackpad” icon.
3. Clear the check from the “Scroll Direction: Natural” box.
4. Close the window.

Note: On some older Macs, the box that you need to clear the check from may have the label “When using gestures to scroll or navigate, move content in the direction of finger movement.”

Mouse

1. Open the Apple menu and select “System Preferences.”
2. Click the “Mouse” icon.
3. Clear the check from the “Move content in the direction of finger movement when scrolling or navigating” box.
4. Close the window.