If you just switched to a Mac from Windows, or plugged in a mouse and the page suddenly runs the wrong way, you are not imagining it. macOS ships with Natural Scrolling turned on, which moves the page the same direction as your fingers, the way a phone does. That feels backwards to anyone used to a traditional mouse wheel. The good news: it is a one-click setting, and you can reverse it in seconds.
The quick answer
Open System Settings > Trackpad > Scroll & Zoom and uncheck Natural scrolling. That flips the trackpad to the classic direction (drag up to scroll up). If you use a mouse, that toggle lives in a completely separate place, under System Settings > Mouse, and it has its own Natural scrolling checkbox. You have to change each device on its own.
Reverse scroll direction on the trackpad
- Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner, then System Settings (on macOS Monterey and older it is called System Preferences).
- In the sidebar, click Trackpad.
- Open the Scroll & Zoom tab.
- Turn Natural scrolling off. The change is instant, so scroll a window while you toggle it and pick whichever direction feels right.
With Natural scrolling off, sliding two fingers down moves the page down, exactly like a mouse wheel on a PC.
Reverse scroll direction on a mouse
This is the part that trips people up. macOS treats the trackpad and the mouse as two different devices, and changing one does not change the other.
- Open System Settings from the Apple menu.
- Click Mouse in the sidebar. (This entry only appears when a mouse is connected.)
- Find the Natural scrolling checkbox and turn it off.
If you use both a trackpad and a mouse, you may actually want them set differently, and macOS lets you do that because the toggles are independent.
Why does macOS call it Natural Scrolling?
Apple borrowed the behavior from the iPhone and iPad, where you push content directly with your finger. On a touchscreen that genuinely feels natural. On a laptop trackpad or a mouse wheel, most long-time computer users learned the opposite convention, which is why it feels reversed. There is no right answer here, only what your hands are used to. Turning the setting off simply restores the pre-2011 Mac behavior that matches Windows.
The setting will not stick, or it keeps flipping back
- Check you changed the right device. Nine times out of ten the trackpad got flipped but the mouse did not (or the reverse). Set both.
- Restart if a toggle looks stuck. A quick reboot clears the rare case where the checkbox reverts after sleep.
- Third-party mouse software can override it. Logitech Options, Razer Synapse, and similar utilities have their own scroll-direction setting that can fight the macOS one. Change it in that app instead, or quit the app.
Frequently asked questions
Does turning off Natural Scrolling affect both the trackpad and the mouse?
No. Each device has its own Natural scrolling toggle, in Trackpad and in Mouse respectively. Turning one off leaves the other unchanged.
Where is scroll direction on older macOS versions?
On macOS Monterey and earlier it is under System Preferences > Trackpad > Scroll & Zoom (or System Preferences > Mouse). The wording is identical, only the app name changed to System Settings in macOS Ventura.
Can I reverse scrolling for the mouse but keep it natural on the trackpad?
Yes. Because the two toggles are independent, you can set the trackpad and the mouse to opposite directions if that is what feels best.
My scroll direction is fine, but scrolling is too fast or too slow. Where is that?
Scrolling speed is a separate control from scrolling direction. Look under Accessibility > Pointer Control > Trackpad Options / Mouse Options for the scrolling-speed slider.
If your scroll issue is not a setting at all, and the trackpad is physically not registering swipes, that is a hardware problem worth checking against our guides on a MacBook trackpad that will not work. And if you are shopping for a clean, reliable Mac to switch to, our Apple clearance deals are the cheapest way in.