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Complete walkthrough

See how SmoothScroll actually works

A page-by-page tour of every tab, every setting, and every keyboard shortcut - so you can dial in the exact scroll feel you want.

Download SmoothScrollJump to keyboard shortcuts

Every tab, every setting - recorded in real time · Tip: each tab gets its own tour below.

The big picture

Three steps run for every wheel tick - 120 times a second.

1. Intercept

A low-level hook (Windows WH_MOUSE_LL / macOS CGEventTap) catches each raw wheel event before any app sees it.

2. Smooth

An eased curve - Exponential, Cubic, Quintic, or Linear - interpolates the delta over your animation window. Acceleration stacks momentum if you scroll quickly.

3. Emit

Synthetic wheel events fire at 120 Hz to the foreground app. Excluded apps and games skip the engine and pass through untouched.

Every tab in the app

Open Settings (left-click the tray icon) to follow along. The order below matches the sidebar.

Scroll

The main feel controls. Six one-click presets cover 90% of use cases - or dive into the sliders for fine-tuning.

Easing curves

Click a curve to highlight it.
1.00.50t

Enable

Master toggle. Off = native OS scroll, on = SmoothScroll engine.

Quick A/B without uninstalling. Also bound to your global hotkey.

Range
On / Off
Default
On
Use the global hotkey (Ctrl+Alt+S) to flip this without leaving your keyboard.

Step size

Pixels scrolled per wheel notch.

Bigger = covers more page per click; smaller = finer control.

Range
10–500 px
Default
144 px
Drop to 96 for code review, raise to 200 for long PDFs.

Animation time

How long each scroll movement takes to settle.

Longer = silkier glide; shorter = snappier response.

Range
50–1500 ms
Default
220 ms
Anything under 120 ms feels almost native; over 300 ms feels mac-trackpad-y.

Smooth easing

Apply an easing curve to each movement. Off = linear ramp.

Easing is what makes scroll feel natural instead of robotic.

Range
On / Off
Default
On

Easing curve

Four shapes - Exponential Out, Cubic Out, Quintic Out, Linear.

Each curve decelerates differently. Quintic feels mac-like; Linear feels purely mechanical.

Range
Exponential / Cubic / Quintic / Linear
Default
Quintic Out
Try Quintic if you want the longest, smoothest tail.

Reverse direction

Inverts wheel direction (natural-style, like macOS).

Match a Mac you also use, or just preference.

Range
On / Off
Default
Off

Smooth horizontal scrolling

Apply smoothing to tilt-wheel and Shift+wheel scrolls.

Wide spreadsheets, timelines, image strips.

Range
On / Off
Default
On

Shift converts to horizontal

Holding Shift while scrolling becomes horizontal scroll.

Useful when your mouse has no tilt-wheel.

Range
On / Off
Default
On

Devices

Fine-tuning for precision touchpads - separate from mouse-wheel handling.

Smooth touchpad scrolling

Apply easing to high-resolution precision touchpad input.

Touchpads emit pixel-level deltas; this smooths them too.

Range
On / Off
Default
On

Pixel multiplier

Scale raw touchpad pixel deltas before smoothing.

Match touchpad sensitivity to your mouse wheel.

Range
0.5–3.0×
Default
1.0×

Acceleration factor

Boost large two-finger flicks. 0 disables acceleration entirely.

Lets quick flicks travel farther while small drags stay precise.

Range
0–3
Default
1

Advanced

The deep-tuning pane. Touch when defaults don't quite match your hand.

Acceleration window

Time window during which consecutive notches stack momentum.

Lets quick flicks scroll farther without faster ticks.

Range
0–300 ms
Default
70 ms
Higher = more momentum buildup. Set to 0 to disable acceleration.

Max acceleration

Hard cap on the acceleration multiplier.

Prevents runaway speed during fast spinning.

Range
1–20×
Default
10×

Tail to head ratio

How sharp the deceleration curve is.

Higher = quicker initial speed, longer slow tail.

Range
1–20
Default
3

Pass-through Ctrl + wheel

When Ctrl is held, send raw wheel ticks (no smoothing).

Photoshop, Figma, browsers, VS Code use Ctrl+wheel for zoom - smoothing would lag the zoom.

Range
On / Off
Default
On

Pass-through Alt + wheel

When Alt is held, send raw wheel ticks.

Premiere, DAWs, and timeline editors zoom or scrub with Alt+wheel.

Range
On / Off
Default
Off

Clear inertia on modifier

Stop pending smooth scroll the instant Ctrl/Alt is pressed.

Makes zoom feel instant after a smooth scroll.

Range
On / Off
Default
On

Edge auto-scroll

Auto-scroll when the cursor enters a screen-edge zone.

Hands-free scrolling when you're already drag-and-dropping.

Range
On / Off + zone size + max speed
Default
Off
Pair with a modifier requirement to avoid accidental triggers.

Apps

Per-application overrides. Different apps deserve different feel.

Scroll profiles

Named presets - e.g. Mac-like, Snappy, Slow Reading - each with its own step size, animation time, and easing.

Avoid retuning the global slider every time you switch tasks.

Range
Unlimited
Default
None
Build profiles around how an app is used, not what it is. 'Long-form reading' applies to PDFs, books, and articles alike.

Per-app assignments

Map a process name (e.g. chrome.exe) to a specific profile.

Chrome can glide while VS Code stays snappy.

Range
Unlimited
Default
None

Excluded apps

Apps that bypass SmoothScroll entirely.

Some apps (anti-cheat, specialty tools) prefer raw wheel input.

Range
Unlimited
Default
None

Game mode

Auto-disable smoothing whenever a known game is in the foreground.

Auto-disable in games

Pauses the engine while any process from the games list is focused.

Games need raw scroll input - for weapon switching, zoom scopes, etc.

Range
On / Off
Default
On

Known games list

Editable list of process names that trigger Game mode.

Add your own games; remove false positives.

Range
Unlimited
Default
Curated default list

Behavior

How the app itself behaves on launch, in the tray, and when you press the hotkey.

Global hotkey

System-wide shortcut to toggle smoothing on/off.

Flip without alt-tabbing into Settings.

Range
On / Off
Default
On

Hotkey combination

Click the field, then press the keys you want.

Avoid clashing with other apps you use.

Range
Any modifier+key combo
Default
Ctrl+Alt+S

Start with Windows / macOS

Launches SmoothScroll on login.

Set-and-forget - smooth scroll from the first second of every session.

Range
On / Off
Default
Off

Start minimized to tray

Skip the settings window on launch.

Pair with Start with Windows for a fully background experience.

Range
On / Off
Default
On

Respect system Reduce Motion

Three modes - Auto (follow OS), Always instant, Always smooth.

Honor accessibility preferences automatically.

Range
Auto / Always instant / Always smooth
Default
Auto

About

Version, updates, backup, and local stats - the housekeeping tab.

Version & updates

Check for and install signed updates.

Stay on the latest fixes without hunting for downloads.

Range
Manual / Auto
Default
Manual check

Backup & restore

Export your full settings as JSON, import on another machine.

Move presets between PCs without redoing every slider.

Range
JSON file
Default
-

Local stats

Sessions and total usage time, computed on-device only.

See how much you've used SmoothScroll. Nothing is uploaded.

Range
-
Default
-

Open log folder

Opens %APPDATA%\SmoothScroll\logs (or ~/Library/Logs/SmoothScroll on macOS).

Useful when filing a bug report.

Range
-
Default
-

Re-run setup wizard

Reopens the 3-step onboarding.

Reset to a known-good preset if you've over-tweaked.

Range
-
Default
-

Keyboard shortcuts

Press these from anywhere on your system, or only inside the settings window - the Scope column tells you which.

ActionKeys
Toggle smooth scrolling on / offCtrl+Alt+S
Open settings windowLeft-click tray icon
Open quick menu (Enable, Settings, Logs, Quit)Right-click tray icon
Show keyboard cheatsheet?
Move focus between controlsTab / Shift + Tab
Adjust focused sliderArrow keys
Toggle focused switchSpace
Close dialog / cheatsheetEsc
Pass-through zoom (no smoothing)Ctrl+wheel
Horizontal scrollShift+wheel

The global hotkey is rebindable in Behavior → Hotkey combination. Pick something that doesn't clash with your other tools.

The system tray

SmoothScroll has no taskbar window - everything lives in the tray.

Left-click the tray icon

Opens the compact tray panel.

  • Toggle smoothing on / off
  • Toggle Start with Windows
  • Toggle Start minimized
  • Open full settings
  • Jump to excluded apps
  • Open log file
  • Quit SmoothScroll

Right-click the tray icon

Native OS context menu (faster on slower machines).

  • Enable / Disable
  • Open Settings
  • Excluded Apps
  • Open Log File
  • Quit

Current app card

The tray panel shows the foreground app and its category. Toggle smoothing for that app, or assign a profile - all without opening full settings.

Pro tips & recipes

Battle-tested presets for common workflows. Open Apps → Profiles to save them.

Long-form reading

PDFs, articles, books - skim or savor without losing your place.

Slow preset
  • Step size: 80 px
  • Animation time: 600 ms
  • Easing: Quintic Out
  • Acceleration max: 4×

Coding in VS Code / JetBrains

Navigate code without overshooting and losing your line.

Default preset + modifier passthrough
  • Step size: 144 px
  • Animation time: 220 ms
  • Easing: Quintic Out
  • Acceleration max: 10×
  • Advanced → Pass-through Ctrl+wheel: ON
  • Advanced → Pass-through Alt+wheel: ON
  • Advanced → Clear inertia on modifier: ON

Photoshop / Figma / Illustrator

Frequent Ctrl+wheel zoom; smooth scroll within layer panels.

Default + Ctrl pass-through ON
  • Defaults are great
  • Advanced → Pass-through Ctrl+wheel: ON
  • Advanced → Clear inertia on modifier: ON

Premiere / DAWs

Timeline scrubbing with Alt+wheel.

Default + Alt pass-through ON
  • Advanced → Pass-through Alt+wheel: ON
  • Apps → assign Snappy profile to your editor

Gaming

Weapon wheel, zoom scope - anything that reads raw notches.

Game mode auto-disable
  • Game mode → Auto-disable in games: ON
  • Add your game's process to the list (e.g. csgo.exe)

Laptop on battery

Squeeze every minute - reduce CPU work.

Snappy preset
  • Step size: 200 px
  • Animation time: 200 ms
  • Easing: Cubic Out
  • Acceleration max: 14×
  • Behavior → Reduce motion: Auto

What it does (and doesn't) do

  • Reads mouse-wheel events at the OS hook layer - same API as accessibility tools and screen readers.
  • Does not inject into other processes.
  • Does not install drivers, services, or daemons.
  • Does not make network calls except checking GitHub for new releases (toggleable).
  • Settings live in %APPDATA%\SmoothScroll (Windows) or ~/Library/Application Support/SmoothScroll (macOS).
  • Logs rotate daily, retained 7 days, stay on your device.
  • Source-available under FSL-1.1 → auto Apache 2.0 after 2 years.

Ready to feel the difference?

Install in 60 seconds. Tune in 60 more. Then forget it's even there.

Download SmoothScroll