Ubuntu 11.10 install on Macbook has no right click

[Mark East]

I installed the latest build of Ubuntu 11.10 today on my Macbook air and although my trackpad has the ability to right click in OS X it doesn't work in Ubuntu. I have to plug an external mouse in to get it working which makes the install effectively useless as I don't want to carry a mouse around with me. By default on Mac OS X there is no right click but it can be turned on in the trackpad configuration options, so I know it is possible. There are 2 options to fixing this as far as I can see, one is to enable the right click to happen when pressing down on the right side of the trackpad and/or implement a secondary click by pressing the left ctrl or cmd key and click like in Mac OS X. This will then provide a familiar interface for Mac users when making the move to Ubuntu making the transition easier. This is quite critical as it is the only thing that is really stopping this install being perfect as it works exceptionally well on my Macbook Air other than that!

[Mark East (feasty)]

Ah I've literally (after an hour or two of trying) just figured it out just after filing this report. You have to click on the trackpad with 2 fingers to get a right click. This still needs to be made clear in the trackpad UI as I was completely lost as googling didn't return anything. This infact is actually the same way as it is implemented in Mac OS X.

[Mark East (feasty)]

There is no way to emulate a middle click though...

[Mark East (feasty)]

For those that want to know I have found how to do a right click and middle click on the touchpad:

For right click: Click down with 2 fingers
For middle click: Click down with 3 fingers

This option could still be made configurable to allow users to change right click to be a click on the bottom right of the screen. I personally prefer the currently implemented method though.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[uMac (uvaio)]

And another one is right click drag which is used for example in 3D software for moving scene around. Right click on mac is with two fingers but if you drag after clicking it becomes scrolling instead of right click dragging. Scrolling should happen only if there was no click before otherwise it should be right click dragging.

[Daisy Li. (daisy-li1989)]

I have the same problem. I can't config it coz there is even not a touchpad tab for me.

[Benjamin Rood (benisrood)]

I don't know if people are still having this problem, but the only way I have found that works is using 'synclient'

At the shell type the following (ignore the '$' obviously):

$ syncilent

this will bring up all of the parameters in a long list. The ones you want start with 'RightButtonArea'. By default these are all set to '0' - i.e. right click/right button emulation is not enabled.

Believe it or not, If you want to use the right hand side of the trackpad for right clicking, I have found that you enable 'RightButtonAreaLeft' ON, rather than 'RightButtonAreaRight' which would be the more logical choice. So in the shell type the following:

$ synclient RightButtonAreaLeft=1

This works for me repeatedly on multiple distros, including 13.10 Saucy Salamander daily build in September 9th 2013.

[Ben (7-ben-a)]

I installed Lubuntu 16.04 on my MacbookPro8,3 17" from 2011 and had to use "synclient RightButtonAreaLeft=1" to activate rightclick. Thanks!