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I'm using an X61s laptop (under Windows) that only has a trackpoint, not a touchpad.

The trackpoint has a scroll function that is activated by holding the middle button and then using the trackpoint to scroll. This is very useful and I don't want to miss it.

However, I would also like to use the middle button to open links in new tabs for instance.

Unfortunately, I have not found a setting that provides both functionalities at the same time. Does anyone know if and how it can be done?


Here are some links to people having the same problem, but no solution, unfortunately:

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    I just got a Thinkpad and I can't believe this doesn't work by default. Any luck finding a solution other than AHK?
    – endolith
    Dec 30, 2010 at 3:07
  • I would like to see other solution as well. The AHK dont works for me. Mar 7, 2014 at 1:37
  • @GergelyFehérvári: See whether my answer at superuser.com/q/1029053/276424 works for you!
    – user21820
    Jan 20, 2016 at 17:59

9 Answers 9

9

Here is a work around just posted using Autohotkey to simulate a scroll wheel while holding down middle click after a certain amount of time:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/ultranav-middle-click-button-scroll.423415/

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  • Great! It basically works. And having some kind of source code is a plus, since I may be able to change to fit my needs better. Thanks a lot! Feb 27, 2010 at 12:08
  • for me the AHK not works. any idea why? I have t430s win8.1pro. Mar 7, 2014 at 1:36
  • Dear gergely, please ask this in a new question.
    – BramMooij
    Nov 19, 2015 at 22:09
  • Tested to work on Windows 10, Verison 1903, on a T480 machine. The script mimicked the "default" scrolling experience as of 1. maintaining the cursor location after entering the scrolling mode, and 2. accelerating when pushing the trackpoint with more forcefully. Gllad to find this quick and perfect fix.
    – llinfeng
    Jan 14, 2020 at 14:07
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I'm a thinkpad only guy... and this issue bothers me a lot too. Running Windows 8 currently and finally found this little app that does the trick very nicely. Works with previous versions of windows too! https://github.com/summivox/misc_bin/raw/master/tpmiddle-0.5.exe

Just place it in your startup. Basically... if you press the middle button and don't scroll it will execute the alternate action. So, in browsers usually it will open a page in a new tab. More details in the link, but this solved my issue.

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  • I have lenovo thinkpad edge e330 and tpmiddle works perfectly. I've tested it with win7 and win10. For someone who in doubt: if you can't install tpmiddle because of lack of some dll file, you should install Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Runtime Libraries (x86), even if you have a 64-bit operating system you need an x86 version.
    – Cheslab
    Apr 25, 2016 at 9:40
  • Works great with Synaptics ultranav. Does not work with the newer Elan ultranav (found in i.e. p53) Mar 3, 2021 at 18:05
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Update 2021:

On current Windows 10 and some hardware constellations in newer Thinkpads, some of the answers here do not work anymore. tpmiddle complains about not finding SynCOM.dll (even though it's there); solutions involving Synaptics and/or UltraNav drivers seem to not apply to some newer Thinkpads; the "TrackPoint" tab does not exist in the mouse settings on my machine; I did not get w10wheel to work (although that is probably due to company group policies or suchlike).

What finally worked on my Thinkpad P15 was X-Mouse Button Control (XMBC), with middle click set to "Change Movement to Scroll". Make sure to set the Middle Button Action to "Use as middle click" in Windows' Mouse Properties > ThinkPad > TrackPoint for this to work. Finally, the TrackPoint on my work machine behaves like it does on my private Linux machine!

enter image description here

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    Make sure to set the Middle Button Action to "Use as middle click" in Mouse Properties > ThinkPad > TrackPoint for this to work. Sep 14, 2022 at 11:35
  • @JuliusBullinger Thanks, edited it in :)
    – orithena
    Sep 14, 2022 at 11:42
  • 2
    @orithena Thank you for posting about X-Mouse Button Control - it works on a T14 G3 as well. To my surprise and great enjoyment, it also works with ThinkPad TrackPoint Keyboard II (Part Number: 4Y40X49493).
    – llinfeng
    Nov 9, 2022 at 20:44
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I'm unsure if this affects your Thinkpad, but it worked on mine:

Open up the mouse properties and open the Ultranav tab. Click Settings... and change the Scrolling Type to Smooth.

On my system, a middle click works as expected unless held down. Then it acts as a scroll wheel.

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  • Although your solution almost certainly doesn't resolve the asker's issue, it was what I needed to choose to make UltraNav stop interfering with my autohotkey script! So +1 for ending my hours of fruitless debugging!
    – user21820
    Dec 16, 2015 at 9:13
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Simply go to the mouse properties and under the TrackPoint Tab, find "Choose Scrolling and Magnifying Glass Function". Here select "Neither". This would allow you to open new tabs with the middle click and if you use the trackpoint to scroll, it would scroll too.

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I'm using a Thinkpad Keyboard with Trackpoint on a notebook of another manufacturer and also had the very same problem. I fixed it by looking into the keyboard settings: Devices > Lenovo Keyboard >(Rightclick) Keyboard Settings > External Keyboard. There is an option called "ThinkPad preferred Scrolling", deactivating it brings the expected behavior.

screenshot showing the setting

I don't know why the text on the shown image is in German while everything else of the settings windows is in English, as expected. Sorry for that.

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For newer systems that use Elantech instead of Synaptics (i.e. p53), try w10wheel

https://github.com/ykon/w10wheel.net

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Well, I installed the Synaptics drivers from

http://www.synaptics.com/resources/drivers

then, I chose the center button to be the middle click, found the situation worse than before, uninstalled.

Surprisingly, it now works as it is supposed to be ;)

Maybe you can also just remove the driver for it to work as you want.

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well i connected a mouse to my t61 and suddenly the middle button became the middle mouse button (the one you are talking about). Maybe you can try that.

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