Multi-Finger Touchpad Gestures

very good
key review info
application features
  • Multiple scroll modes
  • (2 more, see all...)

All laptop touchpads have limited functionality as they are designed as a light replacement for the actual mouse. Two Finger Scroll comes to extend the usability of Synaptics touchpads by enabling two-finger and three-finger gestures.

Some TouchPad drivers sport only one-finger scroll capability, which allows the user to use the touchpad area with one finger only, resulting in more difficult computer handling. However, Two Finger Scroll corrects the problem and adds two-finger scrolling, allowing you to right click by holding one finger on the touchpad and tapping the area with another.

The application is absolutely free of charge and takes a jiffy to download due to its almost 300KB weight. Immediately after “installation” (just double click on it and it will be on the system) you will be asked to restart the system in order to enable multi-finger gestures on the trackpad.

Make sure you move it to a safe place before making any settings because changing its location will wipe all configuration and you’ll have to start anew.

There is no interface available, just a “Settings” panel to customize the triggers for mouse button emulation. General configuration settings allow you to enable Two Finger Scroll to start with Windows (which should be on by default), while the more difficult set up is available under “Scrolling” and “Tapping” tabs.

The only alternative for scrolling type is linear, with the possibility to enable scrolling on edges. If the latter is disabled you will be able to scroll anywhere on the trackpad. Additional settings let you choose the scroll mode from compatible (simulates mouse wheel), smooth (smooth scrolling – some apps may not work in this mode) and smart (uses smooth scrolling by default and you can switch to compatible mode by holding down Shift+Ctrl+Alt).

More configuration in this panel refers to speed and acceleration. Simply drag by a slider to adjust the values to a comfortable level.

“Tapping” screen does not come up with a great number of settings, but it may take you a while to understand how the ones available work. Here you can define the mouse button you want mouse gestures to emulate.

You have “one+one finger” (which means the two fingers involved are apart), “two+one finger” (which means that two of the fingers are glued together while the third one is apart), “two fingers” and “three fingers” (all the fingers are close together).

For each of these options there is a set of buttons you want the gesture to emulate. Thus you can extend the functionality of your laptop’s trackpad beyond vertical and horizontal scrolling or moving around the screen, to actually tapping for a right click menu or to emulate the mouse wheel button.

The distance between the fingers when using multi-finger gestures is not random; you can set it from the “Tapping” panel by adjusting the slider to the desired level. It takes some getting used to, but after a little trial and error you are bound to get things right.

“Tapping” is by far the most important section of the entire application. We had our share of trouble with this one but we managed to perform the gestures so that they are translated into the desired actions by the application.

The maximal finger movement distance is essential for getting all the gestures right. Leave it to the middle of the slidebar and you’ll find that you need to spread the fingers wide apart to get the gesture right. We left it to a low level for maximum comfort on the touchpad.

Although some of the users will find scrolling by dragging the fingers on the middle of the trackpad a great improvement, this feature did not impress us much; this happened mainly because we had vertical and horizontal scroll areas already defined in Synaptics Pointing Device settings.

It is worth mentioning that the developer is already testing the circular scrolling, an option that is currently greyed out in the interface and will be added in one of the future releases. This will detect spiral motion from any direction.

Two Finger Scroll does not work flawlessly with all systems, but on our Compaq 6820s it created no problems except for the fact that it took us a while to get used to the gestures. Trial and error is the key to making it work your way, but we also noticed that adding too many buttons can make things complicated.


The Good

The application is extremely easy to set up and sports indications for the different scroll modes it makes available. Installation requires only restarting the computer for all the driver settings to take effect.

The Bad

In lack of a help file to cover all the settings available in the program the user is left guessing how each of the functions works.

Moving it to a different location erases all the settings and you have to start configuring it all over again.

The Truth

Two Finger Scroll is not perfect and there are definitely plenty of things to fix, but it represents an improvement for the touchpad of many users.

It enables multi-finger gestures on the trackpad to access the right button menu or to scroll by dragging fingers wherever you want on the surface. However, its potential is much greater than the options it currently holds.


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user interface 3
features 4
ease of use 4
pricing / value 4


final rating 4
Editor's review
very good
 
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