Explore trackpad gestures

OS X Lion has a number of new features, but one of the most important is the expanded use of gestures by using the trackpad on Apple laptops or Apple’s Magic Trackpad to control the Mac in a variety of ways

 

Configure Apple's magic trackpad

  • On the Menu Bar, click Apple menu > click System Preferences


  • In the System Preferences window, under Hardware section, click Trackpad


  • In the Trackpad window, do the following:

    • Select Point & Click tab to set up any desired option

    • Select Scroll & Zoom tab to turn on/off Scroll direction: natural option if desired

      • In previous OS X versions, when you scrolled a page would move in a certain direction. However, Apple has changed the setting of this option by reserving the direction in OS X Lion. Therefore, when you scroll, the page moves in the opposite direction that it used to.

    • Select More Gestures tab to select additional desired options such as App Exposé


  • To apply different gestures to available actions, look for any gestures that have a triangle next to them > click on the triangle to select alternative gestures that you can apply

 

 

Use trackpad gestures

One-finger gesture

To highlight/select an object, (e.g. Macintosh hard drive alias on the desktop) click once

Two-fingers gestures

  • To pull up an contextual menu (shortcut menu), tap with two fingers (it works on the Desktop as well as within applications)

  • To zoom in on a page in a compatible application (such as Safari, Preview, or iPhoto) stretch two fingers.

  • To zoom out on a page in a compatible application, pinch two fingers

  • To use Smart zoom feature, tap with two fingers in a column of text to zoom it out or to bring back to the normal view

  • To rotate images in iPhoto by using the rotate gesture, turn two fingers as if you are turning a knob

  • To scroll a document page, swipe two fingers up or down

  • To move forward or backward a webpage, swipe two fingers left or right

  • To move through different documents within Quick Look, swipe two fingers

    • Select files you want to open > press Spacebar or cmd + y to open them in Quick Look


Three-fingers gestures

  • To move a window on the desktop, move the cursor to the top of the window > drag three fingers

  • To drag other objects around, for example out of a window and onto the Mac’s desktop, select object(s) > drag three fingers

  • To highlight text in the document, drag three fingers

  • To define a word in a document or on a webpage, move the cursor to the word you want to define > double-tap with three fingers. The selected word is highlighted in yellow with the Dictionary definition as well as thesaurus entries

Four-fingers gestures

  • To switch between working environments or Dashboard, swipe four fingers to the left or to the right

  • To flip between multiple workspaces, swipe up four finger to enter to Mission Control or swipe down to leave Mission Control

  • To show Launchpad, pinch your thumb and three fingers

  • To exit Launchpad or show Desktop, spread your thumb and three fingers