Arch Linux

useraddition

Member

Registered: 2013-06-07

Posts: 144

How do I change the mouse pointer speed and scrolling to slow it down?

Hi I am trying to lower my mouse speed pointer and mouse scrolling speed in xinput this is my parameters:

$ xinput list
⎡ Virtual core pointer                          id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Logitech M325                             id=11   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ ELAN0521:01 04F3:31B1 Mouse               id=13   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ ELAN0521:01 04F3:31B1 Touchpad            id=14   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                         id=3    [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard               id=5    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Acer Wireless Radio Control               id=6    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                 id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=9    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                              id=10   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ HD User Facing: HD User Facing            id=12   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard              id=15   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Acer WMI hotkeys                          id=16   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Logitech M325                             id=17   [slave  keyboard (3)]

]$ xinput --list-props 13
Device 'ELAN0521:01 04F3:31B1 Mouse':
        Device Enabled (202):   1
        Coordinate Transformation Matrix (204): 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
        libinput Natural Scrolling Enabled (330):       0
        libinput Natural Scrolling Enabled Default (331):       0
        libinput Scroll Methods Available (332):        0, 0, 1
        libinput Scroll Method Enabled (333):   0, 0, 1
        libinput Scroll Method Enabled Default (334):   0, 0, 1
        libinput Button Scrolling Button (335): 3
        libinput Button Scrolling Button Default (336): 3
        libinput Button Scrolling Button Lock Enabled (337):    0
        libinput Button Scrolling Button Lock Enabled Default (338):    0
        libinput Accel Speed (341):     0.000000
        libinput Accel Speed Default (342):     0.000000
        libinput Accel Profiles Available (343):        1, 1, 1
        libinput Accel Profile Enabled (344):   1, 0, 0
        libinput Accel Profile Enabled Default (345):   1, 0, 0
        libinput Accel Custom Fallback Points (346):    <no items>
        libinput Accel Custom Fallback Step (347):      0.000000
        libinput Accel Custom Motion Points (348):      <no items>
        libinput Accel Custom Motion Step (349):        0.000000
        libinput Accel Custom Scroll Points (350):      <no items>
        libinput Accel Custom Scroll Step (351):        0.000000
        libinput Left Handed Enabled (352):     0
        libinput Left Handed Enabled Default (353):     0
        libinput Send Events Modes Available (315):     1, 0
        libinput Send Events Mode Enabled (316):        0, 0
        libinput Send Events Mode Enabled Default (317):        0, 0
        Device Node (318):      "/dev/input/event17"
        Device Product ID (319):        1267, 12721
        libinput Drag Lock Buttons (354):       <no items>
        libinput Horizontal Scroll Enabled (355):       1
        libinput Scrolling Pixel Distance (356):        15
        libinput Scrolling Pixel Distance Default (357):        15
        libinput High Resolution Wheel Scroll Enabled (358):    1

I tryed several things in xinput --set-prop but I didn't know any changes to the speed to slow it down please help thanks.

ntb314

Member

Registered: 2025-02-13

Posts: 27

Re: How do I change the mouse pointer speed and scrolling to slow it down?

Hi! I see you’re trying to slow down your mouse pointer and scrolling speed using xinput. From the properties you posted, the key setting that affects pointer speed is usually libinput Accel Speed, but afaik it only accepts values between -1 (slowest) and 1 (fastest).

Since your current libinput Accel Speed is 0.000000, you can try lowering it to a negative value to slow down the pointer. For example, to set it halfway slower, run:

xinput --set-prop 13 "libinput Accel Speed" -0.5

You can experiment with values from -1 (slowest) up to 0.

For scrolling speed, it’s a bit trickier because libinput doesn’t provide a direct property for scroll speed in xinput. However, you might try tweaking the scroll pixel distance to affect scroll sensitivity:

xinput --set-prop 13 "libinput Scrolling Pixel Distance" 30

Increasing that number may slow down scrolling a bit, but support can vary by device.

If that doesn’t help enough, i would try adjusting mouse acceleration or speed through your desktop environment’s settings (depending what you're running KDE, GNOME etc....), or by using other tools like imwheel for example for fine-grained scroll speed control.

Hope this helped, cheers!