Synaptics touchpad tap-to-click is not working in Ubuntu 15.10(Gnome)

Question

I upgraded my ubuntu gnome installation to 15.10 and everything is kinda good except for the touchpad single-tap functionality. Single-tap-to-click is not working. And I have tried all possible solutions like editing synaptics.conf file.

One thing that I noticed is the following, which is kinda strange. For every input device the schema has an original and deprecated entry but for touchpad it just has deprecated. Is this the cause?

I don't know how to resolve this issue. Please help!

org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.input-devices 
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.keyboard 
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.keyboard.deprecated:/
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.mouse 
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.mouse.deprecated:/
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.smartcard 
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.touchpad.deprecated:/
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.touchscreen 
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.trackball.deprecated:/
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.wacom:/
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.wacom.eraser:/
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.wacom.stylus:/
org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.wacom.tablet-button:/

Below is the screenshot of my mouse&touchpad settings:

Also, my synclient results are like,

$ synclient | grep TapButton

TapButton1   = 0  
TapButton2   = 0  
TapButton3   = 0  

my xinput command yields the following,

$ xinput list
Virtual core pointer              id=2  [master pointer  (3)]  
 ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer        id=4   [slave  pointer  (2)]  
 ↳ SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad        id=12  [slave  pointer  (2)]  
 ↳ MCE IR Keyboard/Mouse (ene_ir)    id=13  [slave  pointer  (2)]  
Virtual core keyboard             id=3  [master keyboard (2)]  
 ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard    id=5  [slave  keyboard (3)]  
 ↳ Power Button                   id=6  [slave  keyboard (3)]  
 ↳ Video Bus                      id=7  [slave  keyboard (3)]  
 ↳ Power Button                   id=8  [slave  keyboard (3)]  
 ↳ Sleep Button                   id=9  [slave  keyboard (3)]  

Results of xinput list-props 12 command:

Answer 1

Open a terminal by pressing ctrl+alt+t and type:

synclient TapButton1=1 TapButton2=3 TapButton3=2

it worked for me...

Answer 2

I finally found a fix to solve my problem:

I added the following line to my bashrc so that it can compile every time I log in.

synclient TapButton1=1 TapButton2=3 TapButton3=2

Although not a pretty hack, but it works fine. Hope the community fixes the bug..

---

Update: This hack seems to work fine in Ubuntu 17.04 also, which means the bug isn't fixed yet by the community.

P.S. Also see this great solution

Answer 3

Have you updated the mouse settings? After updating I had the same issue, but it was just that tap to click had been disabled.

Otherwise, according to this thread it could be worth logging out and back in.

Answer 4

I had same problem in Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 and solved it with similar technique mentioned in Eliah Kagan's answer which was adapted from a comment but with some differences:

1. Launch "dconf Editor" app. (if not installed, run: sudo apt-get install dconf-tools)

2. Go to: org→gnome→desktop→peripherals→touchpad

3. Enable tap-to-click.

Answer 5

I had same problem, after I upgraded to ubuntu GNOME wily werewolf. so I make custom shortcut in keyboard for getting back functionality of touchpad, just fill synclient TapButton1=1 on command also fill the name form then choose your favorite keyboard combinations. it's fine enough for a while and wait for update.

Answer 6

I just upgraded to Ubuntu 17.04, a few days ago and face the same issues. This does the trick:

    sudo apt install xserver-xorg-input-synaptics

It only needs to download this stuff, nothing else.

Answer 7

In the settings window allows users to setup the mouse. But I need to configure the touchpad. The console helps to first reboot or sleep "synclient tapbutton1 = 1"

As I understand it, the system incorrectly identifies the device,It looks like a bug.

Answer 8

I have created a script to automate this process. It will be automatically started when the system starts. So, you don't have to run the same command again and again. The link of the script is github.com/Ryko-git/click-on-touchpad .

The installation process is very easy. It is given on the github page.

Answer 9

Give this a try, it worked for me on UbuntuGnome 15.10 so i made an entry in startup applications.

Using your favorite editor, create a script with the following contents and save it as e.g. touchpad.sh.

#!/bin/bash

xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=32 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Pressure" 4

# Below width 1 finger touch, above width simulate 2 finger touch. - value=pad-pixels
xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=32 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Width" 8

# vertical scrolling, horizontal scrolling - values: 0=disable 1=enable
xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=8  "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling" 1 1

# vertical, horizontal, corner - values: 0=disable  1=enable
xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=8  "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Edge Scrolling" 0 0 0

# stabilize 2 finger actions - value=pad-pixels
xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=32 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Jumpy Cursor Threshold" 250

# pad corners rt rb lt lb tap fingers 1 2 3 (can't simulate more then 2 tap fingers AFAIK) - values: 0=disable 1=left 2=middle 3=right etc. (in FF 8=back 9=forward)
xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=8  "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Tap Action" 0 0 0 0 1 2 3   

exit

Make the script executable:

chmod +x touchpad.sh

Now run the script and see if it works.

Original Information found here: http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php?title=Configuring_the_touchpad_with_xinput

Answer 10

As an end user, the easiest way I found is to change to " Primary button" right click in mouse touchpad settings.

Double tap still works as primary left, tap in the button area works as right tap.

Ubuntu 17.04.