Bug 505291 - Option for scroll wheel to only affect controls that normally change on scroll (comboboxes, sliders, etc) if a modifier key is held down
Summary: Option for scroll wheel to only affect controls that normally change on scrol...
Status: REPORTED
Alias: None
Product: systemsettings
Classification: Applications
Component: general (other bugs)
Version First Reported In: 6.3.4
Platform: Kubuntu Linux
: NOR wishlist
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Plasma Bugs List
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2025-06-06 20:08 UTC by Geekley
Modified: 2025-06-09 19:40 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

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Description Geekley 2025-06-06 20:08:09 UTC
SUMMARY
Please give us an option to NOT change field values via mouse scroll wheel. Let us always scroll the page normally, unless we're holding a modifier key to explicitly enable changing fields (e.g. CTRL+SHIFT+SCROLL).

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Go to some settings page with fields like drop-downs, number fields, sliders, etc. E.g. in Kubuntu System Settings, "Default Applications" is an example of a page with several dropdowns.
2. Optionally, make sure the window size is small enough that you get scroll bars.
3. Try to scroll the window when the cursor just so happens to be over a drop-down. E.g. scroll up and down next to a drop-down, so it eventually goes over it by accident.

OBSERVED RESULT
The field value is changed, with no option to disable this behavior.

EXPECTED RESULT
An option to disable this behavior, so it never changes the field unless I hold a modifier key - without it, it should scroll the container page/area instead (or do nothing if it's not scrollable).

Add a "Controls changed by scroll wheel" setting with a modifier key field and a checkbox for each possible control, e.g.:
- Fields: e.g. dropdown values, number fields, sliders, etc
- Views: e.g. tabs, breadcrumbs, etc

User could toggle each of these between disabled (never change via wheel) and enabled (change only when holding the modifier, scroll page otherwise). The current behavior could be preserved by setting the common modifier key to "none". I recommend making CTRL+SHIFT the default modifier to change values.

This is less important, but maybe also add a toggle setting to only change values when scrolling from an actual (mouse) wheel, never from non-wheel devices like touchpad swipes, etc. (which scroll in an "analog" manner, not by individual "integer" units).

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux Version: 6.14.0-15-generic x64
KDE Plasma Version: 6.3.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.12.0
Qt Version: 6.8.3

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For most people, the mouse/touchpad scroll means just scrolling though the page. Often you want to do just that, but on apps that have e.g. settings pages, you have to worry about your cursor not being over a field when scrolling, to avoid messing up all values. Even when you were already scrolling the page, if your mouse just goes over a field, it can be enough to mess up the whole thing. What if changes are auto-saved and you don't know what value it had before? This is terrible accessibility.

It's specially weird when coming from Windows. But not just Windows - note how many apps like browsers, IDEs, etc. explicitly avoid this behavior even on Linux. It makes people uneasy to use scrolling, and forces them to "learn" to always find a neutral place in the page edge whenever they scroll, which is a bother and counter productive - and in some apps like VSCode settings, I tend to accidentally go outside of the scrolling area in the center because I "learned" this behavior, even tough it doesn't do that.

This is a very annoying behavior that has always bothered me and plenty of other people for almost a decade. See also:
- https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/9cbema/mouse_wheel_changes_sliders_and_drop_down_menus/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/rb9rhk/undesired_behavior_turn_off_mouse_scroll_changing/
- https://discuss.kde.org/t/scrolling-changes-values-instead-of-moving-the-window-contents-how-to-change/35127

This is not quite the same as Bug 399324 and Bug 446014 because we want an option to just straight up disable the scroll-to-change-it behavior; meaning even if we "intentionally" put the cursor on the control and scroll, we still want to scroll the page, not change the control.