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I used to be able to hold down CTRL and zoom by scrolling the mousewheel, but that is not longer possible on Mavericks.

I've searched around and found many people saying it's in System Preferences → Accessibility, typically accompanied by an image like this:

Scroll gesture to zoom in Accesibility

Unfortunately, that's not how my Accessibility window looks. All I get is this (and no, it's not under More Options):No scroll gesture to zoom in Accesibility

Naturally, I tried searching in System Preferences, too:

Zoom search in System Preferences

Excitedly, I click Mouse, just to get disappointed:

Mouse window in System Preferences

There's nothing under Trackpad, either:

Trackpad window in System Preferences

So what's wrong? Where did it go? Why does it show up on some Mavericks installations, but not mine? I have the newest version of Maverick (10.9, 13A603) made from a clean installation. Can it be because other people have upgraded from a previous version of OS X that had the feature?

kba
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  • You have the public version right? Not the beta version? Mine has the option to do that, and I have the public version. Maybe you could try restarting your computer and see if that would help – user2277872 Dec 06 '13 at 00:36
  • Yes, I've downloaded it from App Store. I've had this installation for more than a mont, but I've previously just dismissed this minor inconvenience, so restarting won't help, I'm afraid. – kba Dec 06 '13 at 01:47
  • What kind of a Mac are you running Mavericks on? The only thing I can think of is that it's a hardware thing... in that your hardware configuration does not support this feature, therefore it will not be shown to you in System Preferences. Old Mac? Desktop? Laptop? Magic Trackpad? Etc... – Sam Dec 06 '13 at 03:39
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    Did you install Mavericks from a clean disk or did you upgrade from your previous system ? I had a **lot** of issues until I format and re-install completely Mavericks (using a TimeMachine backup to recover my personnal data) – lauhub Dec 06 '13 at 09:26
  • @Sam I had the feature when I rean Mountain Lion, so it's not a hardware issue. Besides, it allows me to zoom using keyboard shortcuts and such, so it definitely can't be that. – kba Dec 06 '13 at 13:51
  • @lauhub Yes, it's a clean installation. – kba Dec 06 '13 at 13:51
  • what computer are you running kba? this on multiple systems? – Andrew U. Dec 13 '13 at 14:58
  • Still a problem in 2016 on El Capitan and a standard, classing, CORRECT size HP optical scroll mouse (and no non-Apple drivers) – Steve Aug 20 '16 at 00:46

5 Answers5

13

Press ⌘ command+⌥ option+F5, then select Enable zoom scroll gestures.

kba
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user75761
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  • I don't know why anybody would downvote this, because it does in fact work. Thank you! :) – kba Apr 15 '14 at 14:49
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    Perfect! ty. (why does apple keep disabling my most used shortcuts!) – Justin May 07 '14 at 15:25
  • This omission has been driving me crazy ever since I got this particular Macbook. My old 2009 Macbook has always had this feature. In fact, I thought it was a hardware feature of the video card. – gbarry Oct 14 '17 at 20:33
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OS X thinks that the mouse you are using doesn't have a scroll wheel.

Kevin Chen
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  • That seems to be the obvious explanation. Since the OP says there is a scroll wheel, it's not certain what brand mouse or how it connects from the current version of the question. @kba - Can you edit in your mouse hardware and whether the scroll button works normally? – bmike Dec 13 '13 at 19:09
  • I'm using the Microsoft IntelliPoint driver and the scroll whell worls perfectly everywhere else (Chrome, Safari, Finder, Terminal, iTerm, etc.). Edit: My mouose is an Microsoft IntelliMouse 3.0. – kba Dec 14 '13 at 02:24
  • Same feature is available on the track pad with ctrl + two-finger drag. When enabled (!) – gbarry Oct 14 '17 at 20:34
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I'm here years later after returning to my MacBook Air and finding this zoom feature missing. Type in "zoom" in System Preferences search and picked the "zoom to enlarge screen" option from the list and it took me right there!

grg
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Harley Jones
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  • Unfortunately, this zooms my entire desktop when I just want to enlarge a webpage/picture/etc in a web browser most of the time to make it easier to read/view. But it does turn zoom with the keyboard modifier and scrollbar on. – Kmeixner May 09 '18 at 21:00
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I've just spent several hours on chat and phone to Apple support about this issue on a brand new iMac, with a clean Mavericks installation and a three year old Mac Mini with an upgraded Mavericks installation.

The common thread between the two machines (neither of which show this missing option) is that they both have, or used to have, the Microsoft Intellitype/Intellipoint drivers.

My iMac is having issues forgetting about these drivers on boot/wake from sleep/when the moon is half-full, and it seems like maybe they've interfered with the way Mavericks determined the scroll ability of the mouse.

I started setting up the iMac with an Apple wireless magic mouse, but reverting to that doesn't make the option appear in Accessibility either.

Apple are escalating this to an engineering team: if I get any answers, I'll post back.

IanW
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  • I do in fact have the Microsoft Mouse driver for my Microsoft IntelliPoint 3.0 mouse installed as evident from the screenshot in my post, so that seems very plausible. Thank you for your answer! – kba Jan 26 '14 at 20:23
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You started on the correct screen but you have to go a step further and hit the OPTIONS button on the lower right of the preference panel. It should take you where you need to go.

Polly Fougerousse
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  • This question is 5 years old and I'm no longer on Mavericks, so I can't show you a screenshot, but I specifically wrote that it is _not_ in the Options window. – kba Nov 29 '18 at 08:54