Using a Chromebook Touchpad

Single click or tap functions 

By simply touching the touchpad with a short tap, or pushing down to hear a click you can: 

• One finger – select (left mouse click) 
• *Two fingers – find additional options (right mouse click) 
• Three fingers – open or close a tab 

*This is the most common gesture that teachers and students struggle to find!

Swipe left or right functions 

Swiping your fingers across the touchpad to the left or to the right allows you to: 

• One finger – move the cursor left and right 
• Two fingers – navigate/ switch between pages in a file 
• Three fingers – navigate/ switch between tabs on a browser 
• Four fingers- navigate/ switch between virtual desktops  

Swipe up or down functions. 

Swiping your fingers along the touchpad up or down allows you to: 

• One finger – move the cursor up and down 
• Two fingers – scroll up and down the page 
• Three fingers – see all windows (apps) that are open 

Click, hold and drag 

Clicking and holding with one hand or finger and dragging across the touchpad with the other allows you to move items or resize items. 

Pinch and Pull 

• Pinching your fingers together – zooms out to make the items on the screen look smaller. 
• Pull apart – zooms in to make the items on the screen bigger.

I hope these tips help you to master the touchpad on your Chromebook and enable you to use the gesture functions to improve your workflows. 

See the below image if you are more of a visual learner and share with your students to empower them with new skills too!