How to properly use the new Lenovo touchpads/trackpads

I had a lot of trouble using the touchpad on my new Lenovo Thinkpad T540p, so much so that I was thinking of returning the device. Then I realized Lenovo's new touchpads require a different style of use than what we're accustomed to. After changing how I used the touchpad, I've had a much more enjoyable experience!
Note: You can alter a lot of the settings for your touchpad by going to Control Panel -- Mouse and then look for the touchpad tab (might be labeled as "Synaptics", the company which makes many of the touchpads out there).
Let me know if you have any questions or problems!

[@ahmedbrown7569]

If you want to jump straight to the solution, go to 3:54. Sorry, it was an unplanned and off-the-cuff video, so it wound up being too long. Thank you for all the kind comments over the years!

[@YourRentsDueMF]

came here to say just that lol and thanks ! much help! i don't know WHY i didn't do this years ago...

[@rayhatron]

You would be surprised by how often i kept saying "WOW!, really... That's awesome." You're a life saver man.

[@nohaoda3384]

Rufaro Madamombe i never thought there was a middle button in the middle of a touchpad like a mouse

[@clauderobotham6261]

Very good information. I was having trouble adapting. Discovered tapping on my own, by accident. But I'd never have learned about the two-finger features without your video, and they are very useful. Kudos, Ahmed, and thanks!

[@kaunas163]

THANK YOU! I finally learned how to right click, I was searching for it alot

[@OliverLMinecraftMachine]

I hope ur joking

[@puturere]

@@OliverLMinecraftMachine he’s not joking

[@omogenaija1]

4 years later and I find this still valuable. I bought an ideaPad L340 and didn't know what to do. Thank you

[@mico_lodeon9116]

I used to use a lenovo thinkpad with separate clickers from the trackpad. I just had been issued with new one without the clickers and I was really having a hard time figuring out. With this video, I now know how to use it properly. Thank you very much!

[@tanaats]

This has changed my life. Thanks!

[@xXavikingXx]

Thank you very much for making this video. It has transformed my opinion of my y50 and it was so simple.

[@ahmedbrown7569]

+xXavikingXx No problem. Makes me very happy that this spur of the moment video wound up helping so many people! :)

[@jeremysnowdenz]

Very intuitive. I've been using Thinkpads for years [most recent purchase T-450], and didn't know that using the mouse pad could be improved. Thanks for sharing.

[@lolalou4403]

Thank you so much! I have been using it wrong this whole time...very helpful!

[@katieharris412]

Thank you. I have had a touchpad for 4 years & never knew how to use it. Your information was very helpful.

[@adrianfox9099]

Fantastically helpful! I was just very disappointed having bought a new (second hand) x240 but your video transforms my ability to use the touchpad. I am now a very happy new owner of this great laptop. :)

[@kyllikoppo]

Thank you, I almost returned my new laptop. After watching your video, life's not that bad after all :)

[@ahmedbrown7569]

I love these messages! So glad the little time I took to make this spontaneous video has wound up helping so many folks :)

[@Connor_Dempsey]

Great video. It inspired and prompted me to review and use my track pad settings and gestures.

[@StevenCopley]

Just what I needed to know, thanks!

[@Bill-wp4tw]

Thank you, that was exactly what I needed.

[@herrbartels]

thx mna. exactly what I needed. Still not fully convinced though and thinking about doing a retrofit with a 3-button-touchpad revision: after a few weeks of using the trackpad, I must admit that this video helped me a lot and changed my opinion. even though it is different to use and also kinda feels different, it has its advantages once you get used to it. it has a touch and feel of modern touchscreens and thus may have been ahead of its time even. but still, you habe to get used to it first. however, it is worth, though, giving it a try.

[@sahiluppal1]

Thanks man.. it drained all my frustration i had until now with this touch pad. Great video.

[@laurenholm8221]

Thank you so much this was extremely helpful. I was so frustrated and now I know how to use it properly.

[@FeoshiaHDavis]

OMG THANK YOU. I was about to go crazy.

[@abinandhkb]

This was so good! I was so frustrated with a new haptic feedback touchpad on the Lenovo Yoga 9i. This totally helped me out, thanks!

[@microraptorguy1387]

Thank you so much for this useful and educational video! I never used my thumb when using this touchpad (and i do this with all my touchpads) but because i started using Lenovo Thinkpad for the first time, i was still wondering how to properly figure out the correct mechanism of this big cool giant button^^ I learned something new, thank you! 👍

[@FenixQubes]

Thank you, even though I have no Lenovo laptop, this trick seems to work on many recent devices (tried it with some Dells). This makes using a touchpad much easier :D

[@jeepee2]

Can't thank you enough for this vid! I just bought an old Thinkpad Yoga S1 and I'm starting to enjoy the touchpad now.

[@bland450]

Amazing been struggling with this for ages!👍👍

[@novak4142]

I have recently started to use Lenovo thinkpad x240, and this video helps me a lot. Thank you very much!

[@expatusa6002]

Excellent tutorial. This has really helped me. Thank you so much !

[@Speed835]

Thank you very much. This helped much. Long time I was thinking this touchpad must be defect or what, when the right-clicking was terrible by clicking to the bottom-right corner, time-to-time it was really terrible and not working. I did not know that it was needed to click anywhere just using two fingers! You saved my day, thanks a lot.

[@Connor_Dempsey]

Thanks brother. This video is a life saver. That touch pad was driving me nuts.

[@tawannabrown12]

On the Lenovo laptop how do you drag and make the screen bigger not maximize with the top right buttons but click and drag if that makes sense. I have someone who is having a hard time with this and getting so very frustrated.

[@mehaffey5]

Thank you, very informative. Have been so frustrated with these and hated using them, but now finally understand how they work. Surprised how difficult it was to find this information before stumbling upon your video.

[@A._.A._.]

Man thanks so much, not sure why people would downvote this, it's a very helpful video. (I've been suffering for days after going from X201 to X230 and this solved this and even tought me tricks to work faster)

[@vXvMaNiKvXv]

thanks, was having trouble scrolling. I appreciate the help my man!

[@JohnnyWalkerKat]

Its an extremely old video but i took a x1 carbon 2nd gen from a friend and where even im trying to move the cursor with the touchpad it click&drag it doesn't move the cursor only.

[@bsgbutube]

Thank you. this is really informative. I have been having some issues in using but could notice that it behaves in some pattern. So, thought there should be a way of using this pad. I found this video and understood now how to use seamlessly.

[@atteljas]

Great info here! Humble thanks!

[@YogeshGosavi]

much problematic on windows 10 as lenovo has elan and synaptics both combined drivers i am facing an issue with official drivers too either touchpad physical buttons works or geastures work if i install elan drivers geastures work but physical buttons doesn't work and if i install synaptics drivers physical buttons works tried contacting lenvoo too but still no solution for this

[@bonnieraekonjevich2776]

My new Lenovo was challenging. Digits one or two? on a first time touch pad, HUH? Excellent demo of mouse-less mode saved me $+Deskspace... YOU ROCK!

[@wolfbenson]

you have no idea much frustration you saved me!!!! Thanks!

[@mkdrelax3776]

This video was very helpful, thank you so much. I could not stop my self from liking it.

[@ankitk22]

Hey Ahmed thanks for the video...it was really helpful 🙂

[@AnilKumar-hs6wc]

really liked the video. very helpful.its been few weeks that i bought my t450p and struggling to figure out how to use the new mousepad. Also, it can be helpful if you add content for selecting the text using the index finger.

[@gregorybach223]

Awesome video dude thanks. So helpful.

[@Broekh01]

Thank you so much. I just bbought a second hand lenovo touchpad and it drove me crazy. But not anymore!

[@Pellepastor]

Great video mate. Now I´m starting to like my trackpad on my w540.

[@JT-qr6pe]

Awesome thank you!!! Addressed EVERYTHING I was doing wrong and my mindset.

[@ramonagaibor1898]

thank you, I just got this yoga 710, you provided the basic information that I needed may God bless!

[@laggaming6776]

Thanks man you helped me with my new Lenovo laptop Thank you very much :)

[@lcarr-dx2ki]

Very helpful, thankyou!

[@mister-Kayne]

I still think that having two physical buttons for the left and right click is simpler and more tactile especially for those with a print disability surely Accessibility is out of the window with such a device. Thank you for your video and instructions will try to simulate the right click by pressing to finger on the touch button Hopefully it should get the context menu app where I can choose options like open, open with, send to etc.

[@elizabethevans3220]

Thank you so much as I now understand. I had been using a mac so was used to a light click, but everytime I double clicked strange things would happen. I think the light tap or double tap is the way to go. Excellent video!

[@ahmedbrown7569]

+Elizabeth Evans No problem!

[@DomKirby]

The TrackPoint without physical buttons was a disaster. Glad the buttons are back.

[@sum1anywhere]

The problem however is again the page scrolling up or down as I press with two fingers to right click because the two fingers swipe is used for scrolling and sometimes it misunderstands that.

[@PeterAbt]

wooow thanks that trick with two fingers for right click is awesome! thank you!

[@deepakcsjm]

thank you for explaining it, to my surprise I was not aware of it at all using my lenovo thinkpad which is touchpad sensitive :-)

[@jalisconahuatl7808]

thank God for your video, day 2 to figure this out. thanx

[@kmt1838]

This helps a lot. Thanks man

[@bpkengor]

As others have said, this is a great video. I was forced to switch to a touchpad-only device and it was driving me batty! I found out that turning off the tap-to-click feature was the key for me. even with keeping my thumb away from the touchpad, I still found my palm inadvertently 'tapping' something. all that said, I would still go back to a Trackpoint if I had the chance!

[@puresignswholesale7593]

I have the Lenovo ideapad. Thank you for making this video. It helped a lot. I was so frustrated with the courser jumping. One thing I did realize is that the taping to click does not work for the right click when tapping with two fingers. It only works when clicking firmly down to get that click while using two fingers to get the right click options. Thanks again!

[@ahmedbrown7569]

+Leo olmedo Not a problem!

[@sahayanoel9516]

you might wanna try this :- going to mouse properties in control panel clicking on advanced go to the click tab and check the "tap with two fingers for right click" option

[@joancronson807]

Thanks it helped a Lot! And now seems simpler to do.

[@ahmedbrown7569]

Joan Cronson Glad it helped!

[@CVSRSandeep]

thanks man... very very useful video....

[@sebastianheese803]

Had the same issues with new Trackpads. I used to rest my thumb still where the button was supposed to be, but streched it a bit further down, and rested the thumb on the front frame. Thus i can really "rest" my hand on the table/laptop and not hovering my hand above.

[@doonguitarlessons]

How to install f1 key when its clip is a bit different from the rest of the keys?

[@roya75]

Awsome. u saved me the task of replacing the trackpad

[@soumithpenchikala6354]

Excellent' thank u bro u r helping to some of unlearned people definitely it will help to them and same situation faced of upcoming people and dont think about u r haters and once again thanku sir"...

[@igpeev]

Thank you. Is there a smarter way to left-mouse-button-down + mouse-move (resulting in selection of a text for example) than peeling the skin off your fingers while dragging them over the pressed mousepad ?

[@sahayanoel9516]

do a double tap but during the second tap do not take off your fingers start selecting the text when you want to end it take your finger from the touchpad

[@bbishoppcm]

Lenovo has since realized they're alienating the die-hard Thinkpad market (they're losing sales) with this new trackpad. They're changing the design to something similar to the previous generation. Thank god!

[@ahmedbrown7569]

Glad to hear they're bringing the buttons back. Any idea if there will be physical buttons for both the trackpad and trackpoint? Or are they just planning to bring one set back?

[@Soccercrazyigboman]

BBISHOPPCM's World Maybe its because I am not from the old Lenovo market but I really like the new trackpad. Its just tap for me. one finger, two finger, three finger for left, right and middle click and it can happen anywhere on the giant pad. It works even better for me than a macbook's. I never got the outrage over the lack of physical buttons

[@ShadowsThe1]

Soccercrazyigboman i hate new touchpad because it's not steady. It feels "weak" and you have to be very cerful or whole touchpad will move around. They did bring back trackpoint buttons on x41 and x50 series, but touchpad is still moving down if u put pressure on it. On older models, all nice touchpad features and tricks work, but feel is more "premium" and touchpad does not move around all the time. even on T500,T400 series you can put newer synaptics driver to gain more features.

[@Soccercrazyigboman]

ShadowsThe1 I finally got a Lenovo T430 for work and Jesus the trackpad sucks compared to the Thinkpad Yoga 2013 version which had the giant Macbook like Pad. Is that really what you guys liked? That small pad with small annoying buttons? I am trying to get used to it but I quit after a day and started using the a MOUSE. I have never had to use a mouse with my Yoga. I love the keyboard on the 430, especially the media keys but the trackpad sucks. The clitmouse is better on the T430 though without a doubt,

[@ShadowsThe1]

Soccercrazyigboman size may be issue, but i use high sensitivity so small size does not matter. And if T530 has small touchpad you need try t61 series :D

[@wdbisl]

Omg thank you I didn't realize there was a left and right click on the touch pad. My last laptop was years ago and it had physical buttons.

[@KevinGaupholm]

I would have never guessed a two finger click was a right click. Very helpful!

[@mr.ssergeev]

Wow, that's what all the fuss is about?! As you said, that's how a Mac touchpad works. I'm considering buying a used ThinkPad and see everyone complaining at T440(s)'s touchpad. After this video I'd say I'm more inclined to get a 440s. IIRC Original ThinkPad X1 had a similar touchpad, loved it! Thanks for posting this!

[@ahmedbrown7569]

You're welcome! Well the things is that the Mac touchpads are far more well-designed (I've owned three Mac laptops in the past). Example: if your thumb is resting on a Mac touchpad and you're using your index finger for navigation, it's unlikely to interpret your movements as wanting to zoom in/out. On my ThinkPad, it's very prone to interpreting a resting thumb + moving index finger combo as wanting to zoom in/out. I donno if it's superior build quality in the Mac touchpads or just better drivers, but Mac touchpads are way better at distinguishing between what the user is intending to do. This whole thing wasn't a problem in the past because Lenovo used to use physical buttons for clicking (which you could rest your thumb on and not worry about interfering with the touchpad). It feels like they've gotten rid of the physical buttons and added multi-touch without improving the sensitivity of the touchpad to distinguish between when the user is trying to actually do a multi-touch gesture or not. All that being said, I still love my ThinkPad. Hope you love yours too!

[@svm9341]

Can someone explain me why touchpad autoscrolls the cursor when finger moves closer to edge of the touchpad ? It is so annoying when selecting text in word doc or PPT or cells in XLS it just take over control and selects the contents than you wanted to select. This I feel like intrusion into my navigation on screen.

[@csanti66]

Thank you! Made my life so much easier!

[@HandyP]

great video, good narrating, and thanks A LOT for showing me how to use this darn mousepad. Life is now much better!

[@ahmedbrown7569]

+Paul Lu No problem. I'm glad others are finding this spur of the moment video helpful!

[@dre4505]

+Ahmed Brown VERY helpful. Thanks a bunch.

[@MyAdonisDNA]

Looking forward to getting a lenovo next time I buy a laptop. I had to get a macbook air before and fell in love with the trackpad so it's good to see I can get one EXACTLY the same thing on a PC.

[@carismaljc]

Thank you! Very enlighting.

[@retepshiels]

Thank you. Still helpful in 2021 ... :)

[@MrArmsDeal]

Is there any way of disabling the 'active' areas of the left & right buttons - i.e. so they don't move the cursor when you go to press them? would putting sticky tape over them stop them from reading your touch as movement? I wish i'd known about this crap before i bought a LENOVO.

[@cellenzobertaggia5839]

At about 2:36, after demostrating zooming in and out, you said something about returning the screen size to normal. How did you do that? Thanks, Enzo

[@ahmedbrown7569]

Hey Enzo! ctrl + zero. Hold down the CTRL key and then press the number zero key. It's a keyboard shortcut that resets zoom in most browsers. You can also hold CTRL and then press the plus/minus symbols to zoom in/out respectively.

[@Th33Xx]

thanks, good knowlegde on how to prevent to most common problems :D

[@elainejenar]

This is so helpful...thank you!! :) i was getting annoyed with it

[@duszajec]

I like this touchpad, very convenient, affectionate to the touch. Video has helped me understand the functioning of this device. Thank you.

[@fynniels12]

and the old one is back xD

[@francisharding8528]

I am waiting for my T440s to arrive .. having heard the touch pad is horrid ..I had planned to change to the T450s touch pad ..Thanks to you I do not have too..Thank you so much ..

[@Sandie-jo4mi]

WOW thanks so much! very helpful.. I can finally use right click!

[@Siendo]

Hi, how can you drag across with MS Office Excel. I try and drag formulas or data across and it wont let me. I am bordering on throwing this laptop out of the window

[@kathymcwaters6309]

I wish i knew!

[@FezzieShicora]

Perhaps you could look at page #21 in this online Lenovo Thinkpad T440s manual which can be found here: www.lenovo.com/shop/americas/content/user_guides/t440s_ug_en.pdf

[@ahmedbrown7569]

Hey there! At least on my laptop, I'm able to drag items by clicking (pushing down the whole touchpad) without letting go (keep your finger pressed on the touchpad) and then dragging. I can also accomplish this by double-tapping on an item and keeping my finger on the touchpad on the second tap, then dragging. Try these to see if they work for you.

[@MrFazak]

Yeah, you can drag til you hit the edge of the touchpad, then you have no way to continue dragging any further though you may be miles from your destination on the screen. I would pay an extra thousand bucks to get physical buttons on the edge of the palm rest the way Lenovo did it in the past before they tried to copy Apple. I had a good reason to not buy Apple. Now I don't.

[@gavinvales8928]

When you get to the edge of the touchpad, the drivers kick in and keep moving the cursor if you keep your finger just on the edge of the touchpad

[@amberfatima9704]

Nice Explanation!

[@aliamra244]

Hi recently bought this laptop and when i press at the middle of touchpad it stops at all and didn’t back at all

[@iymanb]

Very useful information and tips, nice to know there is more than way to do a click or left click. Has anyone told you sound alot like Jesse Eisenberg :)

[@lynnknight2192]

So, that's what I've been doing wrong .... the thumb acting like a 2nd finger on the touchpad. Thank you for the great tutorial!

[@kiranpadiyar9224]

wow.really handy info ..man....awesome dude..!

[@zelinezeline]

Very useful video, thanks!! I was struggling with the clicks on my lenovo yoga and this is really helpful. By any chance, do you have a trick to select text? I'm really having a hard time to copy past....

[@paulosullivan01]

If you didn't figure it out already it's hold click down anywhere on the right and slide to the left with another finger :)

[@rza139]

Thank you. I just purchased a Yoga 900 and was getting frustrated myself.

[@billyderick8349]

How do I right click and left click at the Same time bec I need be able to play shooting games properly so how

[@kaarunyam5106]

thank u u made my work way far easier

[@annagalvis]

Thank You! It really helps since I have to change for work from ibook to a thinkpad. So difficult to adjust. Thank you - Gracias :)

[@hamzarafique9758]

Ma AP ki big fan ho

[@bondasfaq]

The only problem I have is scorall. I'll put two fingers and move up or down but it won't work all the time, then I have to reach my screen and do it from there (touchscreen) I hate scoralling from the trackpad

[@cheikhmate]

assalaamou alaikoum thank you so much for the right click tip ! I was really struggling. Any tips on how to use the trackpoint in the middle of the keyboard in conjunction with the touchpad ?

[@ahmedbrown7569]

Wasalām wa r wa b. Sorry for the way delayed reply, I don't check the comments too often. I don't have any tips for that. Don't find myself using the TrackPoint, so I turned it off.

[@doraboss1735]

👏👏👏👏 thank you bro you saved my day

[@donnaoppenheim6403]

excellent explanation!

[@user-Lightning111]

Great , helped me get used to the pads .

[@wulanwikaanggreini4467]

thanks...it's very useful. especially about the right click :)