Today I learned about a touchpad tip that I think every Windows laptop user should know. Microsoft shared it as its Friday Windows tip of the day, and it’s all about scrolling.
If you read long documents, browse webpages, or write code on a Windows laptop, you know the drill. You swipe, lift your fingers, and swipe again until you reach the part you need. Microsoft has three touchpad features that cut down on all that swiping.
So, what changes when you scroll?
The first one is accelerated scrolling. You can quickly swipe on a page to activate it, and it will scroll through the page faster than your normal scroll. macOS has had this feature for a long time, and I am happy that Windows users will finally get to enjoy it too. This one is already live.
Next is edge scrolling, and it’s the one I’m most excited about. Once your fingers reach the edge of the touchpad, the page keeps moving, so you don’t have to keep repositioning them. It’s similar to what happens when you keep holding the scrollbar on a web page or PDF. But now you can directly do it from the trackpad.
The last one is single-finger scrolling, which lets you scroll with one finger instead of two. Microsoft says it’s there for anyone who finds that more comfortable.
Can you use all three right now?
Only accelerated scrolling is available right now. Edge scrolling and single-finger scrolling are coming to Windows Insiders next week. Microsoft also says its human factors research went into fine-tuning all three, which gives me hope they will feel natural from day one.
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