How to reset trackpad settings of a Macbook Pro?

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Is there any way to reset the trackpad settings (tracking speed, scrolling speed, etc) of a Macbook Pro laptop back to "factory default"?

Pacerier

Posted 2011-04-29T08:50:13.600

Reputation: 22 232

Answers

8

There are two methods:

Default settings

These are the default settings on my Macbook Pro (early 2011), note that for example "Tap to Click" and the "Secondary Click" are deactivated by default.

enter image description here

Resetting tracking speed

Go to the Terminal.app and enter:

defaults delete .GlobalPreferences com.apple.trackpad.scaling
defaults delete .GlobalPreferences com.apple.trackpad.scrolling

There might be some additional settings, like the double-click speed, but those are not saved in this file, so I can't really say where you would edit them, if not through System Preferences.

Doing this automatically

Go to the Terminal.app and enter:

touch reset.sh
chmod +x reset.sh
open reset.sh

Then paste the following into the file:

#!/bin/bash
defaults delete .GlobalPreferences com.apple.trackpad.scaling
defaults delete .GlobalPreferences com.apple.trackpad.scrolling

Save it and close the file. Now you can run the script using

./reset.sh

slhck

Posted 2011-04-29T08:50:13.600

Reputation: 182 472

@Pacerier I edited my post above. Maybe that helps! – slhck – 2011-04-29T10:06:58.323

@Pacerier Try using "defaults delete .GlobalPreferences .com.apple.trackpad.scaling" (+ the other one) instead. These should reset to the default values instead of explicitly setting to vaues that happen to be the same as the defaults. – Daniel Beck – 2011-04-29T10:08:40.973

@Daniel Yes, that seems more appropriate, I'll change it. – slhck – 2011-04-29T10:09:28.150

I hope you tested those, as I'm not currently on a Mac ;) – Daniel Beck – 2011-04-29T10:42:53.610

@Daniel Yes, it works! ;) – slhck – 2011-04-29T10:48:43.433

gosh mac is just complicated.. – Pacerier – 2011-04-29T10:54:04.773

1Haha, for some things, yes, for others, well, it depends :) – slhck – 2011-04-29T10:54:48.580