The touchpad or trackpad on a laptop keyboard is convenient to use when you're on the road or sitting in a tight space. Those tiny tables in coffee shops and airports don't leave a lot of room for a mouse to maneuver. But when you're in your own office, a mouse is a lot easier to work with – until your thumb grazes the touchpad and you accidentally select and delete a half-page from the report you're writing.
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Fortunately, you can disable the touchpad on a Windows laptop, or the trackpad on a MacBook, very easily, provided you know where to look. If the operating system detects a mouse is connected to your laptop in the USB port, it will turn off the touchpad. When the mouse is disconnected, the touchpad will be turned on again automatically.
If you're using Linux, you'll likely be able to disable the trackpad too, if you're using the common Gnome Desktop for Ubuntu and other Linux distributions.
Windows: Disable Touchpad When Mouse is Connected
Windows 10 has settings specifically for a touchpad, which are independent of the mouse settings. To access the touchpad settings, of course, your Windows 10 computer, tablet or laptop must be connected to a keyboard with a touchpad.
If you have a Microsoft Surface, for example, or another device with a detachable keyboard, you won't see the touchpad settings if the keyboard isn't connected.
Open the Settings Window
Type 'Settings' in the Windows Start menu, and press Enter or click 'Settings' when it appears in the menu.
Open Touchpad Settings
In the Settings window, select 'Devices' and then click 'Touchpad' in the left menu.
Disable the Touchpad
Uncheck the box beside 'Leave touchpad on when mouse is connected.'
Now whenever a mouse is connected to your laptop, the keyboard touchpad is disabled.
You can close the Settings window. The next time a mouse is connected to your computer, the touchpad will be disabled.
MacBook: Disable Trackpad When Mouse Is Connected
Any Apple computer with a built-in trackpad includes a setting for disabling the trackpad, including MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.
Open System Preferences
Click the 'Apple' menu in the upper-right corner of the screen, and select 'System Preferences' from the drop-down menu.
Open Mouse & Trackpad Settings
In the System Preferences window, click 'Accessibility' and then select 'Mouse & Trackpad,' located in the Interacting section on the left of the window.
Disable the Trackpad
Click the box beside 'Ignore built-in trackpad when mouse or wireless trackpad is present' to enable this option. This disables the trackpad immediately, so you can close the System Preferences window with your mouse.
Linux: Disable Touchpad When Mouse Is Connected
If you have Linux installed on your laptop, it's likely that you won't be able disable the touchpad when the mouse is connected until you install a utility that has this feature.
There is a feature available for Linux distributions using the GNOME desktop, including Ubuntu. Touchpad Indicator is available from Atareao-Team's Personal Package Archives, or PPA, on Launchpad.net.
Usb Trackpad For Pc WindowsOpen Terminal
Open terminal from the application launcher or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on the keyboard and typing 'terminal.'
Access the PPA
Type 'sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao' in terminal; enter your password when prompted, and press Enter.
Install the Software
Type the following commands to first get the PPA updates and then to install the Touchpad Indicator:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install touchpad-indicator
Open Touchpad Indicator
After Touchpad Indicator is installed, launch the app. An applet icon appears in your system tray. Click on the applet. Click the 'Actions' tab and then click the 'On/Off' button beside 'Disable touchpad when mouse is plugged.'
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References (6)About the Author
A published author and professional speaker, David Weedmark has advised businesses on technology, media and marketing for more than 20 years. He has taught computer science at Algonquin College, has started three successful businesses, and has written hundreds of articles for newspapers and magazines and online publications including About.com, Re/Max and American Express.
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Weedmark, David. 'How to Disable TouchPad While the USB Mouse Is Plugged in.' Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/disable-touchpad-usb-mouse-plugged-52685.html. 24 April 2019.
Weedmark, David. (2019, April 24). How to Disable TouchPad While the USB Mouse Is Plugged in. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/disable-touchpad-usb-mouse-plugged-52685.html
Weedmark, David. 'How to Disable TouchPad While the USB Mouse Is Plugged in' last modified April 24, 2019. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/disable-touchpad-usb-mouse-plugged-52685.html
Note: Depending on which text editor you're pasting into, you might have to add the italics to the site name.
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Fortunately, you can disable the touchpad on a Windows laptop, or the trackpad on a MacBook, very easily, provided you know where to look. If the operating system detects a mouse is connected to your laptop in the USB port, it will turn off the touchpad. When the mouse is disconnected, the touchpad will be turned on again automatically.
If you're using Linux, you'll likely be able to disable the trackpad too, if you're using the common Gnome Desktop for Ubuntu and other Linux distributions.
Windows: Disable Touchpad When Mouse is Connected
Windows 10 has settings specifically for a touchpad, which are independent of the mouse settings. To access the touchpad settings, of course, your Windows 10 computer, tablet or laptop must be connected to a keyboard with a touchpad.
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If you have a Microsoft Surface, for example, or another device with a detachable keyboard, you won't see the touchpad settings if the keyboard isn't connected.
Open the Settings Window
Type 'Settings' in the Windows Start menu, and press Enter or click 'Settings' when it appears in the menu.
Open Touchpad SettingsUsb Touchpad For Pc
In the Settings window, select 'Devices' and then click 'Touchpad' in the left menu.
Disable the Touchpad
Uncheck the box beside 'Leave touchpad on when mouse is connected.'
Call of duty finest hour pc download movie. Now whenever a mouse is connected to your laptop, the keyboard touchpad is disabled.
You can close the Settings window. The next time a mouse is connected to your computer, the touchpad will be disabled.
MacBook: Disable Trackpad When Mouse Is Connected
Any Apple computer with a built-in trackpad includes a setting for disabling the trackpad, including MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.
Open System Preferences
Click the 'Apple' menu in the upper-right corner of the screen, and select 'System Preferences' from the drop-down menu.
Open Mouse & Trackpad Settings
In the System Preferences window, click 'Accessibility' and then select 'Mouse & Trackpad,' located in the Interacting section on the left of the window.
Disable the Trackpad
Click the box beside 'Ignore built-in trackpad when mouse or wireless trackpad is present' to enable this option. This disables the trackpad immediately, so you can close the System Preferences window with your mouse.
Linux: Disable Touchpad When Mouse Is Connected
If you have Linux installed on your laptop, it's likely that you won't be able disable the touchpad when the mouse is connected until you install a utility that has this feature.
There is a feature available for Linux distributions using the GNOME desktop, including Ubuntu. Touchpad Indicator is available from Atareao-Team's Personal Package Archives, or PPA, on Launchpad.net.
Open Terminal
Open terminal from the application launcher or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on the keyboard and typing 'terminal.'
Access the PPA
Type 'sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao' in terminal; enter your password when prompted, and press Enter.
Install the Software
Type the following commands to first get the PPA updates and then to install the Touchpad Indicator:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install touchpad-indicator
Open Touchpad Indicator
After Touchpad Indicator is installed, launch the app. An applet icon appears in your system tray. Click on the applet. Click the 'Actions' tab and then click the 'On/Off' button beside 'Disable touchpad when mouse is plugged.'
Tip
References (6)About the Author
A published author and professional speaker, David Weedmark has advised businesses on technology, media and marketing for more than 20 years. He has taught computer science at Algonquin College, has started three successful businesses, and has written hundreds of articles for newspapers and magazines and online publications including About.com, Re/Max and American Express.
Cite this Article
Choose Citation Style
Weedmark, David. 'How to Disable TouchPad While the USB Mouse Is Plugged in.' Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/disable-touchpad-usb-mouse-plugged-52685.html. 24 April 2019.
Weedmark, David. (2019, April 24). How to Disable TouchPad While the USB Mouse Is Plugged in. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/disable-touchpad-usb-mouse-plugged-52685.html
Weedmark, David. 'How to Disable TouchPad While the USB Mouse Is Plugged in' last modified April 24, 2019. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/disable-touchpad-usb-mouse-plugged-52685.html
Note: Depending on which text editor you're pasting into, you might have to add the italics to the site name.
Great mouse replacement but not really wireless
This trackpad is a great and ergonomic replacement for a mouse. It's a good size, too — plenty of space to work with on the trackpad, but it doesn't take up to This trackpad is a great and ergonomic replacement for a mouse. It's a good size, too — plenty of space to work with on the trackpad, but it doesn't take up too much space on my desk. I've been using it for about three months. Unfortunately, the bluetooth connection has gotten very spotty in the last month or so (even with literally nothing but 18 inches of air between the trackpad and the computer). Typically, when my 2018 iMac wakes from sleep, the Apple bluetooth keyboard connects but this trackpad does not — despite being charged and switched on. The bluetooth utility searches and searches, eventually finds the trackpad, but fails to connect for reasons that are not clear. Sometimes, it drops the bluetooth connection to the keyboard, but that is less frequent and it seems to pick that up again fairly quickly. I think this problem is linked to a software update, so hopefully Apple will fix it in the future. Most of the time, I have to plug in the trackpad to use it at all, which is disappointing for a product that is supposed to be wireless. On balance, then, I'd say it's way overpriced for a wired device. Don't buy it until Apple fixes its bluetooth connectivity problems.
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