Provided by: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics_1.9.2-1ubuntu3_amd64 
NAME
synaptics - touchpad input driver
SYNOPSIS
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "devname"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "Device" "devpath"
Option "Path" "path"
...
EndSection
DESCRIPTION
synaptics is an Xorg input driver for touchpads. Even though touchpads can be handled by the normal
evdev or mouse drivers, this driver allows more advanced features of the touchpad to become available.
Some benefits would be:
• Movement with adjustable, non-linear acceleration and speed.
• Button events through short touching of the touchpad.
• Double-Button events through double short touching of the touchpad.
• Dragging through short touching and holding down the finger on the touchpad (tap-and-drag gesture).
• Middle and right button events on the upper and lower corner of the touchpad.
• Vertical scrolling (button four and five events) through moving the finger on the right side of the
touchpad.
• The up/down button sends button four/five events.
• Horizontal scrolling (button six and seven events) through moving the finger on the lower side of the
touchpad.
• The multi-buttons send button four/five events for vertical scrolling and button six/seven events for
horizontal scrolling.
• Adjustable finger detection.
• Multifinger taps: two finger for right button and three finger for middle button events. (Needs
hardware support. Not all models implement this feature.)
• Pressure-dependent motion speed.
Note that depending on the touchpad firmware, some of these features might be available even without
using the synaptics driver. Note also that some functions are not available on all touchpad models,
because they need support from the touchpad hardware/firmware. (Multifinger taps for example.)
The name "synaptics" is historical and the driver still provides the synaptics protocol parsing code.
Under Linux however, the hardware-specifics are handled by the kernel and this driver will work for any
touchpad that has a working kernel driver. If your device is recognized as "PS/2 Mouse" or similar, the
kernel driver does not support your device and this driver will only provide limited functionality.
CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
Please refer to xorg.conf(5) for general configuration details and for options that can be used with all
input drivers. This section only covers configuration details specific to this driver.
The following driver Options are supported:
Option "Device" "string"
This option specifies the device file in your "/dev" directory which will be used to access the
physical device. Normally you should use something like "/dev/input/eventX", where X is some
integer.
Option "Protocol" "string"
Specifies which kernel driver will be used by this driver. This is the list of supported drivers
and their default use scenarios.
auto-dev automatic, default (recommend)
event Linux 2.6 kernel events
psaux raw device access (Linux 2.4)
psm FreeBSD psm driver
Option "LeftEdge" "integer"
X coordinate for left edge. Property: "Synaptics Edges"
Option "RightEdge" "integer"
X coordinate for right edge. Property: "Synaptics Edges"
Option "TopEdge" "integer"
Y coordinate for top edge. Property: "Synaptics Edges"
Option "BottomEdge" "integer"
Y coordinate for bottom edge. Property: "Synaptics Edges"
Option "FingerLow" "integer"
When finger pressure drops below this value, the driver counts it as a release. Property:
"Synaptics Finger"
Option "FingerHigh" "integer"
When finger pressure goes above this value, the driver counts it as a touch. Property: "Synaptics
Finger"
Option "MaxTapTime" "integer"
Maximum time (in milliseconds) for detecting a tap. Property: "Synaptics Tap Durations"
Option "MaxTapMove" "integer"
Maximum movement of the finger for detecting a tap. Property: "Synaptics Tap Move"
Option "MaxDoubleTapTime" "integer"
Maximum time (in milliseconds) for detecting a double tap. Property: "Synaptics Tap Durations"
Option "ClickTime" "integer"
The duration of the mouse click generated by tapping. Property: "Synaptics Tap Durations"
Option "ClickPad" "boolean"
Whether the device is a click pad. See ClickPad support for more details. Property: "Synaptics
ClickPad"
Option "VertEdgeScroll" "boolean"
Enable vertical scrolling when dragging along the right edge. Property: "Synaptics Edge Scrolling"
Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "boolean"
Enable horizontal scrolling when dragging along the bottom edge. Property: "Synaptics Edge
Scrolling"
Option "CornerCoasting" "boolean"
Enable edge scrolling to continue while the finger stays in an edge corner. Property: "Synaptics
Edge Scrolling"
Option "VertTwoFingerScroll" "boolean"
Enable vertical scrolling when dragging with two fingers anywhere on the touchpad. Property:
"Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling"
Option "HorizTwoFingerScroll" "boolean"
Enable horizontal scrolling when dragging with two fingers anywhere on the touchpad. Property:
"Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling"
Option "VertScrollDelta" "integer"
Move distance of the finger for a scroll event. Property: "Synaptics Scrolling Distance"
Option "HorizScrollDelta" "integer"
Move distance of the finger for a scroll event. Property: "Synaptics Scrolling Distance"
Option "MinSpeed" "float"
Minimum speed factor. Property: "Synaptics Move Speed"
Option "MaxSpeed" "float"
Maximum speed factor. Property: "Synaptics Move Speed"
Option "AccelFactor" "float"
Acceleration factor for normal pointer movements. Property: "Synaptics Move Speed"
Option "PressureMotionMinZ" "integer"
Finger pressure at which minimum pressure motion factor is applied. Property: "Synaptics Pressure
Motion"
Option "PressureMotionMaxZ" "integer"
Finger pressure at which maximum pressure motion factor is applied. Property: "Synaptics Pressure
Motion"
Option "PressureMotionMinFactor" "integer"
Lowest setting for pressure motion factor. Property: "Synaptics Pressure Motion Factor"
Option "PressureMotionMaxFactor" "integer"
Greatest setting for pressure motion factor. Property: "Synaptics Pressure Motion Factor"
Option "HorizHysteresis" "integer"
The minimum horizontal HW distance required to generate motion events. Can be specified as a
percentage. Increase if noise motion is a problem for you. Zero is disabled. Default: 0.5 percent
of the diagonal or (in case of evdev) the appropriate "fuzz" as advertised by the device.
Option "VertHysteresis" "integer"
The minimum vertical HW distance required to generate motion events. See HorizHysteresis.
Option "UpDownScrolling" "boolean"
If on, the up/down buttons generate button 4/5 events. If off, the up button generates a double
click and the down button generates a button 2 event. This option is only available for touchpads
with physical scroll buttons. Property: "Synaptics Button Scrolling"
Option "LeftRightScrolling" "boolean"
If on, the left/right buttons generate button 6/7 events. If off, the left/right buttons both
generate button 2 events. This option is only available for touchpads with physical scroll
buttons. Property: "Synaptics Button Scrolling"
Option "UpDownScrollRepeat" "boolean"
If on, and the up/down buttons are used for scrolling (UpDownScrolling), these buttons will send
auto-repeating 4/5 events, with the delay between repeats determined by ScrollButtonRepeat. This
option is only available for touchpads with physical scroll buttons. Property: "Synaptics Button
Scrolling Repeat"
Option "LeftRightScrollRepeat" "boolean"
If on, and the left/right buttons are used for scrolling (LeftRightScrolling), these buttons will
send auto-repeating 6/7 events, with the delay between repeats determined by ScrollButtonRepeat.
This option is only available for touchpads with physical scroll buttons. Property: "Synaptics
Button Scrolling Repeat"
Option "ScrollButtonRepeat" "integer"
The number of milliseconds between repeats of button events 4-7 from the up/down/left/right scroll
buttons. This option is only available for touchpads with physical scroll buttons. Property:
"Synaptics Button Scrolling Time"
Option "EmulateMidButtonTime" "integer"
Maximum time (in milliseconds) for middle button emulation. Property: "Synaptics Middle Button
Timeout"
Option "EmulateTwoFingerMinZ" "integer"
For touchpads not capable of detecting multiple fingers but are capable of detecting finger
pressure and width, this sets the Z pressure threshold. When both Z pressure and W width
thresholds are crossed, a two finger press will be emulated. This defaults to a value that
disables emulation on touchpads with real two-finger detection and defaults to a value that
enables emulation on remaining touchpads that support pressure and width support. Property:
"Synaptics Two-Finger Pressure"
Option "EmulateTwoFingerMinW" "integer"
For touchpads not capable of detecting multiple fingers but are capable of detecting finger width
and pressure, this sets the W width threshold. When both W width and Z pressure thresholds are
crossed, a two finger press will be emulated. This feature works best with (PalmDetect) off.
Property: "Synaptics Two-Finger Width"
Option "TouchpadOff" "integer"
Switch off the touchpad. Valid values are:
0 Touchpad is enabled
1 Touchpad is switched off (physical clicks still work)
2 Only tapping and scrolling is switched off
When the touchpad is switched off, button events caused by a physical button press are still
interpreted. On a ClickPad, this includes software-emulated middle and right buttons as defined by
the SoftButtonAreas setting.
Property: "Synaptics Off"
Option "LockedDrags" "boolean"
If off, a tap-and-drag gesture ends when you release the finger. If on, the gesture is active
until you tap a second time, or until LockedDragTimeout expires. Property: "Synaptics Locked
Drags"
Option "LockedDragTimeout" "integer"
This parameter specifies how long it takes (in milliseconds) for the LockedDrags mode to be
automatically turned off after the finger is released from the touchpad. Property: "Synaptics
Locked Drags Timeout"
Option "RTCornerButton" "integer"
Which mouse button is reported on a right top corner tap. Set to 0 to disable. Property:
"Synaptics Tap Action"
Option "RBCornerButton" "integer"
Which mouse button is reported on a right bottom corner tap. Set to 0 to disable. Property:
"Synaptics Tap Action"
Option "LTCornerButton" "integer"
Which mouse button is reported on a left top corner tap. Set to 0 to disable. Property:
"Synaptics Tap Action"
Option "LBCornerButton" "integer"
Which mouse button is reported on a left bottom corner tap. Set to 0 to disable. Property:
"Synaptics Tap Action"
Option "TapButton1" "integer"
Which mouse button is reported on a non-corner one-finger tap. Set to 0 to disable. Property:
"Synaptics Tap Action"
Option "TapButton2" "integer"
Which mouse button is reported on a non-corner two-finger tap. Set to 0 to disable. Property:
"Synaptics Tap Action"
Option "TapButton3" "integer"
Which mouse button is reported on a non-corner three-finger tap. Set to 0 to disable. Property:
"Synaptics Tap Action"
Option "ClickFinger1" "integer"
Which mouse button is reported when left-clicking with one finger. Set to 0 to disable. Property:
"Synaptics Click Action"
Option "ClickFinger2" "integer"
Which mouse button is reported when left-clicking with two fingers. Set to 0 to disable.
Property: "Synaptics Click Action"
Option "ClickFinger3" "integer"
Which mouse button is reported when left-clicking with three fingers. Set to 0 to disable.
Property: "Synaptics Click Action"
Option "CircularScrolling" "boolean"
If on, circular scrolling is used. Property: "Synaptics Circular Scrolling"
Option "CircScrollDelta" "float"
Move angle (radians) of finger to generate a scroll event. Property: "Synaptics Circular Scrolling
Distance"
Option "CircScrollTrigger" "integer"
Trigger region on the touchpad to start circular scrolling
0 All Edges
1 Top Edge
2 Top Right Corner
3 Right Edge
4 Bottom Right Corner
5 Bottom Edge
6 Bottom Left Corner
7 Left Edge
8 Top Left Corner
Property: "Synaptics Circular Scrolling Trigger"
Option "CircularPad" "boolean"
Instead of being a rectangle, the edge is the ellipse enclosed by the Left/Right/Top/BottomEdge
parameters. For circular touchpads. Property: "Synaptics Circular Pad"
Option "PalmDetect" "boolean"
If palm detection should be enabled. Note that this also requires hardware/firmware support from
the touchpad. Property: "Synaptics Palm Detection"
Option "PalmMinWidth" "integer"
Minimum finger width at which touch is considered a palm. Property: "Synaptics Palm Dimensions"
Option "PalmMinZ" "integer"
Minimum finger pressure at which touch is considered a palm. Property: "Synaptics Palm Dimensions"
Option "CoastingSpeed" "float"
Your finger needs to produce this many scrolls per second in order to start coasting. The default
is 20 which should prevent you from starting coasting unintentionally. 0 disables coasting.
Property: "Synaptics Coasting Speed"
Option "CoastingFriction" "float"
Number of scrolls/second² to decrease the coasting speed. Default is 50. Property: "Synaptics
Coasting Speed"
Option "SingleTapTimeout" "integer"
Timeout after a tap to recognize it as a single tap. Property: "Synaptics Tap Durations"
Option "GrabEventDevice" "boolean"
If GrabEventDevice is true, the driver will grab the event device for exclusive use when using the
linux 2.6 event protocol. When using other protocols, this option has no effect. Grabbing the
event device means that no other user space or kernel space program sees the touchpad events.
This is desirable if the X config file includes /dev/input/mice as an input device, but is
undesirable if you want to monitor the device from user space. When changing this parameter with
the synclient program, the change will not take effect until the synaptics driver is disabled and
re-enabled. This can be achieved by switching to a text console and then switching back to X.
Option "TapAndDragGesture" "boolean"
Switch on/off the tap-and-drag gesture. This gesture is an alternative way of dragging. It is
performed by tapping (touching and releasing the finger), then touching again and moving the
finger on the touchpad. The gesture is enabled by default and can be disabled by setting the
TapAndDragGesture option to false. Property: "Synaptics Gestures"
Option ®esolutionDetect" "boolean"
Allow or prevent the synaptics driver from reporting the size of the touchpad to the X server.
The X server normally uses this information to scale movements so that touchpad movement
corresponds visually to mouse cursor movements on the screen. However, in some rare cases where
the touchpad height/width ratio is significantly different from the laptop, it can cause the mouse
cursor to skip pixels in the X or Y axis. This option allows disabling this scaling behavior,
which can provide smoother mouse movement in such cases. Property: "Synaptics Resolution Detect"
Option "VertResolution" "integer"
Resolution of X coordinates in units/millimeter. The value is used together with HorizResolution
to compensate unequal vertical and horizontal sensitivity. Setting VertResolution and
HorizResolution equal values means no compensation. Default value is read from the touchpad or set
to 1 if value could not be read. Property: "Synaptics Pad Resolution"
Option "HorizResolution" "integer"
Resolution of Y coordinates in units/millimeter. The value is used together with VertResolution to
compensate unequal vertical and horizontal sensitivity. Setting VertResolution and HorizResolution
equal values means no compensation. Default value is read from the touchpad or set to 1 if value
could not be read. Property: "Synaptics Pad Resolution"
Option "AreaLeftEdge" "integer"
Ignore movements, scrolling and tapping which start left of this edge. The option is disabled by
default and can be enabled by setting the AreaLeftEdge option to any integer value other than
zero. If supported by the server (version 1.9 and later), the edge may be specified in percent of
the total width of the touchpad. Property: "Synaptics Area"
Option "AreaRightEdge" "integer"
Ignore movements, scrolling and tapping which start right of this edge. The option is disabled by
default and can be enabled by setting the AreaRightEdge option to any integer value other than
zero. If supported by the server (version 1.9 and later), the edge may be specified in percent of
the total width of the touchpad. Property: "Synaptics Area"
Option "AreaTopEdge" "integer"
Ignore movements, scrolling and tapping which start above this edge. The option is disabled by
default and can be enabled by setting the AreaTopEdge option to any integer value other than zero.
If supported by the server (version 1.9 and later), the edge may be specified in percent of the
total height of the touchpad. Property: "Synaptics Area"
Option "AreaBottomEdge" "integer"
Ignore movements, scrolling and tapping which start below this edge. The option is disabled by
default and can be enabled by setting the AreaBottomEdge option to any integer value other than
zero. If supported by the server (version 1.9 and later), the edge may be specified in percent of
the total height of the touchpad. Property: "Synaptics Area"
Option "SoftButtonAreas" "RBL RBR RBT RBB MBL MBR MBT MBB"
This option is only available on ClickPad devices. Enable soft button click area support on
ClickPad devices. The first four parameters are the left, right, top, bottom edge of the right
button, respectively, the second four parameters are the left, right, top, bottom edge of the
middle button, respectively. Any of the values may be given as percentage of the touchpad width or
height, whichever applies. If any edge is set to 0 (not 0%), the button is assumed to extend to
infinity in the given direction. Setting all values to 0 (not 0%) disables soft button areas.
Button areas may not overlap, however it is permitted for two buttons to share an edge value.
Property: "Synaptics Soft Button Areas"
Option "HasSecondarySoftButtons" "boolean"
This option is only available on ClickPad devices. Enable the secondary software button area
support. The exact area must be set in option "SecondarySoftButtonAreas". See ClickPad support
for more details.
Option "SecondarySoftButtonAreas" "RBL RBR RBT RBB MBL MBR MBT MBB"
This option is only available on ClickPad devices and only if Option "HasSecondarySoftButtons" is
enabled. Define the secondary soft button click areas on ClickPad devices (usually on top of the
device). For the allowed values for this option, see Option "SoftButtonAreas". Primary and
secondary soft button areas must not overlap each other. If they do, the behavior of the driver is
undefined. Property: "Synaptics Secondary Soft Button Areas". This property is only initialized
if Option "HasSecondarySoftButtons" is enabled and this option is set in the xorg.conf(5).
CONFIGURATION DETAILS
Area handling
The LeftEdge, RightEdge, TopEdge and BottomEdge parameters are used to define the edge and corner areas
of the touchpad. The parameters split the touchpad area in 9 pieces, like this:
│ │
│ LeftEdge │ RightEdge
┌──────└─────────────└───┐ Physical top edge
│ 1 │ 2 │ 3 │
└──────└─────────────└───┘ TopEdge
│ │ │ │
│ 4 │ 5 │ 6 │
│ │ │ │
└──────└─────────────└───┘ BottomEdge
│ 7 │ 8 │ 9 │
└──────└─────────────└───┘ Physical bottom edge
Physical left edge Physical right edge
│ │
--
DEVICE PROPERTIES
Synaptics 1.0 and higher support input device properties if the driver is running on X server 1.6 or
higher. The synclient tool shipped with synaptics version 1.1 uses input device properties by default.
Properties supported:
Synaptics Edges
32 bit, 4 values, left, right, top, bottom.
Synaptics Finger
32 bit, 3 values, low, high, press.
Synaptics Tap Time
32 bit.
Synaptics Tap Move
32 bit.
Synaptics Tap Durations
32 bit, 3 values, single touch timeout, max tapping time for double taps, duration of a single
click.
Synaptics ClickPad
8 bit (Bool).
Synaptics Middle Button Timeout
32 bit.
Synaptics Two-Finger Pressure
32 bit.
Synaptics Two-Finger Width
32 bit.
Synaptics Scrolling Distance
32 bit, 2 values, vert, horiz.
Synaptics Edge Scrolling
8 bit (BOOL), 3 values, vertical, horizontal, corner.
Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling
8 bit (BOOL), 2 values, vertical, horizontal.
Synaptics Move Speed
FLOAT, 4 values, min, max, accel, <deprecated>
Synaptics Button Scrolling
8 bit (BOOL), 2 values, updown, leftright.
Synaptics Button Scrolling Repeat
8 bit (BOOL), 2 values, updown, leftright.
Synaptics Button Scrolling Time
32 bit.
Synaptics Off
8 bit, valid values (0, 1, 2).
Synaptics Locked Drags
8 bit (BOOL).
Synaptics Locked Drags Timeout
32 bit.
Synaptics Tap Action
8 bit, up to MAX_TAP values (see synaptics.h), 0 disables an element. order: RT, RB, LT, LB, F1,
F2, F3.
Synaptics Click Action
8 bit, up to MAX_CLICK values (see synaptics.h), 0 disables an element. order: Finger 1, 2, 3.
Synaptics Circular Scrolling
8 bit (BOOL).
Synaptics Circular Scrolling Distance
FLOAT.
Synaptics Circular Scrolling Trigger
8 bit, valid values 0..8 (inclusive) order: any edge, top, top + right, right, right + bottom,
bottom, bottom + left, left, left + top.
Synaptics Circular Pad
8 bit (BOOL).
Synaptics Palm Detection
8 bit (BOOL).
Synaptics Palm Dimensions
32 bit, 2 values, width, z.
Synaptics Coasting Speed
FLOAT, 2 values, speed, friction.
Synaptics Pressure Motion
32 bit, 2 values, min, max.
Synaptics Pressure Motion Factor
FLOAT, 2 values, min, max.
Synaptics Resolution Detect
8 bit (BOOL).
Synaptics Grab Event Device
8 bit (BOOL).
Synaptics Gestures
8 bit (BOOL), 1 value, tap-and-drag.
Synaptics Area
The AreaLeftEdge, AreaRightEdge, AreaTopEdge and AreaBottomEdge parameters are used to define the
edges of the active area of the touchpad. All movements, scrolling and tapping which take place
outside of this area will be ignored. This property is disabled by default.
32 bit, 4 values, left, right, top, bottom. 0 disables an element.
Synaptics Soft Button Areas
This property is only available on ClickPad devices. The Right and middle soft button areas are
used to support right and middle click actions on a ClickPad device. Providing 0 for all values of
a given button disables the button area.
32 bit, 8 values, RBL, RBR, RBT, RBB, MBL, MBR, MBT, MBB.
Synaptics Capabilities
This read-only property expresses the physical capability of the touchpad, most notably whether
the touchpad hardware supports multi-finger tapping and scrolling.
8 bit (BOOL), 7 values (read-only), has left button, has middle button, has right button, two-
finger detection, three-finger detection, pressure detection, and finger/palm width detection.
Synaptics Pad Resolution
32 bit unsigned, 2 values (read-only), vertical, horizontal in units/millimeter.
NOTES
Configuration through InputClass sections is recommended in X servers 1.8 and later. See xorg.conf.d(5)
for more details. An example xorg.conf.d snippet is provided in ${sourcecode}/conf/70-synaptics.conf
Configuration through hal fdi files is recommended in X servers 1.5, 1.6 and 1.7. An example hal policy
file is provided in ${sourcecode}/conf/11-x11-synaptics.fdi
If either of Protocol "auto-dev" (default) or Protocol "event" is used, the driver initializes defaults
based on the capabilities reported by the kernel driver. Acceleration, edges and resolution are based on
the dimensions reported by the kernel. If the kernel reports multi-finger detection, two-finger vertical
scrolling is enabled, horizontal two-finger scrolling is disabled and edge scrolling is disabled. If no
multi-finger capabilities are reported, edge scrolling is enabled for both horizontal and vertical
scrolling. Tapping is disabled by default for touchpads with one or more physical buttons. To enable it
you need to map tap actions to buttons. See the "TapButton1", "TapButton2" and "TapButton3" options.
Button mapping for physical buttons is handled in the server. If the device is switched to left-handed
(an in-server mapping of physical buttons 1, 2, 3 to the logical buttons 3, 2, 1, respectively), both
physical and TapButtons are affected. To counteract this, the TapButtons need to be set up in reverse
order (TapButton1=3, TapButton2=1).
REMOVED OPTIONS
The following options are no longer part of the driver configuration:
Option "Repeater" "string"
Option "HistorySize" "integer"
Option "SpecialScrollAreaRight" "boolean"
Option "GuestMouseOff" "boolean"
Option "SHMConfig" "boolean"
Option "FingerPress" "integer"
Option "TrackstickSpeed" "float"
Option "EdgeMotionMinZ" "integer"
Option "EdgeMotionMaxZ" "integer"
Option "EdgeMotionMinSpeed" "integer"
Option "EdgeMotionMaxSpeed" "integer"
Option "EdgeMotionUseAlways" "boolean"
AUTHORS
Peter Osterlund <petero2@telia.com> and many others.
SEE ALSO
Xorg(1), xorg.conf(5), Xserver(1), X(7), synclient(1), syndaemon(1)
X Version 11 xf86-input-synaptics 1.9.2 SYNAPTICS(4)