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I just upgraded from Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 to 16.10 and the window scroll direction (mouse wheel) is reversed. Up is down and down is up. Wonder 1) is this a know issue and 2) is there a way to correct it?

Thanks!

klequis
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2 Answers2

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This is a feature called natural scrolling. It is designed to make scrolling more intuitive when you are scrolling with your finger. Mac OS devices, and the touch screens on smartphones and tablets, scroll this way, but traditional desktops, including MS Windows, scroll the other way.

Ubuntu has been offering natural scrolling for touchpad devices for a while. There is a setting for it:

On some versions this option is instead called "Content sticks to fingers" (this is not very intuitive!):

However, since you are using a mouse and not a trackpad, I'm not 100% sure this setting will work or be available, in which case the detailed response in this question should help.

Community
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thomasrutter
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  • This was and was not the problem. The issue was there right after install and Natural scrolling was off, so I turned it on to see if it helped, but that made no difference. After your post I turned Natural scrolling off (back were it started) and the scroll did change to normal (i.e., what I expected). I'll guess that on initial install the setting was on but this was not picked-up in the UI (Tweak Tool), Turning in on then off again fixed that. I'll mark this as the answer but hopefully folks will read my comment for clarification. – klequis Oct 19 '16 at 01:04
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    For me it went from natural scrolling to the legacy way, and now I have no Touchpad section! :( – nafg Nov 07 '16 at 06:42
  • Not natural to me. – JPi Feb 05 '17 at 19:02
  • Interestingly I have since discovered ... Using VirtualBox I'm using a Ubuntu GNOME as host and guest. Whatever the state of natural scrolling is in the guest (on/off) if you change the natural setting on the host the scroll direction on the guest will change even though its natural scroll setting is not changed. – klequis Apr 14 '17 at 03:58
  • This would be reflective of this being determined at kernel-level, with the mouse driver translating the raw button presses from the mouse into events like "scroll up"/"scroll down" and then this being re-translated back into a virtual mouse device by VirtualBox. – thomasrutter Apr 16 '17 at 10:49
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I use Ubuntu 16.10 with Gnome 3.20.4 and in my version called 'Natural Scrolling'

enter image description here

Elder Geek
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Toni Chaz
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