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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"

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.

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

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

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"

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 (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.

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

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"

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.

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

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"

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 (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.

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

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"

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 (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.

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