GUI solution
Install the package gpointing-device-settings
Description-en: configuration tool for pointing devices
GUI tool for setting pointing devices. Currently it can configure mouse type
device (mouse, trackpoint etc.) and touchpads.
.
For mouse you can configure middle button emulation, wheel emulation and
scrolling.
.
It can enable and disable touchpad, or scrolling on it as well as additional
parameters like palm detection, locked drags, tapping and scrolling.
.
It is a successor of GSynaptics.
![gpointing-device-settings middle mouse button emulation](https://i.stack.imgur.com/XimP5.png)
Console/terminal solution #1
Alternatively, try this:
gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.mouse middle-button-enabled true
The alternative solution might require the installation of gnome-settings-daemon
package.
Console/terminal solution(s) #2
Using synclient
command you can view your synaptics touchpad options.
Run synclient
and see what variables you have available.
You can set/change the synclient options using this command: syclient var=1
(where var is the variable you wish to change and 1 the value)
Read the manual page about each variable: http://manpages.ubuntu.com/synaptics
What worked for me
Instead of figuring out how to press both buttons of the touchpad, keep/press two fingers on the touchpad and click on the left click button of the touchpad with a third finger. This emulates a middle button by default.
What worked for the original poster
a) Setting the TapButton variable works for the two fingered tap
b) If you still want to click both buttons and produce a middle button emulation, execute:
synclient EmulateMidButtonTime=100
EmulateMidButtonTime allows you to change the time required to produce a middle button (allowed time period to click both buttons). 100 means 100 milliseconds (ms).
You may set it to even higher values, such as synclient EmulateMidButtonTime=500
(500ms).
To disable window minimizing on middle mouse button, run the following command in terminal:
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences action-middle-click-titlebar 'none'
To revert it back, run:
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences action-middle-click-titlebar 'lower'
To disable browser's tab to close on middle click, see: https://superuser.com/questions/113048/how-do-i-prevent-firefox-from-closing-tabs-on-middle-click
You can also to use xbindkeys
. To install it, run in terminal:
sudo apt-get install xbindkeys
Then the next two lines must be placed in ~/.xbindkeysrc
file:
"" #don't do nothing
b:2 #mouse button 2
And finally, you must to clear current bindings with killall xbindkeys
and then just execute xbindkeys
to restart it.
Best Answer
You can use Alt + Right Button drag.