Toggle trackpad pinch & zoom

[unfunfionn]

There's a years-old bug in macOS that causes pinch to zoom to stop working under heavy usage. For designers and video editors, this is an absolute productivity killer. It never gets fixed and the only workaround is disabling and enabling it again in System Preferences. Many of us need to do this 10+ times a day.

 

I would like to create an Alfred workflow that toggles this setting with the 'pinch' keyword, but I'm having trouble figuring out A. Whether this is possible and B. How to access that option.

 

Does anybody have some pointers? Thanks!

[vitor]

It should be possible, yes, with AppleScript. For example, if you use Script Editor to run:

tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal anchor "trackpadTab" of pane id "com.apple.preference.trackpad"
    activate
end tell

You’ll see you’re halfway there. We still need the code to select the specific tab and checkbox, but I’m too tired to think beyond that at this hour. You may also try Ask Different if you’re in a hurry. If you get the correct AppleScript code, it will be easy for us to help you construct the Workflow.

[jebediah]

This is how I do it:

 

1. Open Automator app and create a new "Workflow"

2. Search for action "Run AppleScript" and drag it to the main pane on the right

3. Paste the following script into it:

tell application "System Preferences"
	reveal anchor "trackpadTab" of pane id "com.apple.preference.trackpad"
	activate
end tell
tell application "System Events"
	tell process "System Preferences"
		click radio button "Scroll & Zoom" of tab group 1 of window "Trackpad"
		click checkbox 2 of tab group 1 of window "Trackpad"
	end tell
end tell
tell application "System Events"
	tell process "System Preferences"
		click radio button "Scroll & Zoom" of tab group 1 of window "Trackpad"
		click checkbox 2 of tab group 1 of window "Trackpad"
	end tell
end tell
tell application "System Preferences"
	quit
end tell

4. Save as Workflow and place the file somewhere it won't move.

5. Still in Automator, create new "Application"

6. Search for action "Run Workflow" and drag it to the right

7. On the first line "Workflow:", click on the dropdown menu and select "Other..."

8. Browse for the workflow file you created earlier

9. Save as Application and place anywhere you want.

 

10. Open System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Accessibility, unlock the padlock (bottom left), click on the + button and browse to the application file you created (not the workflow file). At this point you want to make sure the checkbox for the application is also ticked.

 

From now on, anytime the Pinch & Zoom disables itself, just run the app and it will do the job seamlessly.

 

You can keep the app in your dock, or assign it a keyboard shortcut. I use BetterTouchTool for that.

 

What the script does:

Open System Preferences > Open Trackpad pane > Open Scroll & Zoom tab > Click on "Zoom in or out" twice > Quit System Preferences

[lari]

And to run Jebediah's script in Alfred.

 

1. Create a new blank workflow.

2. Add a keyword trigger with pinch as triggerword

3. Connect above trigger to a "Run NSAppleScript" Action which you paste in the AppleScript code.