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Using the touchpad

What's coming up?

One of the important differences between a laptop and a desktop computer is that the laptop has a built-in touchpad that can be used instead of a mouse.

In this activity, you'll learn how to use the touchpad to move a pointer (or cursor), and click on objects on the screen.

Start activity

What does a touchpad do?

The touchpad on a laptop does the same job as the mouse on a desktop computer. It is sometimes also called a trackpad.

The touchpad is used to control the mouse pointer, also known as the cursor. The cursor is used to point at and choose (or activate) items on the screen.

Moving the cursor on a touchpad

When you want to move the cursor, just slide a finger across the touchpad in the direction that you want the cursor to go.

Don’t worry if you come to the edge of the touchpad and the cursor still hasn’t reached its destination. You can lift your finger off the touchpad surface and move it back to the edge of the touchpad to make more travel room for your finger. When your finger is not in contact with the touchpad, the cursor won’t move.

Clicking

Just above or below the touchpad may be two buttons. These are like the left and right mouse buttons.

Clicking on the left button with your finger is the same as a left mouse click. Clicking on the right with our finger is the same as a right mouse click.

Single click

On a touchpad that doesn't have left and right buttons, a quick tap on the touchpad is the same as a left click.

Double click

Double clicking on a touchpad works just like on a mouse. On a touchpad with buttons, tap the left button twice. On a touchpad without buttons, click the touchpad twice quickly to double click.

Scrolling

When a webpage or document is too big to fit on the screen, you can use the touchpad to move the page up or down to see more. This is known as scrolling and there are a few ways to do this.

On some touchpads, you can place two fingers side-by-side on the touchpad and gently drag them up and down on the touchpad surface to scroll.

Or, you can move the cursor to the scroll bar on the right hand side of the screen. Click on the little box in the scroll bar and hold your finger down on the touchpad surface. Slide your finger up or down to scroll the page.

Take your finger off the touchpad when you want to stop scrolling.

Many touchpads have a special zone on the right side for scrolling. Sliding your finger up and down in the zone will move the page up and down.

Let's see a touchpad in action

On the next slide is a short video to watch that demonstrates a touchpad in action. Select the Continue button below to move to the next panel where you can play the video.

Clickety split!

Let's do a quick quiz. How do you double click on a touchpad?

Tap on the touchpad twice, quickly

Correct

That's right! Just as one tap is a click, a double tap is a double click.

Click on the right button

Incorrect

Sorry, that's not right. The right button is like a right mouse click, not a double click.

Congratulations!

You've completed the Using the touchpad activity.

Just like the mouse on a desktop computer, using a touchpad is something you should pick up quickly with a bit of practise. The basic click and scroll controls are easy to learn, and when it comes to pointing, you just move your finger across the touchpad in the direction where you want the cursor to go.

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