Simulink zoom / scroll problem on MacBook Pro trackpad

When I two-finger scroll on my trackpad to zoom a Simulink model, it zooms in and out rapidly and erratically. Moreoever, pinch-to-zoom produces no zooming effect.

This problem was noted here:

http://lizard-spock.co.uk/blog/engineering/simulink-scroll-wheel-erratic-behaviour/

They advised disabling scroll-wheel zoom altogether with

File > Simulink Prefs > Editor defaults > Scroll wheel controls zooming preference.

However, the zoom feature is essential for fast model navigation.

I have tried twiddling various settings on the Mac Trackpad system preferences, no luck.

The following Mathworks doc claims that pinch-to-zoom and regular scroll-zoom should work, but it doesn't for me.

http://www.mathworks.com/help/simulink/ug/zooming-block-diagrams.html

Has anyone solved this?

("Use a mouse" and "just click the zoom button" are not acceptable answers, since I don't want to lug a mouse around just for Matlab and having to click a button is a crappy UI constraint on something that should be natural.)

Thanks for your help.

[Mathias Santos de Brito]

Same problem...

[Morgan]

That was actually my blog posted you linked to and 3 years later I still have the same problem, using R2016b now. Was any resolution ever found?

[juan r trapero]

same problem.

[LOL lolowy]

Is it that hard for Mathworks to fix this on mac?

[Gordon Oliver]

Mathworks, is a fix for this scheduled in a future relase? 2019 perhaps?

[William Saba]

Same issue here, new dell laptop has the same behavior as others observed, 2 finger scroll is zoom and pinch does nothing. Using control or shift allows panning but is incredibly less efficient than the normal method.

[Ashwin]

how it is zoom graph by matlab online

[Ashwin]

How to zoom graph by online matlab

[Joshua]

I am having the same problem at the moment. Its disappointing to see that this bug is ten years old now. I am using MATLAB (SIMULINK) 2024a on a 2020 M1 Macbook Air.

A restart seems to fix the issue for a few hours at least.

Answer 1

[Oladapo Akinro]

Shift + 2 fingers = horizontal scroll

Command + 2 fingers = vertical scroll

[Gordon Oliver]

Is there a way to scroll or pan the design view using the glidepad on a mac? (this is more frustrating than the pinch to zoom issue)...

[Khaled]

first one works. the second doesnt.

[Clement Hilty]

In the meantime, space+click and drag allows you to pan at any zoom level

Answer 2

[InducibleWolerines]

In R2017b, I disabled "scroll wheel zooming" via

Simulink > File > Simulink Preferences > Editor > "Scroll wheel controls zooming"

With this unchecked,

- Pinch-to-zoom does zoom, but it is delayed and suffers from low frame-rate.

- Two-finger-drag pans up/down.

- Shift-two-finger-drag pans left/right.

It would be better if two-finger-drag panned where I dragged.