Frequently asked questions

SmoothScroll intercepts the Windows mouse wheel input before it reaches any application, so it works with virtually everything - Chrome, VS Code, File Explorer, Adobe apps, and more.

No. SmoothScroll runs at near-zero CPU when idle and only processes input during scroll events. Most users see no measurable battery impact.

The Windows installer is per-user with no admin rights required. It places the app under %LOCALAPPDATA% and starts it automatically. No service, driver, or network listener is installed.

Yes. SmoothScroll is a standalone executable with no service, daemon, system driver, network listeners, or telemetry. You can verify this by reading the source on GitHub.

Windows' built-in smooth scroll is app-specific and inconsistent. SmoothScroll provides a unified, configurable curve applied globally - with per-app profiles, adjustable strength, and instant toggle.

Yes. SmoothScroll respects the actual scroll delta from your hardware and applies smoothing on top. Works with all mice tested so far, including high-refresh and gaming mice.

Yes. Per-app exclusion profiles are built in. Just open the tray panel and add apps to the exclude list.

Windows 10 and Windows 11 are fully supported.

Not yet. SmoothScroll currently supports Windows 10 and 11 only. Linux support is planned; releases are announced on the GitHub Releases page.

Just delete the executable. No uninstaller needed - there is nothing else on your system.

Yes. WinUI apps ignore synthetic wheel events by default; SmoothScroll uses a force-enable hook so scrolling actually reaches them. The toggle is in Settings → Scroll.

SmoothScroll auto-detects elevated targets (admin / UAC prompts) and passes raw input through, so anti-cheat sees standard wheel ticks. No exclusions to configure.

SmoothScroll works with any mouse the OS recognises, not a vendor's hardware. It runs at the OS level, not the device-driver level, so it survives you switching peripherals.

Yes. The Reverse direction toggle is per-profile, so you can match the feel of a Mac you also use without affecting your Windows-native apps.

Yes, SmoothScroll is free for personal, educational, research, and internal use. There is no premium tier, no ads, and no feature paywall. The source is available under FSL-1.1, which converts to Apache 2.0 two years after each release.

No account, no telemetry, no analytics. Settings live locally in %APPDATA%\SmoothScroll\settings.json and logs stay on your device.

Download the installer from smoothscroll.top or the GitHub Releases page and run it. Installation is per-user with no administrator privileges required, and SmoothScroll starts automatically.

Step size sets how far each wheel notch travels, animation time sets how long the motion takes to settle, and easing sets the shape of the deceleration. Tune distance first, then duration, then curve.

Start with the defaults (144 px step, 220 ms animation, Quintic Out easing). If pages travel too far, lower step size; if motion stops too abruptly, raise animation time gradually.

Acceleration lets fast consecutive wheel ticks build momentum so flicks travel farther, capped by the max-acceleration setting. Tail-to-head ratio controls how sharp the deceleration is - higher means a quicker start with a longer slow tail.

Yes. There is a separate touchpad section in Settings with its own smoothing toggle, pixel multiplier, and acceleration factor, independent from mouse-wheel handling.

Yes. The engine emits smoothed output at 120 Hz, so motion stays fluid on high-refresh displays. Per-monitor profiles let different screens use different curves.

Profiles are named presets (for example Snappy or Slow Reading) with their own step size, animation time, and easing. You can assign a profile to a process name such as chrome.exe, so each app keeps its own feel without touching the global settings.

The default global hotkey Ctrl + Alt + S toggles smoothing system-wide without leaving your keyboard. You can rebind it in Behavior → Hotkey combination.

Yes. Pass-through Ctrl + wheel sends raw wheel ticks for zoom in browsers, VS Code, Photoshop, and Figma-style tools, and pending inertia can be cleared the instant a modifier is pressed.

No. Game mode auto-pauses the engine when a known game is in the foreground, restoring raw input for weapon switching and scope zoom. SmoothScroll never injects into game processes.

Not yet. macOS support is in progress and not published. SmoothScroll currently supports Windows 10 and 11; releases are announced on the GitHub Releases page.

It works with any mouse Windows recognises, runs as a single lightweight executable with no drivers or services, keeps per-app profiles with modifier pass-through, and ships with zero telemetry under a source-available license you can audit.

Check three things: the app isn't in your excluded-apps list, it isn't running elevated as administrator (raw input passes through there by design), and for WinUI apps the force-enable toggle in Settings → Scroll is on. Then toggle smoothing with the global hotkey to A/B test.

Use Backup & restore in the About tab to export your full settings as JSON, then import the file on the other machine. No account or sync service is involved.

No. SmoothScroll has its own step-size control, so you can leave the Windows wheel setting alone and tune the smoothing layer directly.