Looking for help adjusting trackpad scroll speed on Ubuntu

Framework Laptop 13
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Continuing the discussion from Looking for help adjusting trackpad scroll speed on Ubuntu:

This worked! I was only having the issue with Firefox, so I’m glad I didn’t try altering any config files and only edited the about:config. Thank you for finding this. Oh, and I’m not on a framework (yet), but I keep an eye on the forum for when I do finally get my batch 5. For anyone wondering; I’m running Fedora 34 on a Macbook Air 2013.

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worked for me too, thank you!

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This worked for me. Scrolling in Firefox is now more reasonable, though it would be better if easily configurable in gnome

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This worked for me even though I’m using xorg on Ubuntu 20.04.

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This made a big difference for me in Firefox on Fedora 35. Although I still wish it was more configurable from an OS perspective.

Thanks!

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I will note here that sway exposes the scroll_factor property available in libinput, which should do what you want (system-wide).

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This worked for me with Sway on Arch Linux. Thanks!

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I’ve tried this same fix but it only seems to work for certain apps. Scrolling in Firefox works great now, but scrolling in the “Files” app and others does not. I’m guessing that this is based on how the apps are made, but still frustrating to never know if your scrolling will work or not.

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Hey, Gnome has this issue specially with firefox.
One way you can limit the speed is by lowering the value of the variable mousewheel.default.delta_multiplier_y on about:config

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This is still relevant in Ubuntu 22.04. Firefox was a pain to use without this fix. Thanks Michael

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This worked for me:

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Hello, I use fedora and I also have the problem with trackpad scroll speed, but just on firefox. Your setting I good enough for me, but i hope it will get fiexed soon

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Trackpad completely stops working in Ubuntu LTS 24.04 if you install this. Removing it again fixes the problem. Just use the instructions for Firefox and pray it gets fixed in the future for everything else.

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Hi all,

I’m Daniel_Grasso. Since there still isn’t an official, user-facing way to tune touchpad scroll/gesture sensitivity on GNOME Wayland, I’ve been working on a small tool as a stop-gap while upstream solutions mature.

It’s called Wayland Scroll Factor (WSF). It’s still in testing, but it lets you accurately control touchpad gesture feel, including:

  • two-finger scroll speed (with separate control for vertical and horizontal scrolling),

  • pinch/zoom sensitivity (useful for maps/photos).

Here the repo:

Install is a one-liner:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/daniel-g-carrasco/wayland-scroll-factor/main/scripts/bootstrap.sh | bash

The script attempts to:

  • install dependencies via your distro package manager,

  • clone the repo,

  • run the user install.

Why WSF vs libinput-config (in short):

  • Per-user & reversible: uses ~/.config and ~/.local (no /etc/ld.so.preload). Uninstall is just removing a few files.

  • Controlled scope: the preload library is active only in gnome-shell, so it won’t affect unrelated processes.

  • Touchpad-only: filters the axis source to avoid “breaking” mouse wheel scrolling.

  • Modern compatibility: hooks current libinput functions and handles missing symbols gracefully (no crashes).

  • Clear config + diagnostics: CLI + wsf doctor + optional logging, so it’s easy to verify what’s active.

If anyone wants to try it and report back (distro + GNOME version + whether it improved scroll/zoom feel), that would help a lot. And of course I still hope Framework/GNOME can land an official solution upstream.

Thanks,
Daniel

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Just letting you know this is working great on two different setups running: Zorin OS, NOME Shell 46.0.

I needed to adjust both vertical scroll and pinch zoom, and this tool fixed both issues, on both of my old macbooks.

1 Like