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Touchégg

Touchégg is an app that runs in the background and transform the gestures you make on your touchpad into visible actions in your desktop.

For example, you can swipe up with 3 fingers to maximize a window or swipe left with 4 finger to switch to the next desktop.

Many more actions and gestures are available and everything is easily configurable.

🎥 Ubuntu demo
🎥 elementary OS demo

Installation
Configuration
Copyright

Installation

On the releases page you will find a package for your distribution.

Otherwise you can compile the source code yourself by following the instructions available in the HACKING.md file.

Ubuntu, Debian and derivatives

Download the .deb package and install it. Double click on the package may work, otherwise install it from the terminal:

$ cd ~/Downloads # Or to the path where the deb package is placed at
$ sudo dpkg -i touchegg_*.deb # Install the package
$ sudo apt -f install # Install missing dependencies
$ touchegg # Run Touchégg

Red Hat, Fedora, CentOS and derivatives

Download the .rpm package and install it. Double click on the package may work, otherwise install it from the terminal:

$ cd ~/Downloads # Or to the path where the rpm package is placed at
$ sudo yum localinstall touchegg-*.rpm # Install the package

Add Touchégg to Startup Applications

Depending on your desktop environment, this step is different You can easily add Touchégg to your startup applications following this steps:

Gnome: Add /usr/bin/touchegg as command
KDE: Add /usr/bin/touchegg as script symlink
elementary OS: Open System Settings -> Applications -> Startup -> Add custom command -> /usr/bin/touchegg

Configuration

After installing Touchégg you'll notice that you can start using multi-touch gestures. However, you are not forced to use the gestures and actions that come out of the box, you can configure the gestures you'd like to use and the actions they'll trigger.

Your configuration file is placed in ~/.config/touchegg/touchegg.conf, open it with your favorite text editor. It is a XML document with 3 main sections:

Global settings
Global gestures: <application name="All">...</application>
Application specified gestures: <application name="Google-chrome,Firefox"></application>

Find more information in the sections below.

Global settings

Option	Value	Default	Description	Example
animation_delay	Number	150	Delay, in milliseconds, since the gesture starts before the animation is displayed	Use the MAXIMIZE_RESTORE_WINDOW action. You will notice that no animation is displayed if you complete the action quick enough. This property configures that time
action_execute_threshold	Number	20	Percentage of the animation to be completed to apply the action	Use the MAXIMIZE_RESTORE_WINDOW action. You will notice that, even if the animation is displayed, the action is not executed if you did not moved your fingers far enough. This property configures the percentage of the animation that must be reached to execute the action
color	Hex color	3E9FED	Color of the animation	`#909090`
borderColor	Hex color	3E9FED	Color of the animation	`FFFFFF`

Available gestures

Swipe

From libinput documentation: Swipe gestures are executed when three or more fingers are moved synchronously in the same direction.

Example:

<gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="3" direction="UP">
  <action type="MAXIMIZE_RESTORE_WINDOW">
    <animate>true</animate>
  </action>
</gesture>

Pinch

From libinput documentation: Pinch gestures are executed when two or more fingers are located on the touchpad and are either changing the relative distance to each other (pinching) or are changing the relative angle (rotate).

Example:

<gesture type="PINCH" fingers="4" direction="IN">
  <action type="CLOSE_WINDOW">
    <animate>true</animate>
    <color>F84A53</color>
    <borderColor>F84A53</borderColor>
  </action>
</gesture>

Available actions

Maximize or restore a window (MAXIMIZE_RESTORE_WINDOW)

Maximize the window under the pointer. If it is already maximized, restore it.

Options:

Option	Value	Description
animate	`true`/`false`	Set it to `true` to display the animation. `false` otherwise.
color	Hex color	Color of the animation. For example: `909090`
borderColor	Hex color	Border color of the animation. For example: `#FFFFFF`

Example:

<gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="3" direction="UP">
  <action type="MAXIMIZE_RESTORE_WINDOW">
    <animate>true</animate>
    <color>3E9FED</color>
    <borderColor>3E9FED</borderColor>
  </action>
</gesture>

Minimize a window (MINIMIZE_WINDOW)

Minimize the window under the pointer.

Options:

Option	Value	Description
animate	`true`/`false`	Set it to `true` to display the animation. `false` otherwise.
color	Hex color	Color of the animation. For example: `909090`
borderColor	Hex color	Border color of the animation. For example: `#FFFFFF`

Example:

<gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="3" direction="DOWN">
  <action type="MINIMIZE_WINDOW">
    <animate>true</animate>
    <color>3E9FED</color>
    <borderColor>3E9FED</borderColor>
  </action>
</gesture>

Tile/snap a widow (TILE_WINDOW)

Resize and move the window under the pointer to use half of the screen.

Options:

Option	Value	Description
direction	`left`/`right`	Use the `left` or `right` half of the screen
animate	`true`/`false`	Set it to `true` to display the animation. `false` otherwise.
color	Hex color	Color of the animation. For example: `909090`
borderColor	Hex color	Border color of the animation. For example: `#FFFFFF`

Example:

<gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="3" direction="LEFT">
  <action type="TILE_WINDOW">
    <direction>right</direction>
    <animate>true</animate>
    <color>3E9FED</color>
    <borderColor>3E9FED</borderColor>
  </action>
</gesture>

<gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="3" direction="RIGHT">
  <action type="TILE_WINDOW">
    <direction>left</direction>
    <animate>true</animate>
    <color>3E9FED</color>
    <borderColor>3E9FED</borderColor>
  </action>
</gesture>

Close a window (CLOSE_WINDOW)

Close the window under the pointer.

Options:

Option	Value	Description
animate	`true`/`false`	Set it to `true` to display the animation. `false` otherwise.
color	Hex color	Color of the animation. For example: `909090`
borderColor	Hex color	Border color of the animation. For example: `#FFFFFF`

Example:

<gesture type="PINCH" fingers="4" direction="IN">
  <action type="CLOSE_WINDOW">
    <animate>true</animate>
    <color>F84A53</color>
    <borderColor>F84A53</borderColor>
  </action>
</gesture>

Switch desktops/workspaces (CHANGE_DESKTOP)

Change to the next or previous desktop/workspace.

Options:

Option	Value	Description
direction	`left`/`right`	Use the `left` or `right` half of the screen
animate	`true`/`false`	Set it to `true` to display the animation. `false` otherwise.
color	Hex color	Color of the animation. For example: `909090`
borderColor	Hex color	Border color of the animation. For example: `#FFFFFF`

Example:

<gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="4" direction="LEFT">
  <action type="CHANGE_DESKTOP">
    <direction>next</direction>
    <animate>true</animate>
    <animationPosition>right</animationPosition>
    <color>3E9FED</color>
    <borderColor>3E9FED</borderColor>
  </action>
</gesture>

<gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="4" direction="RIGHT">
  <action type="CHANGE_DESKTOP">
    <direction>previous</direction>
    <animate>true</animate>
    <animationPosition>left</animationPosition>
    <color>3E9FED</color>
    <borderColor>3E9FED</borderColor>
  </action>
</gesture>

Show desktop (SHOW_DESKTOP)

Show the desktop. If the desktop is already being shown, restore all the windows.

Options:

Option	Value	Description
animate	`true`/`false`	Set it to `true` to display the animation. `false` otherwise.
color	Hex color	Color of the animation. For example: `909090`
borderColor	Hex color	Border color of the animation. For example: `#FFFFFF`

Example:

<gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="4" direction="DOWN">
  <action type="SHOW_DESKTOP">
    <animate>true</animate>
    <color>909090</color>
    <borderColor>FFFFFF</borderColor>
  </action>
</gesture>

Keyboard shortcut (SEND_KEYS)

Emulate a keyboard shortcut.

Options:

Option	Value	Description
repeat	`true`/`false`	Whether to execute the keyboard shortcut multiple times (default: `false`). This is useful to perform actions like pinch to zoom.
modifiers	Keycode	Typical values are: Shift_L, Control_L, Alt_L, Alt_R, Meta_L, Super_L, Hyper_L. You can use multiple keycodes: `Control_L+Alt_L`.See "Keycodes" below for more information.
keys	Keycode	Shortcut keys. You can use multiple keycodes: `A+B+C`. See "Keycodes" below for more information.
on	`begin`/`end`	Only used when `repeat` is `false`. Whether to execute the shortcut at the beginning or at the end of the gesture.
decreaseKeys	Keycode	Only used when `repeat` is `true`. Keys to press when you change the gesture direction to the opposite. You can use multiple keycodes: `A+B+C`. This is useful to perform actions like pinch to zoom, check `Example 2` below.

Keycodes:

For a full list of key codes, open /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h with your favorite text editor.

It is important to remove the XK_ prefix. For example, the super keycode is defined as XK_Super_L but it must be used as Super_L in the configuration.

Example 1: Pinch to zoom example

<gesture type="PINCH" fingers="2" direction="IN">
  <action type="SEND_KEYS">
    <repeat>true</repeat>
    <modifiers>Control_L</modifiers>
    <keys>KP_Subtract</keys>
    <decreaseKeys>KP_Add</decreaseKeys>
  </action>
</gesture>

<gesture type="PINCH" fingers="2" direction="OUT">
  <action type="SEND_KEYS">
    <repeat>true</repeat>
    <modifiers>Control_L</modifiers>
    <keys>KP_Add</keys>
    <decreaseKeys>KP_Subtract</decreaseKeys>
  </action>
    </gesture>

Example 2: Open Gnome application launcher

<gesture type="PINCH" fingers="4" direction="IN">
  <action type="SEND_KEYS">
    <repeat>false</repeat>
    <modifiers>Super_L</modifiers>
    <keys>A</keys>
    <on>begin</on>
  </action>
</gesture>
</application>

Execute a command (RUN_COMMAND)

Run any command.

Options:

Option	Value	Description
repeat	`true`/`false`	`true` if the command should be executed multiple times. `false` otherwise.
command	Command	The command to execute.
on	`begin`/`end`	Only used when `repeat` is `false`. If the command should be executed on the beginning or on the end of the gesture.
decreaseCommand	Keycode	Only used when `repeat` is `true`. Command to run when you change the gesture direction to the opposite. Check `Example 2` below.

Example 1:

<gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="4" direction="DOWN">
  <action type="RUN_COMMAND">
    <repeat>false</repeat>
    <command>notify-send 'Hello' 'World'</command>
    <on>begin</on>
  </action>
</gesture>

Example 2:

<gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="4" direction="DOWN">
  <action type="RUN_COMMAND">
    <repeat>true</repeat>
    <command>notify-send 'Swipe direction' 'DOWN'</command>
    <decreaseCommand>notify-send 'Swipe direction' 'UP'</decreaseCommand>
  </action>
</gesture>

Daemon configuration

This is an advanced topic and my recommendation is to ignore it.

Touchégg runs in two different processes, one of them is a systemd daemon configured in /lib/systemd/system/touchegg.service. In addition to the --daemon argument, you can pass two optional arguments:

Option	Value	Default	Description	Example
threshold	Number	Calculated automatically according to your device characteristics	Amount of motion to be made on the touchpad before a gesture is started	Put 3 fingers on your touchpad. You will notice that the action does not start until you move them a little bit. This property configures how much you should move your fingers before the action starts
animation_finish_threshold	Number	Calculated automatically according to your device characteristics	Amount of motion to be made on the touchpad to reach the 100% of an animation	Use the MAXIMIZE_RESTORE_WINDOW action. You will notice that you need to move your fingers a certain ammount until the animation fills your entire screen. This property configures how much you need to move your fingers

It is recommended NOT to configure threshold and animation_finish_threshold since an optimal value is calculated for you. This value is printed to the terminal on application startup or when a new multi-touch device is connected.

Example:

$ cat /lib/systemd/system/touchegg.service | grep ExecStart
ExecStart=/usr/bin/touchegg --daemon 100 500

$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload && sudo systemctl restart touchegg

$ journalctl -u touchegg -b -f
Compatible device detected:
  Name: Apple Inc. Magic Trackpad 2
  Size: 161.957mm x 115.114mm
  Calculating threshold and animation_finish_threshold. You can tune this values in your service file
  threshold: 100
  animation_finish_threshold: 500

Copyright

The source code is available under GPL v3 license on GitHub

wwalker/touchegg

Touchégg

Table of contents

Installation

Ubuntu, Debian and derivatives

Red Hat, Fedora, CentOS and derivatives

Add Touchégg to Startup Applications

Configuration

Global settings

Available gestures

Swipe

Pinch

Available actions

Maximize or restore a window (MAXIMIZE_RESTORE_WINDOW)

Minimize a window (MINIMIZE_WINDOW)

Tile/snap a widow (TILE_WINDOW)

Close a window (CLOSE_WINDOW)

Switch desktops/workspaces (CHANGE_DESKTOP)

Show desktop (SHOW_DESKTOP)

Keyboard shortcut (SEND_KEYS)

Execute a command (RUN_COMMAND)

Daemon configuration

Copyright