How do I set different scroll directions for my mouse and trackpad?
Use Scroll direction under a device’s name to choose its vertical scrolling. Each distinguishable device has its own saved choice.
In this article
Set each device’s direction
- Connect the devices you want to configure.
- Click the Radar Mouse icon in the menu bar.
- If the panel asks for Accessibility access, grant access first.
- Under the first device’s name, click Natural or Reverse.
- Scroll vertically in a document or webpage with enough content to move. Check the result with that device.
- Repeat for the other devices. There is no Save or Apply button.
For a MacBook with a mouse, start with Natural under Built-in Trackpad and Reverse under the mouse. With macOS Natural scrolling enabled, this keeps the trackpad’s familiar direction and gives the mouse wheel the opposite direction.
If Disable trackpad is on, the built-in trackpad’s direction row is hidden while a mouse is detected. Turn Disable trackpad off if you want to use or configure the internal trackpad while the mouse stays connected. Hiding the row does not erase its saved direction.
The selection highlight may keep showing the previous choice after a click. If scrolling changes as requested, the choice has taken effect even though the highlight is stale. See selection-highlight troubleshooting.
Understand Natural and Reverse
The labels describe what Radar Mouse does to scrolling that macOS delivers:
| Choice | Result |
|---|---|
| Natural | Leave the device’s incoming vertical scrolling unchanged. |
| Reverse | Flip the device’s incoming vertical scrolling. |
Radar Mouse does not change or compensate for the macOS Natural scrolling preference. If you change that system preference, recheck every device. The same saved Radar Mouse choice can then produce the opposite visible result.
For example, if a mouse already scrolls the way you want with Radar Mouse quit, use Natural for that mouse to keep the system behavior. If you want the opposite vertical direction, use Reverse. This comparison is more useful than relying on the word “Natural” alone.
With a natural-scrolling system baseline, Natural preserves natural scrolling and Reverse produces the opposite. With the opposite system baseline, those visible outcomes swap. If you are uncertain about the baseline, use the quit-and-compare procedure.
Use several mice and trackpads
Configure each displayed device separately. A Magic Mouse and a trackpad can have different directions even though both scroll by touch. You can also give two distinguishable mice different choices.
Example: leave the built-in trackpad and an external Magic Trackpad on Natural, set a Magic Mouse to Reverse, and keep another mouse on Natural if its existing wheel direction suits you. Check each device using the same document so you can compare the result.
Device identification has limits. Two identical devices without distinct identifiers may share a row. Some mouse-driver software generates scrolling without enough information to identify the source. Those cases can prevent independent choices from working as expected. See device and saved-direction troubleshooting.
Keep your choices when you reconnect
A click on Natural or Reverse saves that device’s choice locally. Closing the panel, disconnecting a device, or quitting Radar Mouse does not clear the choice. When you reopen the app and it recognizes the same device identity, it reads that choice again.
For a device with no saved choice, Radar Mouse uses Reverse for a mouse and Natural for a trackpad. Recognition is based on information reported by the device. The same physical device can report a different identity over Bluetooth, a cable, or a receiver, so you may need to set the direction once for each connection method.
You can edit a device again when it is connected. There is no list for configuring disconnected devices and no reset-all control. To change a saved choice, connect the device and choose the other segment.
Know what these controls change
Radar Mouse reverses vertical scrolling. It leaves horizontal scrolling unchanged and does not offer controls for scroll speed, sensitivity, acceleration, buttons, or gestures. The direction is a device choice rather than a setting for one particular app.
For continuous scrolling, such as a trackpad or Magic Mouse, Radar Mouse also reverses the vertical value used for momentum. There is no separate smooth-scrolling or momentum switch in Radar Mouse. If scrolling stops abruptly, include the device, connection method, and affected app in your support report.
To make every connected device follow the current macOS direction, choose Natural on all of them. To stop reversal temporarily without changing saved choices, quit Radar Mouse.