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I am using Debian 8.6 LXDE on a Powerbook G4 15" 1.67GHz and would like to enable tap to click on the touchpad. It is already double scrolling but tap to click would help to save the ageing mouse button. Two fingered tap for left click would be the icing on the cake, is this possible?

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9 Answers 9

Reset to default
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Debian Jessie

To enable the touchpad tapping permanently , copy the 50-synaptics.conf file to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d then edit it by adding Option "TapButton1" "1" .

As root:

mkdir /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d cp /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf

The /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf should be:

Section "InputClass" Identifier "touchpad catchall" Driver "synaptics" MatchIsTouchpad "on" Option "TapButton1" "1" Option "TapButton2" "3"

Reboot your system

Debian Stretch and Buster (updated)

Remove the xserver-xorg-input-synaptics package. (important)

# apt remove xserver-xorg-input-synaptics

Install xserver-xorg-input-libinput:

# apt install xserver-xorg-input-libinput

In most cases, make sure you have the xserver-xorg-input-libinput package installed, and not the xserver-xorg-input-synaptics package.

As root:

create /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/

mkdir /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d

Create the 40-libinput.conf file:

echo 'Section "InputClass" Identifier "libinput touchpad catchall" MatchIsTouchpad "on" MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*" Driver "libinput" Option "Tapping" "on" EndSection' > /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf

restart your DM; e,g:

# systemctl restart lightdm

or

# systemctl restart gdm3

Debian wiki : Enable tapping on touchpad

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  • 3
    I made the directory and it worked, even two finger tap for right click. Thank you! Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 14:50
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    I think you can restart X instead of the whole system. Commented Mar 5, 2018 at 1:08
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    The stretch part is also working for buster Commented Jul 10, 2019 at 19:20
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    @BERA Thank you. Of course , I will update my answer Commented Jul 10, 2019 at 20:16
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    @GAD3R I later noticed that it was just a setting under "mouse properties" that we've missed. Thank you! Commented Oct 31, 2019 at 16:43
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In recent systems (2017) as many distros are moving to Wayland, synaptics driver is no longer used. Instead, libinput is used.

To enable tap to click on touchpad using libinput create a file in Xorg config:

$ touch /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-synaptics-overrides.conf

And add the following configuration:

Section "InputClass" Identifier "touchpad overrides" Driver "libinput" MatchIsTouchpad "on" Option "Tapping" "on" Option "TappingButtonMap" "lmr" EndSection
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    +1 as this is the only way to get tap to click working on Debian Stretch. Commented Oct 20, 2017 at 0:10
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    Worked for me (Debian Stretch, Gnome 3 X11). Also worth noting that it made more options available in Gnome's mouse setting panel (such as tap to click). Commented Oct 28, 2017 at 19:09
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    Upvoted using newly enabled tap-to-click on Debian 9.2. (Though this config did something unexpected to the touchpad's acceleration.) Commented Oct 31, 2017 at 4:02
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    @pdoherty926 Try adding Option "AccelProfile" flat, to disable pointer acceleration. Commented Oct 31, 2017 at 16:50
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    @Mephisto Try "TappingButtonMap" "lrm" This option is the mapping for 1, 2 and 3 fingers to left, right, middle click. Commented Feb 12, 2018 at 21:55
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This does the trick for me in similar situation under Debian 8.6 and LXDE:

synclient TapButton1=1

Above works if synaptics touchpad work with Synaptics Driver xserver-xorg-input-synaptics.

If you are working with libinput driver (default driver in many live images):

xinput set-prop 'SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad' 'libinput Tapping Enabled' 1

You can use xinput list-props 'SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad' to see all available properties that can be adjusted for your TouchPad.

If your system uses libinput you can use xinput to find out the name of your touchpad device if the above command doesn't work (they aren't all Synaptics). For example:

Output for xinput:

⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)] ⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)] ⎜ ↳ AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint id=11 [slave pointer (2)] ⎣ Virtual core keyboard id=3 [master keyboard (2)] ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard id=5 [slave keyboard (3)] ↳ Video Bus id=6 [slave keyboard (3)] ↳ Power Button id=7 [slave keyboard (3)] ↳ Sleep Button id=8 [slave keyboard (3)] ↳ Dell WMI hotkeys id=9 [slave keyboard (3)] ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard id=10 [slave keyboard (3)]

Command to enable clicking:

xinput set-prop 'AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint' 'libinput Tapping Enabled' 1
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    Yes that works, thank you! Is there a way to make this happen on boot? Commented Jan 13, 2017 at 9:58
  • @SimonBaldwin Try to put this line in file /etc/rc.local or to /etc/init.d/rc.local. PS: If you are happy with this answer, don't forget to accept this answer as a solution. Commented Jan 13, 2017 at 10:43
  • Tried adding to both these files but I still have to enable it manually in the terminal after each boot. Is there any other way of enabling it on boot or login? Commented Jan 13, 2017 at 17:19
  • @SimonBaldwin Give a look here : wiki.lxde.org/en/Autostart Commented Jan 13, 2017 at 23:50
  • @SimonBaldwin for two finger right click try this : $: synclient TapButton2=3 TapButton3=2. Also by running synclient you will see all the options available for touchpad. Commented Jan 14, 2017 at 0:10
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Using debian Stretch 9.5 with xfce desktop environment .

update : /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf

Add this section:

Section "InputClass" Identifier "libinput touchpad catchall" MatchIsTouchpad "on" MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*" Driver "libinput" Option "Tapping" "on" EndSection

Reboot the system and now tapping should work.

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  • I did exactly as per the answer (However I created a backup of the file sudo cp /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf{,.bak} before). And it fixed the problems with i3, sddm etc. It's on Debian 9.6. Commented Dec 2, 2018 at 15:11
  • I did exactly the same thing on Debian 10.2 XFCE and worked perfectly. I suggest you to "reboot your touchpad" device clicking the Fn+F# button if it exists. In my keyboard the button is #=6. Don't try to install another driver for your system, if you can! Commented Jan 6, 2020 at 21:58
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On Debian 9.1 (stretch) I ran in the same issue (on an asus laptop). I Used LXDE as George.

If you can't find synclient, install first :

sudo apt install xserver-xorg-input-synaptics

Then add the following line at the end of ~/.config/lxsession/LXDE/autostart:

@synclient TapButton1=1 TapButton2=3 TapButton3=2

Reboot and now you can "tap click" and "two fingers tap - right click"

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This is my synaptic xorg config and works perfectly on Debian 9.7 (stretch) with xserver-xorg-input-synaptics package.

$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/70-synaptic.conf Section "InputClass" Identifier "touchpad catchall" Driver "synaptics" MatchIsTouchpad "on" ## for natural scrolling Option "VertScrollDelta" "-111" Option "HorizScrollDelta" "-111" ## tap to click Option "TapButton1" "1" ## two finger tap to Right click Option "TapButton2" "3" EndSection
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On Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, the following simple command did the trick:

sudo apt install xserver-xorg-input-synaptics

Then reboot (or restart display manager).

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    18.04 LTS seems to default to Wayland by default, which may explain why the above command yields an unmet dependency on xserver-xorg-input-synaptics, which isn't installed because xserver-xorg-core isn't installed. I'm scared. Commented Jan 2, 2020 at 2:21
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On recent Debian - I'm running Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) - you can turn it using the settings app:

Settings > Mouse & Touchpad > Tap to Click

enter image description here

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  • I am happy to upvote your answer. If you could provide an image, even better... Commented Jun 16, 2023 at 17:59
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Tapping and other touchpad settings are configured either through XInput2 as "device properties", or through Xorg.conf as settings for the 'libinput' driver.

Replace Touchpad_Device_Name with the device name (not ID number) that you see in xinput list.

xinput set-prop "Touchpad_Device_Name" "libinput Tapping Enabled" 1

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