Synaptics touchpad tap-to-click is not working in Ubuntu 15.10(Gnome)

Question

I upgraded my ubuntu gnome installation to 15.10 and everything is kinda good except for the touchpad single-tap functionality. Single-tap-to-click is not working. And I have tried all possible solutions like editing synaptics.conf file.

One thing that I noticed is the following, which is kinda strange. For every input device the schema has an original and deprecated entry but for touchpad it just has deprecated. Is this the cause?

I don't know how to resolve this issue. Please help!

org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.input-devices 
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.keyboard 
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.keyboard.deprecated:/
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.mouse 
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.mouse.deprecated:/
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.smartcard 
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.touchpad.deprecated:/
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.touchscreen 
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.trackball.deprecated:/
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.wacom:/
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.wacom.eraser:/
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.wacom.stylus:/
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.wacom.tablet-button:/

Below is the screenshot of my mouse&touchpad settings:

Also, my synclient results are like,

$ synclient | grep TapButton

TapButton1   = 0  
TapButton2   = 0  
TapButton3   = 0  

my xinput command yields the following,

$ xinput list
Virtual core pointer              id=2  [master pointer  (3)]  
 ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer        id=4   [slave  pointer  (2)]  
 ↳ SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad        id=12  [slave  pointer  (2)]  
 ↳ MCE IR Keyboard/Mouse (ene_ir)    id=13  [slave  pointer  (2)]  
Virtual core keyboard             id=3  [master keyboard (2)]  
 ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard    id=5  [slave  keyboard (3)]  
 ↳ Power Button                   id=6  [slave  keyboard (3)]  
 ↳ Video Bus                      id=7  [slave  keyboard (3)]  
 ↳ Power Button                   id=8  [slave  keyboard (3)]  
 ↳ Sleep Button                   id=9  [slave  keyboard (3)]  

Results of xinput list-props 12 command:

Solution 1

I finally found a fix to solve my problem:

I added the following line to my bashrc so that it can compile every time I log in.

synclient TapButton1=1 TapButton2=3 TapButton3=2

Although not a pretty hack, but it works fine. Hope the community fixes the bug..

---

Update: This hack seems to work fine in Ubuntu 17.04 also, which means the bug isn't fixed yet by the community.

P.S. Also see this great solution

Solution 2

Open a terminal by pressing ctrl+alt+t and type:

synclient TapButton1=1 TapButton2=3 TapButton3=2

it worked for me...

Solution 3

Have you updated the mouse settings? After updating I had the same issue, but it was just that tap to click had been disabled.

Otherwise, according to this thread it could be worth logging out and back in.

Solution 4

I had same problem in Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 and solved it with similar technique mentioned in Eliah Kagan's answer which was adapted from a comment but with some differences:

1. Launch "dconf Editor" app. (if not installed, run: sudo apt-get install dconf-tools)

2. Go to: org→gnome→desktop→peripherals→touchpad

3. Enable tap-to-click.

Solution 5

I had same problem, after I upgraded to ubuntu GNOME wily werewolf. so I make custom shortcut in keyboard for getting back functionality of touchpad, just fill synclient TapButton1=1 on command also fill the name form then choose your favorite keyboard combinations. it's fine enough for a while and wait for update.

View more solutions

Comments

[christopherlovell]

Answers here suggest that your touchpad may be recognised as a mouse. Some of the solutions listed could help

[christopherlovell]

Did you try any of the approaches in the link? xinput has obviously identified the touchpad, but gnome hasn't, so the synaptics drivers are probably functioning incorrectly or are not linked

[kmario23]

I tried all of the fixes but nothing works for me :(

[Pilot6]

Please edit your question and add output of xinput list-props 12 terminal command.

[Pilot6]

Why post a picture? You could post it as text. And it is not full.

[kmario23]

It's way too huge text to type. I have a couple of device IDs left but it won't be relevant

[christopherlovell]

You can copy the text from a terminal using Ctrl + c. It makes it easier to read your question on mobile devices. And please post the whole output; if it's very long, post in a [gist](gist.github.com) and link to it

[kmario23]

Thanks! But I don't see those three options[tap to click, two finger scroll, natural scrolling] under touchpad. But scrolling and everything works fine but tap-to-click does not

[kmario23]

can you please tell me the procedure to update the settings?

[christopherlovell]

move your mouse to the top right, click on the settings button, go to mouse & touchpad , settings should be there

[kmario23]

I don't see that option there. Please see updated question.

[kmario23]

thanks! But if i do that, tap to click works but scrolling doesn't. any suggestions?

[kmario23]

Thanks! But it doesn't work after a reboot. is there a way to make it permanent?

[Darael]

@kmario23 at a guess, you'll need to set synaptics driver module options. Unfortunately I'm on mobile and can't easily confirm that or look up how to do it, but hopefully that gives an idea where to start.

[Gabe Kopley]

Thanks! This answer helped me make it persistent: askubuntu.com/a/772094

[mzzzzb]

since you have found a working setting it is better way is to override synaptics touchpad configuration at /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/70-synaptics.conf as outlined here

[Ben Winding]

Brilliant, this worked Ubuntu 17.04

[kmario23]

works like a charm!!

[Seung]

I met a similar problem after installing 18.04. It seems that since my mouse was connected during install, the system saw touchpad as a mouse also. Editing the wanted settings with this method and rebooting without my mouse connected fixed it.

[alireza]

not work in gnome shell 41