Disable Zoom On Dell Touchpad, Modify Dell Touchhpad Settings
Posted by alex in Insights at 7:19 PMI have been fairly impressed with Windows 7 and my new Dell laptop. One of the items that had been getting on my nerves was the fact that I would randomly zoom in or zoom out of various screens I was on specifically when using a web browser. This is done by pinching two fingers together on the Dell touchpad and while I was not doing this on purpose the way I use the touchpad must simulate this pinch an awful lot. Follow the directions below to disable the pinch zoom for your Dell touchpad on a computer running Windows 7 or Windows Vista.
Disable Dell Touchpad Zoom:
- Windows 7 Control Panel: Launch the Windows 7 Control Panel by clicking the Start button and selecting Control Panel from the pop up navigation menu as displayed in the below image.
- Windows 7 Hardware & Sound: Once the Control Panel is open click on the “Hardware and Sound” title to display the Windows 7 “Hardware and Sound” Control Panel which is displayed in the below image.
- Open Mouse Properties: Now click Mouse which is underneath the first section titled Devices and Printers. Clicking on Mouse will display the Mouse Properties configuration window which is displayed in the below image.
- Dell Touchpad Properties: Make sure that the Mouse Properties configuration window has the Dell Touchpad tab active and then click in the middle of the touchpad icon to display the Dell Touchpad configuration window as displayed below.
- Touchpad Gestures Settings: Now from the Dell Touchpad configuration window click on the Gestures Settings link in the right column to open the Gestures configuration, which will allow you to enable to disable being able to zoom from the touchpad, as displayed in the below image.
- Disable Dell Touchpad Zoom: Remove the check from the Enable option near the top left of the Gestures configuration window as displayed in the below image. This will disable the zoom functionality from happening when you pinch two fingers together on the Dell Touchpad.
Once you have removed the check from the Enable option click the Apply button in the lower right corner to save the new Dell touchpad settings.
- Verify Touchpad Zoom Disabled: Close all of the remaining configuration windows that are open and test to make sure that the zoom feature has been disabled. This can be done by using two fingers on the touchpad and either spreading them apart or bringing them closer together which if zoom was enabled would either zoom in or out of the current window.
Some keyboard, mousepad, or touchpad shortcuts are great however in the end I want my touchpad to function as a touchpad and not as a keyboard so disabling the zoom on the Dell touchpad has made life much easier for me.
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Entries (RSS)
THANK YOU. This was driving me bonkers.
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alex Reply:
January 18th, 2010 at 12:35 PM
Hello Sydney,
No problem. I was zooming all the time without meaning too so figured someone else has to be running into the same Zoom in/Zoom out issue. :) Thanks for leaving feedback.
Thanks.
alex
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Thank you SO MUCH for posting this info! I got a new laptop for Christmas and this zoom feature was infuriating me constantly! I tried several times to find a way to shut it off but failed. It was driving me crazy! This simple solution fixed it and now I can surf in a calm peaceful manner instead of a near-murderous rage! Yay!!!
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alex Reply:
January 19th, 2010 at 5:53 PM
Hello Pat,
No problem. Thanks for leaving feedback. Isn’t it nice to have your touchpad just be a touchpad!
Thanks.
alex
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I was also driven bonkers by the pinch feature. I googled extensively and found a lot of vague and wrong solutions until I found your post. THANKS!!!
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alex Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 4:36 PM
Hello Ellen,
No problem. Glad to hear that the touchpad on your Dell is not driving you bonkers anymore! I felt the same way until I turned off the Dell Touchpad Zoom feature!
Thanks.
alex
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Thank you!!!!!
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alex Reply:
April 12th, 2010 at 11:01 AM
Hello CJ,
Somehow I missed this comment when it was originally posted. Regardless I wanted to say thanks for taking the time to leave feedback.
Thanks.
alex
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Finally – I can now use my computer! I was ready to throw it out the window. Dell support is the WORST! I’m so glad to have found this post.
Thank you!
j
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alex Reply:
April 12th, 2010 at 11:00 AM
Hello John,
Yeah unless you have business support with Dell it can be not so great sometimes. Glad to hear you were able to resolve your issue. Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback.
Thanks.
alex
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Thank You! me and my sister both have dell laptops and we noticed how it does that we thought there was something wrong with our computers but now i know thats not the case and “now I can surf in a calm peaceful manner instead of a near-murderous rage! Yay!!!”
yay for quoting!
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alex Reply:
May 4th, 2010 at 10:07 PM
Hello Cassie,
We could not agree more. It is really annoying how it works by default. We are glad to know that you found the article useful. Thank you for taking the time to leave feedback.
Thanks.
alex
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cheers mate
Great advice shouldnt be a default setting, i wonder if dell have any idea how annoying it is.
Thanks again great advice
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alex Reply:
June 3rd, 2010 at 1:45 PM
Hello Darragh,
No telling. I assume they feel that it is a future that people like which is why it exists in the first place but hey what do I know. :) Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback.
Thanks.
alex
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Just wanted to share my thanks for this. My 6 year old constantly touches two or more fingers on the touch pad and is constantly changing the size and he gets fustrated and I get fustrated because I have to fix it. Thank you Thank you.
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alex Reply:
May 30th, 2010 at 6:05 PM
Hello Juanita,
No problem at all. it is always nice to hear that the articles we post help people out. Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback.
Thanks.
alex
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My Dell Touchpad tab is not there
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alex Reply:
June 17th, 2010 at 12:31 PM
Hello Jack,
Could you describe a bit more of what is there and possibly post a screenshot? It appears the article solution is working for others.
Thanks.
alex
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how can i keep this permanent so i don’t have to go to the dell touchpad program every time i turn on my computer? i disable it and click apply but the next time i restart i have to do it again.
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alex Reply:
July 18th, 2010 at 11:25 AM
Hello sherri,
By following the directions in the article the changes are permanent. Hope that helps.
Thanks.
alex
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Hi, when I go to the mouse option within my control panel I don’t see the dell touchpad tab. the first tab I see is “buttons”. please help as this zoom is driving me crazy!!!
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alex Reply:
July 18th, 2010 at 5:22 PM
Hello john,
What operating system specifically? Is it Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP?
Thanks.
alex
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Hi,
I am using Windows 7.
Thanks,
John.
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alex Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 9:50 AM
Hello John,
And you are using a Dell computer? What model?
Thanks.
alex
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Hi,
I@m using a Dell 11z that I just got yesterday…
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alex Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 9:56 AM
Hello John,
And when you go to Control Panel and click on Mouse there is not a tab to the left of Buttons? What type of touchpad does it have installed?
Thanks.
alex
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Hi,
I don’t have the notebook in front of me at the moment, I’ll have to send you an update later.
I do know that when I click on the mouse, I do see 4 tabes along the top. The first one is “Button”. I look through all tabs but couldn’t find anything obvious. I don’t know what type of touchpad the 11z has…
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alex Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 10:05 AM
Hello John,
I would search your computer for DellTPad.exe to see if you can simply launch the touchpad controls from the executable itself. If that isn’t on your computer then it is configured differently for you.
Thanks.
alex
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john Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 1:36 PM
can’t find any such file on this file sysatem. thanks for your help anyway…
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alex Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 1:41 PM
Hello john,
Looks like the Dell 11Z touchpad has been a problem for many people. Try going to the Dell support site and downloading the latest/greatest drivers for the touchpad on your system. Even if you already have them… reinstall them and try the article instructions above.
Thanks.
alex
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thanks, looks like I should have read the reviews before I bought! This is a nightmare…Will try the support site. Thanks for all your help…
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alex Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 1:57 PM
Hello john,
No problem at all. Hope it works out. Let us know what the resolution ends up being…
Thanks.
alex
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Hi Alex,
I found a download fron the Dell site called “Synaptics Synaptics TouchPad”. This was a recommended dowload that I found for this issue………
I will see how this goes……
At times you may want to disable the notebook touchpad, whether is hard to use or you always use an external mouse (make sure to have an external mouse connected and working before starting this process).
1. Make sure the latest driver for the touchpad is installed (you may need to use an external USB or Bluetooth mouse), for more information refer to
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alex Reply:
July 20th, 2010 at 6:22 AM
Hello John,
That is the correct download. Good luck.
Thanks.
alex
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Thanks for the article, the pinch and zoom sounded like a great idea, but tis bloody annoying in Dell’s implementation.
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alex Reply:
December 9th, 2010 at 11:44 AM
Hello scottyab,
No problem. No kidding about the pinch and zoom. When it was enabled I always found myself zoomed in to like half a sentence on a web page and then all mad I had to figure how to zoom back out. :)
Thanks.
alex
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Hey author of this article,i have been pulling my hair out for the past 2 weeks since I got my new Asus netbook and it has a synaptics mouse. Everywhere i looked had instructions that did not work, but for some reason your Dell instructions worked :) thank you sooo much i appreciate your help… i finally wont go insane when using my mouse., again thanks
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alex Reply:
January 2nd, 2011 at 4:30 PM
Hello MeAsIam,
No problem! Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback. Could you reply with the model number of your Asus that this article helped resolve the synaptics mouse issue? Then hopefully others looking for a resolution to the same model Asus Netbook may be able to find it quicker.
We are also glad to hear that you are done pulling out your hair and won’t be going insane any time soon. :)
Thanks.
alex
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hi…. m using DELL inspiron 15R . I tried your advise on pinch zoom. But every time I try 2 access mouse property it says “unable 2 connecting with synaptic pointing device.”
Here is the image so pls help me
Iwant to start “PINCH ZOOM” on touch pad
i53.tinypic.com/2wmqcnp.jpg
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alex Reply:
January 18th, 2011 at 10:40 AM
Hello prash,
It means that you either do not have a synaptics pointing device installed or you have the wrong driver for your synaptics touchpad installed. I would go to dell.com, login, download the correct touchpad drivers, and install them. That should resolve the problem above for you.
Thanks.
alex
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prash Reply:
January 18th, 2011 at 11:06 AM
ok thnx I will try and then I will tell you.
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alex Reply:
January 18th, 2011 at 11:42 AM
Hello prash,
Sounds good. Will be curious to know if that works.
Thanks.
alex
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prash Reply:
January 24th, 2011 at 8:47 AM
Thanks buddy………. I uninstalled and Install the synaptic driver again…..
so now problem is solved……..
thnx budddy thnx a lot…..
[Reply]
alex Reply:
January 24th, 2011 at 9:19 AM
Hello prash,
No problem at all man! Glad you got it fixed. Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback.
Thanks.
alex
Thank you so much! I had tried a bunch of things but had never discovered this fix- so happy to restore *normal*!!
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alex Reply:
January 20th, 2011 at 4:29 PM
Hello Diana,
No problem. Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback.
Thanks.
alex
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Dell Latitude E5510
Thanks for this thread. I have been driven mad with touchpad setting (and missing tab in the mouse window of control panel). Finally found the software after searching hard drive. It was here:-
c:\program files\DellTPad\DellTPad.exe
David
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alex Reply:
February 5th, 2011 at 4:18 PM
Hello David,
No problem. Thanks for taking the time to post this information which others will definitely find useful!
Thanks.
alex
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Alex. I think I love you. And Google for leading me to a solution to the most annoying laptop problem ever! THANK YOU!
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alex Reply:
August 26th, 2011 at 6:33 PM
Hello joni,
Awww… thanks. Glad I could help out. :)
Thanks.
alex
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i was on the verge of seeking microsoft support. I couldn’t get my mouse to do anything, and the screen size keep increasing or decreasing. MADDENING!
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alex Reply:
November 6th, 2011 at 2:48 PM
Hello sara,
Glad to hear you got it resolved. Thanks for posting feedback.
Thanks.
alex
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Thank you, thank you! I knew this was some setting but could not find it! I was getting very annoyed with the random zooming in/out. Problem solved. :)
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alex Reply:
July 12th, 2012 at 9:58 PM
Hello Krystle,
No problem. Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback.
Thanks.
alex
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as everyone said thanks very much for this advice i thought it was a fualt on my brand new dell so you saved me getting a red face when speaking to dell , v v v annoying settings on the mouse zooming in and out when not needed
apart from that love my dell
again thanks very much
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What a fantastic post – thank you for fixing an incredibly annoying error in my dell mousepad.
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