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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:

Mika Fischer
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9 Answers9

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/

jlee-tessik
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8

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.

Artem Yu
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primordius
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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

orithena
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2

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.

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

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

Element Zero
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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.

Umair Nasir
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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.

sebix
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0

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.

Alles
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-4

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.

Jonathan
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