What to Do If Your Chromebook Touchpad Isn't Working

Quick and easy fixes for a frozen or laggy Chromebook touchpad

Co-authored by Megaera Lorenz, PhD Reviewed by Stan Kats

Last Updated: March 26, 2026 Fact Checked

Is your touchpad not working on your Chromebook? There could be a few reasons why, such as stuck debris, buggy software, or even a physical key that disables it. If you need to use your touchpad now, you can plug in an external mouse as a quick fix. This wikiHow will show you how to troubleshoot your Chromebook when you’re dealing with issues like a touchpad that doesn’t respond to clicks or touches, a slow or frozen cursor, or a cursor that disappears completely.

Quick Tips to Fix a Chromebook Touchpad

Try cleaning your touchpad with a microfiber cloth dampened in rubbing alcohol.
Drum your fingers on the touchpad for a few seconds to dislodge internal debris.
Press the Esc key a few times to stop any processes that might be making your system freeze.
You may need to reset your Chromebook or adjust your touchpad settings

1

Clean the touchpad.

Make sure there's no debris on or around the touchpad. Just like you would when cleaning a keyboard, turn off your Chromebook completely before beginning. Use a microfiber cloth and isopropyl alcohol to gently clean the touchpad.
- Some users recommend gently pushing the edge of a business card into the grooves on your touchpad to dislodge debris.
- Make sure the microfiber cloth is only lightly dampened with alcohol, not dripping wet. You don’t want moisture to get inside your Chromebook.

2

Toggle the Esc key.

This key can be found at the top-left of your keyboard. This will stop any loading process and get your frozen Chromebook back to normal.^{[1]
X
Research source} If your touchpad stops working when you load certain webpages, try clearing your cache on your browser.

3

Drum your fingers on the touchpad.

This motion can loosen stuck debris around the touchpad. After drumming your fingers, try using the touchpad again.^{[2]
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4

Restart your Chromebook.

Turn your Chromebook off and on again. Restarting your Chromebook can fix basic software and hardware issues.^{[3]
X
Research source} If you're unable to click or touch the screen to power off your Chromebook, do the following:
- Press and hold the Power button until the screen turns off.
- Wait at least one minute.
- Press the Power button to turn it back on.

5

Reset your Chromebook.

Perform a hard reset. A hard reset will restart your touchpad, but it may also delete some files in your Downloads folder. If you can, back up anything you don’t want to lose.^{[4]
X
Research source} Do the following:
- Press and hold the Power button until the Chromebook shuts off.
- Hold down Refresh while you press and release the Power button.
- Release Refresh when the Chromebook starts up again.
- Some Chromebook models have a special reset button or require you to perform different actions, like taking the battery out and putting it back in. Check this article from Google Support to see if your model has special instructions for resetting.

6

Use the function key.

Some Chromebook models have a physical function key that can toggle the touchpad on and off. Consult your device's manual to determine the key, then press it to enable the touchpad again.

7

Use an external mouse to try more advanced fixes.

Plug in an external mouse. You can plug a mouse into your Chromebook's USB port and use it as a temporary solution if you don't have a touch screen. When the mouse is plugged in, you can try the next troubleshooting methods to fix the touchpad.

8

Try a debug shortcut.

You’ll need to enable a special setting to try this fix. Once you enable it, you’ll be able to try a special keyboard shortcut to toggle your touchpad off and on again. Hopefully, this will clear out any temporary glitches (such as a disappearing cursor). To use this fix:
- Open the Chrome browser on your Chromebook and enter chrome://flags/#ash-debug-shortcuts into the address bar.
- Enable Debugging keyboard shortcuts using the dropdown.
- Press Shift +
  (Search) + P to toggle your trackpad off, then press the same combo to toggle it back on.

9

Enable tap-to-click.

Try this if your touchpad won’t respond to clicks. To enable this setting:^{[5]
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Research source}
- Click or touch the status bar (where the time is displayed) at the bottom right side of the screen.
- Select Settings.
- Select Device > Touchpad (or Mouse and touchpad).
- Toggle on the switch next to Enable tap-to-click.

10

Change touchpad settings.

Change how your touchpad functions. You can change the touchpad speed, move speed, toggle touchpad acceleration, and more. Adjusting one of these settings may fix the touchpad, especially if it’s laggy. Try the following:
- Select the time at the bottom-right corner.
- Select Settings.
- Select Touchpad or Touchpad and mouse.
- Adjust the settings. For example:
  - Toggle on Enable touchpad acceleration if your touchpad is slow or laggy.
  - Adjust the slider next to Touchpad speed to adjust how fast your cursor moves.
  - Toggle Enable reverse scrolling on or off if scrolling doesn’t behave the way you expect it to.
- Try the touchpad again.

11

Remove the problem account.

Delete the account that has problems with the touchpad. If you have multiple accounts on your Chromebook, but only one of them seems to have issues with the touchpad, delete the problem account and re-add it.^{[6]
X
Research source} Do the following:^{[7]
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- On the sign-in screen, select the profile.
- Select the down-arrow.
- Select Remove this user.
- Select Remove this user again.

12

Contact a repair technician.

If the issue lies within the hardware, you can contact your Chromebook's manufacturer to get help from their support team. You can find a list of manufacturers and their numbers here.^{[8]
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Research source}

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Tips

Some models of Chromebook (specifically the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook) have a known issue with the touchpad that can potentially be fixed by adding conductive copper tape to a certain area on the inside surface of the touchpad mechanism. We only recommend trying this method if you are comfortable opening up your Chromebook. You can find detailed instructions here.

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