Ubuntu – Mouse wheel click scrolling in Firefox

firefoxmousewheel

Just installed Ubuntu 11.10. Been a while since I used any distro and I'm very impressed.

To be difficult, does anyone know how to enable the middle mouse button scroll option when browsing? I don't know if this is an OS level thing or browser config. option.

In Windows, you can usually click the mouse wheel to bring up a scroll icon when using browsers. This allows you to scroll by moving the mouse instead of the mousewheel.

I have RSI and find this method less taxing…

Thanks for any help!

Best Answer

Firefox

You can use some firefox options to both disable the default action which is to paste on clicking the middle-mouse button and also to turn on auto-scrolling.

First - in the Firefox - Preferences - Advance settings ensure you have the following options checked:

  • Use Autoscrolling
  • Use Smooth scrolling

Then in the Awesome bar type about:config

Search for *autoscroll and double click *general.AutoScroll to change from "false" to "true"

Now search for middlemouse

  • middlemouse.contentLoadURL = false
  • middlemouse.openNewWindow = false
  • middlemouse.paste = false

Then restart firefox

When you middle click you should now see this symbol to scroll:

enter image description here

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