Mac Touchpad drag release delay
So I recently bought a new MacBook Pro, and it’s a great machine. There are only a few minor ‘features’ that really bother me, one of them is the release delay that occurs when you use the ‘tap-to-click’ option and try to drag things around. This is especially bothersome when moving windows around or selecting text. What happens is this: once you dragged around and release the touchpad, it takes a second (maybe more) to actually release the object. If you use the trackpad before that, you just keep dragging (or selecting). Now for some people this may be nice, but my mind really doesn’t need a second to realize I stopped dragging.
So Apple doesn’t want you to configure this delay, or disable it. The solution however is simple with the use of a small program: BetterTouchTool (recommended for other options too). What this does is replace the original gesture driver and add a bit more functionality. It can be downloaded here: http://blog.boastr.net/?page_id=1722
Open and install it, choose if you want it to update automatically and start tuning! If you only use it for the drag delay feature, like I did, ignore the big black arrow saying ‘Click here to start!’ or something similar. Just look for the ‘advanced’ tab at the upper left corner and after clicking that, the ‘Trackpad’ tab in the upper right corner. Now you see the trackpad options. The bottom option is very small and says ‘Activate experimental dragging…bla…bla…bla’ this is the option you want. Click it, close the window and you’re good to go. Fixed a problem in under five minutes that Apple doesn’t even look at after five years.
Thanks man. This is the way forward. I was getting frustrated about this “drag delay” feature.
I can’t believe that so many people just get on with it. But there you go. Love makes blind (German proverb).
Kewl!! Thanks for posting this. It is _the_ only thing my MacBook did worse than the Windows computers I had to use for years and years. I wholeheartedly second the notion that Apple should include this functionality as an option in the OS by default.