{"id":34008,"date":"2021-06-20T16:24:18","date_gmt":"2021-06-20T16:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/?p=34008"},"modified":"2024-06-12T07:47:51","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T07:47:51","slug":"multi-touch-gestures-ubuntu-20-04","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/2021\/06\/multi-touch-gestures-ubuntu-20-04\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Enable \/ Configure Multi-Touch Gestures in Ubuntu 20.04"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchegg-icon-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-35870\" src=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchegg-icon-1-250x250.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchegg-icon-1-250x250.png 250w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchegg-icon-1-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchegg-icon-1-600x600.png 600w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchegg-icon-1-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchegg-icon-1.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This simple tutorial shows how to enable &amp; configure the multi-touch gestures in <b>Ubuntu 22.04<\/b>\u00a0using touchegg.<\/p>\n<p><b>NOTE: This tutorial also works in Ubuntu 22.04, but only on Xorg session. In login screen, select username, and click bottom right gear button to make switch.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>For those running Ubuntu on laptop or PC with external touchpad, multi-finger gestures enable users with more actions to control your system.<\/p>\n<p>Since Ubuntu does not offer a utility to configure multi-touch functions, touchegg is a free open-source tool to enable this feature for you. And it supports for both <b>global gestures<\/b> or gestures for <i>Firefox<\/i>, <i>Chromium<\/i>, <i>Google Chrome<\/i> only.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchpad-featureimage.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-34010\" src=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchpad-featureimage-600x373.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"373\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchpad-featureimage-600x373.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchpad-featureimage-300x187.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchpad-featureimage-768x478.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchpad-featureimage.jpg 1100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h4>Touch\u00e9gg Enables Touchpad Gestures include:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Swipe up, down, left, and right with 3 fingers and\/or 4 fingers.<\/li>\n<li>Pinch in \/ out with 2, 3, and\/or 4 fingers.<\/li>\n<li>Tap with 2, 3, 4, and\/or 5 fingers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Actions you can set for touchpad gesture:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Minimize, Maximize, Restore, Close a window.<\/li>\n<li>Tile a window.<\/li>\n<li>Toggle full-screen.<\/li>\n<li>Switch desktop.<\/li>\n<li>Show desktop.<\/li>\n<li>Execute a command.<\/li>\n<li>Specify a keyboard shortcut, e.g., to open terminal, switch workspace, toggle activities overview.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Step 1: How to Install Touch\u00e9gg Service in Ubuntu via PPA:<\/h3>\n<p>The software has an <a href=\"https:\/\/launchpad.net\/~touchegg\/+archive\/ubuntu\/stable\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">official PPA<\/a> which so far supports for Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 20, and higher.<\/p>\n<p>1.) Firstly open terminal from system application launcher and run command to add the PPA:<\/p>\n<pre style=\"border: none;\">sudo add-apt-repository ppa:touchegg\/stable<\/pre>\n<p><i>Type user password, no asterisk feedback, when it asks and hit Enter to continue.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchegg-ppa.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-34011\" src=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchegg-ppa-600x214.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"214\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchegg-ppa-600x214.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchegg-ppa-300x107.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchegg-ppa.jpg 752w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>2.) Next run command to install the touchegg service via command:<\/p>\n<pre style=\"border: none;\">sudo apt install touchegg<\/pre>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/apt-touchegg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-34012\" src=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/apt-touchegg-600x175.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"175\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/apt-touchegg-600x175.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/apt-touchegg-300x88.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/apt-touchegg.jpg 763w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The service should run automatically once you installed it. To verify the status, run command:<\/p>\n<pre>systemctl status touchegg.service<\/pre>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchegg-status.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-34444\" src=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchegg-status.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"223\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchegg-status.png 600w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touchegg-status-300x112.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It should show you &#8216;<i>active (running)<\/i>&#8216;. If not, try to enable and start the service:<\/p>\n<pre>systemctl enable touchegg.service &amp;&amp; systemctl start touchegg.service<\/pre>\n<h3>Step 2: Install Graphical Configuration tool: Touch\u00e9<\/h3>\n<p><b>UPDATE (Nov 2021)<\/b>: It&#8217;s not a good idea in my own opinion, but they did it. The project does no longer provide native <i>DEB<\/i> package for the graphical configuration tool &#8216;<b>Touch\u00e9<\/b>&#8216;, though still maintains Ubuntu PPA with the package for the Touch\u00e9gg system service. Some user do not like Flatpak since it requires hundreds of MB runtime libraries, while the app itself is only few dozen MB. For choice, <b>you may use the GNOME Extension instead<\/b>, see the link in bottom!<\/p>\n<p>Now the project offers the graphical tool via universal Flatpak package runs in sandbox.<\/p>\n<p>1.) Firstly, press <b>Ctrl+Alt+T<\/b> on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to install the flatpak daemon first:<\/p>\n<pre>sudo apt install flatpak<\/pre>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/apt-flatpak.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-10296\" src=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/apt-flatpak-600x102.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"102\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/apt-flatpak-600x102.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/apt-flatpak-450x77.jpg 450w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/apt-flatpak.jpg 705w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>2.) Next, run command to install the configuration tool via Flatpak:<\/p>\n<pre>flatpak install https:\/\/dl.flathub.org\/repo\/appstream\/com.github.joseexposito.touche.flatpakref<\/pre>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/flatpak-installtouche.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-35867\" src=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/flatpak-installtouche.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/flatpak-installtouche.png 600w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/flatpak-installtouche-300x143.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Finally <i>restart your system<\/i> is required to make multi-touch work!<\/p>\n<h3>Step 3: Enable\/Configure Multi-Touch Gestures<\/h3>\n<p>After restarted your system, <b>search for and launch touch\u00e9 from <i>Activities<\/i> overview<\/b>. When it opens, enable one or more finger gestures as you prefer. Then choose an action from the drop-down box.<\/p>\n<p>Turn on the slider icons as you prefer, and select an action to do from the drop-down box. You may also simulate a keyboard shortcut, such as &#8220;<i>Super<\/i>&#8221; key to toggle overview and &#8220;<i>Super+Pageup\/Pagedn<\/i>&#8221; to switch workspace.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touche-conf.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-35869\" src=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touche-conf-600x400.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touche-conf-600x400.webp 600w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touche-conf-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touche-conf-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/touche-conf.webp 1157w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The changes in touche apply immediately. And there&#8217;s also <a href=\"https:\/\/extensions.gnome.org\/extension\/4033\/x11-gestures\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gnome Extension<\/a> to enable multi-touch gestures on X11. For more, see <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/JoseExposito\/touchegg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">touchegg on github<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Step 4: Install Extension (for GNOME only)<\/h3>\n<p>For the default GNOME desktop with Xorg session, you also need to install an extension to make the multi-touch gestures work.<\/p>\n<p>To do so, first open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install the agent package:<\/p>\n<pre>sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell<\/pre>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/apt-chrome-gnomeshell.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-44102\" src=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/apt-chrome-gnomeshell-600x232.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"232\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/apt-chrome-gnomeshell-600x232.webp 600w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/apt-chrome-gnomeshell-300x116.webp 300w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/apt-chrome-gnomeshell-768x297.webp 768w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/apt-chrome-gnomeshell-1320x510.webp 1320w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/apt-chrome-gnomeshell.webp 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Then, go to the link page below, and use ON\/OFF switch to install the extension for X11.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons aligncenter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-fill\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-vivid-cyan-blue-to-vivid-purple-gradient-background has-text-color has-background\" href=\"https:\/\/extensions.gnome.org\/extension\/4033\/x11-gestures\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">X11 Gestures<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><i>If you don&#8217;t see the toggle switch, install browser extension (it should prompt you via link in the page) and refresh.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/x11-guestures-browser.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-46705\" src=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/x11-guestures-browser-700x443.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"610\" height=\"386\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/x11-guestures-browser-700x443.webp 700w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/x11-guestures-browser-300x190.webp 300w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/x11-guestures-browser-768x486.webp 768w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/x11-guestures-browser.webp 1077w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Finally, log out and back in, or restart computer to apply change.<\/p>\n<h3>Uninstall Touch\u00e9gg:<\/h3>\n<p>To remove the Touch\u00e9gg service, open terminal and run command:<\/p>\n<pre>sudo apt remove --autoremove touchegg<\/pre>\n<p>And remove the Ubuntu PPA via command:<\/p>\n<pre>sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:touchegg\/stable<\/pre>\n<p>For the graphical configuration tool Touch\u00e9, remove it via command:<\/p>\n<pre>flatpak uninstall --delete-data com.github.joseexposito.touche<\/pre>\n<p>You may also run <code>flatpak uninstall --unused<\/code> to clean up disk space.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This simple tutorial shows how to enable &amp; configure the multi-touch gestures in Ubuntu 22.04\u00a0using touchegg. NOTE: This tutorial also works in Ubuntu 22.04, but only on Xorg session. In login screen, select username, and click bottom right gear button to make switch. For those running Ubuntu on laptop or PC with external touchpad, multi-finger [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2042],"class_list":["post-34008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-howtos","tag-touchpad-gestures"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}