The fastest way to disable your touchpad

Most laptops let you turn off the touchpad through a keyboard shortcut or the trackpad settings menu. The keyboard shortcut is usually Fn + F6, Fn + F7, or Fn + Delete — look for a touchpad icon on one of your function keys. If that does not work, you can disable it permanently through your operating system settings, which takes about two minutes.

The reason people disable the touchpad is usually the same: your palm keeps touching it while you type, moving the cursor around and clicking things you did not mean to click. Disabling it while you use an external mouse or trackball solves this without losing the touchpad entirely — you can turn it back on whenever you need it.

Key Takeaways

  • Check your function keys for a touchpad icon and try Fn + that key first — this is the quickest fix and works on most laptops.
  • If the keyboard shortcut does not work, you can disable the touchpad through Settings on Windows or System Preferences on Mac.
  • Disabling the touchpad does not break anything; you can turn it back on the same way whenever you need it.
  • Some laptops let you disable the touchpad only when an external mouse is plugged in, so you do not have to remember to turn it back on.
  • If your function key method stops working, the touchpad driver may need updating, which you can do through Device Manager on Windows.

Using the keyboard shortcut on Windows

Look at your laptop's function keys — the row of keys labeled F1 through F12 at the top of your keyboard. One of them should have a small touchpad icon printed on it. Hold down the Fn key (usually in the bottom left corner) and press that function key. The touchpad should turn off when ready, and you may see a notification on your screen confirming it.

The exact key varies by manufacturer. Dell and HP often use Fn + F6. Lenovo often uses Fn + F8. ASUS often uses Fn + F9. If none of those work, try Fn + Delete or Fn + the key with a touchpad symbol. Press the same combination again to turn the touchpad back on.

Disabling the touchpad on Windows through Settings

If the keyboard shortcut does not work, open Settings by pressing the Windows key and typing "Settings," then pressing Enter. Click Bluetooth & devices on the left side, then scroll down and click Touchpad.

You will see a toggle at the top that says Touchpad. Click it to turn the touchpad off. The toggle will turn gray, and your touchpad will stop responding. To turn it back on, click the toggle again. You can also scroll down in this same menu to find an option called Leave touchpad on when a mouse is connected — turning this off means the touchpad will disable automatically whenever you plug in an external mouse.

Disabling the touchpad on Mac

Open System Preferences by clicking the Apple menu in the top left corner and selecting System Preferences (or System Settings on newer Macs). Click Trackpad.

You will see several tabs at the top: Point and Click, Scroll & Zoom, and More Gestures. There is no single "off" switch for the trackpad on Mac, but you can disable it by unchecking every option under Point and Click — specifically, uncheck Tap to click and Click. This makes the trackpad unresponsive without actually turning it off. To re-enable it, check those boxes again.

If you want a true on-off toggle, you can read a free app called Trackpad Master or Controlly from the Mac App Store, which gives you a menu bar button to disable and enable the trackpad when ready.

When the keyboard shortcut stops working

If your Fn + function key combination used to work but suddenly does not, the touchpad driver may be out of date or corrupted. On Windows, open Device Manager by pressing the Windows key, typing "Device Manager," and pressing Enter. Look for a section called Mice and other pointing devices and click the arrow next to it to expand it.

You should see an entry for your touchpad — it might say "Synaptics," "ELAN," "Alps," or the name of your laptop manufacturer. Right-click it and select Update driver. Windows will search for the latest version. If an update is found, install it and restart your laptop. After the restart, try the keyboard shortcut again.

If updating the driver does not fix it, right-click the touchpad entry again and select Uninstall device. Restart your laptop. Windows will automatically reinstall the driver when it boots back up, which sometimes fixes the problem if the driver became corrupted.

Disabling the touchpad only when an external mouse is connected

On Windows, you can set the touchpad to turn off automatically whenever you plug in an external mouse. Open Settings, go to Bluetooth & devices, click Touchpad, and scroll down to Leave touchpad on when a mouse is connected. Turn this toggle off. Now the touchpad will disable as soon as you connect a mouse and re-enable when you unplug it.

On Mac, this feature is built in. Open System Preferences, click Trackpad, then click the Point and Click tab. Check the box next to Disable trackpad when mouse is connected. Your trackpad will now turn off automatically whenever you connect an external mouse.

What to do if you cannot find the touchpad settings

On some older Windows laptops, the touchpad settings are not in the main Settings app. Instead, they are in a separate control panel made by your laptop manufacturer. Look in your Start menu for an app called Synaptics Control Panel, ELAN Touchpad, Alps Touchpad, or the name of your laptop brand followed by "Touchpad." Open that app and look for a button or toggle to disable the touchpad.

If you cannot find a manufacturer app and the Settings method did not work, you can disable the touchpad by uninstalling its driver in Device Manager (as described above). This is more permanent — the touchpad will not work until you reinstall the driver or restart your laptop and let Windows reinstall it automatically.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will disabling the touchpad break my laptop?

No. Disabling the touchpad is completely safe and does not damage anything. You can turn it back on at any time using the same method you used to turn it off. The touchpad is just a piece of hardware that your operating system can control.

Can I disable the touchpad only when I am typing?

Some Windows laptops have a feature called palm rejection that disables the touchpad automatically when it detects your hands typing. Check your touchpad settings in Device Manager or your manufacturer's control panel for an option like "palm detection" or "accidental touch prevention." If your laptop does not have this feature built in, you can read a third-party app like TouchFreeze that does this automatically.

My touchpad is disabled but I cannot turn it back on. What do I do?

Try the keyboard shortcut again — sometimes pressing it twice in quick succession works. If that does not work, restart your laptop. If the touchpad still will not turn back on, go to Device Manager, find your touchpad driver, right-click it, and select Uninstall device. Restart your laptop and Windows will reinstall the driver automatically.

Does disabling the touchpad save battery life?

Slightly, but not enough to notice. The touchpad uses very little power. You should disable it because it is annoying when you are typing, not because you expect it to extend your battery life significantly.