Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@sinewalker

sinewalker/firefox-reverse-wheel.md

Last active April 6, 2026 17:28
Show Gist options

  • Select an option

    Learn more about clone URLs
  • Save sinewalker/a8184cb7c38ee584a3de1dc718ef561d to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.

Select an option

Learn more about clone URLs
Save sinewalker/a8184cb7c38ee584a3de1dc718ef561d to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Download ZIP
Firefox Reverse/"Natural" scroll wheel direction
Raw
firefox-reverse-wheel.md

Open about:config and set mousewheel.default.delta_multiplier_y to negative, e.g. -100 if the current value is (the default) 100

This should only be necessary on platforms where Firefox isn't honouring the global setting. For instance on a Mac or Windows it's not necessary if you've set the scrolling direction to reverse globally, but on Linux, Firefox doesn't honour KDE's setting. I haven't tested GNOME ….

The default setting is fine for an actual mouse-wheel, but when using a touchpad to two-finger-scroll (or a trackball), it's more Natural for the page to scroll down when you swipe your fingers up: it seems more like how a paper page will shift.

@jameskyle
Copy link
Copy Markdown

jameskyle commented Aug 30, 2018

on ubuntu 18.04 mate-desktop with natural scrolling options set for mouse and touchpad in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf

This is not necessary.

@abrahamrhoffman
Copy link
Copy Markdown

abrahamrhoffman commented Dec 18, 2019

Huzzah! You made my day!

@genghis-yang
Copy link
Copy Markdown

genghis-yang commented Nov 14, 2020

On Ubuntu 20.04 GNOME desktop, it seems to follow the global settings.

@cwgstreet
Copy link
Copy Markdown

cwgstreet commented Feb 9, 2022

on Ubuntu 20.4 LTS installed on an old mid-2010 MacBook Pro, it was driving me nuts that I had Natural Scrolling enabled in Mouse and Touchpad settings and scrolling worked exactly like I wanted everywhere except for Firefox. Changing the mousewheel.default.delta_multiplier_y to negative, e.g. -100, worked like a charm for me. Thank you!

@R3dD3v
Copy link
Copy Markdown

R3dD3v commented Apr 6, 2026

8 years later and still a relevant thread. Fedora 43 and firefox randomly decided to stop respecting the global scroll options. Thanks.

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment