Fixing a MacBook Pro Trackpad Button That Sticks

Written by Nickel - 78 Comments

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This is totally off-topic, but… My main computer (work and home — it goes everywhere with me) is a MacBook Pro. Over the past few weeks, I’ve noticed that the trackpad button has been sticking, like it has something stuck underneath it. Cleaning crap out of the keyboard is easy enough – just run the Shop-Vac over it and everything gets sucked out. But the trackpad button? That’s an entirely different story.

The problem in this case appears to be that the opening between the trackpad and the button (see crappy cell phone picture, below) is big enough for small, foreign objects to enter.

The solution? It’s surprisingly simple. Just insert the corner of a piece of paper into that gap and slide it back and forth to dislodge whatever’s causing the problems (again, see the crappy cell phone pic, below).

That’s it. Assuming that the foreign object is “dis-lodgeable,” your problems should be solved and your trackpad button should work like new.

Published on November 18th, 2007 - 78 Comments
Filed under: Off Topic
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About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!

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Comments (scroll down to add your own):

  1. worked like a charm good tip and thanks, saved me a trip to the genius bar at mac store.

    m

    Comment by matthew — Feb 5th 2008 @ 7:29 pm

  2. Thank you, helped for me as well:)

    Comment by Rami — Feb 6th 2008 @ 9:00 am

  3. Me too! Many thanks!

    Comment by Kevin — Feb 25th 2008 @ 2:32 pm

  4. Think it just worked for me too! Thanks!

    Comment by danny — Mar 23rd 2008 @ 12:40 am

  5. This fixed my soft trackpad button, thanks

    Comment by L — Mar 29th 2008 @ 9:25 pm

  6. Worked great! Thanks for the tip… this saved me a trip to the Apple Store.

    Comment by John Broady — Apr 3rd 2008 @ 10:07 am

  7. Worked for me, too. I had to upgrade from a piece of paper to something a little more robust to really get into the crack, though.

    Comment by James — Apr 15th 2008 @ 9:31 am

  8. damn!!! thanks that worked a charm….my gunk was on the bottom edge, but paper worked great there too!

    Comment by jason pitt — Apr 25th 2008 @ 2:37 am

  9. Thanks for the tip, i need to do that 5-6 times with different kind of paper, but it finally works – thanks! :-)

    Comment by Partyboy — Jul 21st 2008 @ 1:29 pm

  10. AWESOME. it worked. mine was sticking a little

    Comment by poop — Jul 27th 2008 @ 10:49 pm

  11. This unfortunately didn’t work for me (couldn’t get the paper far enough under the button), but it was apparent something was jamming it (the origami star trick didn’t work either). Here’s my solution: I took the battery out and blew very quick hard bursts of air into the small openings on each side of the track pad button’s area. A very small piece of resin or something that appeared to be resin (hard flat amber substance) came out and the button works perfectly fine now. Hope this helps someone else!

    Comment by levi — Aug 15th 2008 @ 2:11 pm

  12. fanx. this was pissing me off!

    Comment by treve — Sep 1st 2008 @ 10:20 am

  13. Hey Man,
    Great tip, worked quite well.

    thanks again,
    Anand

    Comment by Anand — Sep 3rd 2008 @ 6:55 pm

  14. Holy crap. Totally worked. Had the problem several times before and just stuck to the trackpad tapping. Eventually it would go away. Apparently it went away after being jostled around or something. Awesome tip.

    Comment by Adam — Sep 7th 2008 @ 2:59 pm

  15. I thought I was going to have to take my laptop apart to get it cleaned. I had to use a couple of pieces of paper to get it to work, but now it works like new once again… Thanks!

    Comment by Chad — Sep 7th 2008 @ 8:37 pm

  16. Brilliant solution. I’m very finnicky about my things not functioning the way I want them to and your solution got my trackpad button functioning good as new.

    Comment by Jafman — Sep 8th 2008 @ 1:01 pm

  17. seems to work good!!

    Comment by Pepijn — Sep 15th 2008 @ 8:29 am

  18. You’re awesome! This has been driving me nuts. and works great now!

    Comment by Karl — Sep 22nd 2008 @ 12:56 pm

  19. I finally got it to work but be careful not to let the paper tear off under the button, it took me about 10 minutes to pry out a small corner of paper.

    Thanks!

    Comment by adam — Sep 28th 2008 @ 6:34 am

  20. thank you so much you just saved $160!

    Comment by gemma — Sep 30th 2008 @ 6:04 pm

  21. I can’t believe it was that fucking simple. I’m buzzed the fuck up on Jameson and I did it because I was so annoyed with no problem.

    Comment by JustElwood — Oct 10th 2008 @ 5:51 am

  22. BTW’
    Used the corner of a pack of zig zags, perfect, sturdy and not going to tear off in there.

    Comment by JustElwood — Oct 10th 2008 @ 5:52 am

  23. If you take out the battery and take a long thin strip of paper and thread it through the opening in the metal and basically floss the gunk out it also works. I actually just did this about 2 minutes ago after struggling to do it the way the initial post suggested… this way is much easier!

    Comment by stone — Oct 24th 2008 @ 2:34 pm

  24. Wonderful! Worked like a charm. Thanks for saving me a trip to the Apple Store! :)

    Comment by Hithah — Nov 7th 2008 @ 9:46 pm

  25. OMG you are a legend! I thought my trackpad button had actually broken, was searching around and gave your suggestion a try. 10 seconds later my trackpad is as good as new!

    Comment by Steve — Dec 1st 2008 @ 3:29 pm

  26. Worked great! I got my screw driver set out to take apart this thing (which is NOT trivial) to clean the trackpad button somehow.

    Then I decided to search google, you came up #1 and I grabbed a business card, jammed it around the edges, and wow! It worked great.

    My button isn’t sticking/making noises it shouldn’t be making anymore. Wonderful.

    Comment by Jeff Sidlosky — Dec 18th 2008 @ 6:24 pm

  27. Thanks a million!!!! You just saved me about $100, maybe more.

    Comment by Craig — Dec 24th 2008 @ 6:27 pm

  28. it works!

    Comment by dummy — Dec 29th 2008 @ 9:42 am

  29. It works but it will stick again. For a more permanent fix take the battery out and carefully squirt a tiny dab of WD40 under the trackpad from behind. Bingo!
    PS – I have black macbook, don’t know if this will work for macbook pro.

    Comment by Matt — Jan 8th 2009 @ 4:20 pm

  30. You are a genius sir a genius

    Comment by Patrick — Jan 19th 2009 @ 8:15 pm

  31. Thanks so much! This trick worked for my regular (non-pro) MacBook also. I would never have tried jamming a piece of paper under the button. How did I not think of this first? By the way, if there is no visible liquid damage, Apple Care will cover replacing the top-case for a sticky trackpad button. Found out the hard way on my last top-case.

    Comment by Rachel — Jan 21st 2009 @ 1:07 am

  32. One more possibility is a swollen (faulty) battery. Check this by taking out the battery using a coin and examining it – mine had a visible bulge, which was causing it to press on the trackpad. Faulty macbook batteries are covered under Apple’s replacement programme if they’re less than 2 years old. See: http://www.apple.com/support/m.....eryupdate/

    Comment by Lucy — Jan 21st 2009 @ 5:29 pm

  33. awesome – had a right old session with a strip of thin card, eventually dislodged what it was – it looks like a tiny rubber mounting, so god knows what its dropped off, that was wedged underneath the button – all working perfectly again now

    Comment by Andrew — Jan 31st 2009 @ 5:07 am

  34. worked for me, as well. took a bit of time and a couple pieces of paper, but just kept moving the corners back and forth until whatever it was finally dislodged and VOILA!!!!

    Comment by michelle — Feb 7th 2009 @ 3:51 am

  35. Fantastic tip! Yesterday my girlfriend and I (we were joint culprits!) spilt a thick, sticky fruit smoothie over the front of my MacBook Pro (15″ old version …. the smoothie covered the front edge of the trackpad button), and although we quickly mopped it up, the button became very sticky / clonky which became pretty irritating pretty quickly :(

    A quick application of the edge of a piece of paper (had to fold it in half to make it strong enough) and voila! :)

    Just a quick hint though, make sure you use paper that’s thick enough not to tear off whilst between the button and the laptop body! …

    Many thanks!

    Comment by David Hogg — Feb 9th 2009 @ 5:47 am

  36. This is a great tip. Something so simple too. I was just about take the topcase off of mine! Thanks again for the post.

    Comment by Kevin — Feb 9th 2009 @ 9:21 am

  37. Great tip,was just about to pull it apart so simple. Many thanks

    Comment by Mark — Feb 24th 2009 @ 11:13 pm

  38. Thanks a bunch. Worked beautifully.

    Comment by Sean Roman — Mar 3rd 2009 @ 5:22 pm

  39. Didn’t do it for me but set me on a great idea which did work. Go to your local hardware store and get a FEELER GUAGE. Costs about $7.00 and has a bunch of strips of metal in different thicknesses ranging from 3 hundredths of a millimeter to nine-tenths of a millimeter (varies by manufacturer). These also work great when tring to coax a stuck cd (put on of the thinnest metal strips on top of the cd and press the eject button, works every time).

    Comment by Curtis Winslow — Mar 6th 2009 @ 8:34 pm

  40. Great advice. I was planning a trip to Genius bar tomorrow, but his solves it. However, I’ve torn about 4 corners of paper under there (and had to leave it). Best tool? Plastic playing card. Flexible, thin, and won’t tear off!

    Comment by cambocowboy — Mar 10th 2009 @ 1:55 am

  41. I was planning on sending my MacBook in and even purchasing a new mouse …. now I do not have to send it in and the mouse purchase can wait :-)

    I didn’t see anything on the paper I used … but I’m not really too concerned where the junk went ;-) … it is a laptop from work.

    Comment by Domingo — Mar 14th 2009 @ 1:27 pm

  42. Thanks for the great advise. Seemed to help a lot.

    Comment by WFM — Apr 1st 2009 @ 4:25 pm

  43. I was having the same issues as you guys, i tried your tips but nothing worked.

    When i removed the battery I also noticed it was deformed, kind of swelled. This was causing pressure on the trackpad button.

    The link published by Lucy seems to refer only to the Intel Core Duo Macbook Pro’s, mine is a Intel Core 2 Duo.

    I’ve emailed Apple to see if this program would cover me or if there is another one, will keep you posted.

    Is anyone else with a machine like mine having these problems?

    Comment by Gon — Apr 6th 2009 @ 3:57 pm

  44. I got offered a new battery for free!
    Thank God Apple came through.

    Comment by Gon — Apr 7th 2009 @ 8:58 pm

  45. RRRRR! IT WAS THE BATTERY FOR ME! IT’S SWOLLEN!

    TOOK OFF THE BATTERY AND IT WORKED FINE… PUT IT BACK ON AND IT JAMMED AGAIN…

    WHOEVER OFFERED THE BATTERY SUGGESTION YOU’RE A GENIUS TOO!

    THANKS GUYS

    Comment by TAKE2EDITOR — Apr 11th 2009 @ 2:28 am

  46. My trackpad/mouse click problem problem was a SWOLLEN BATTERY in my Mac Book Pro!

    Take out the battery with your power source plugged in and see if your trackpad problem is solved IMMEDATELY.

    Then look at the battery carefully and apply a ruler to it or put it on a flat surface. mine has a visible bulge that is messing up the trackpad.

    You have a 2 year warrantly, like was said
    thanks all!

    http://www.apple.com/support/m.....eryupdate/

    Comment by Alex — Apr 22nd 2009 @ 2:42 am

  47. used my metro card and was back to normal in seconds! Great advice!

    Comment by ian — Apr 23rd 2009 @ 12:36 am

  48. Absolutely Brilliant! I can’t thank you enough…!

    Comment by Luke — Apr 29th 2009 @ 4:02 am

  49. Swollen battery for me, too. Thanks for the tip.

    Comment by Jason Cone — Apr 30th 2009 @ 11:13 pm

  50. My problem is that now I have paper jammed in there, making the situation even worse (my bad, should’ve skipped ahead to read some of the later posts).

    Is it possible to pop this thing off?

    Comment by Campy — May 14th 2009 @ 6:25 pm

  51. Campy: Try taking out the battery and going after the torn paper from behind.

    Comment by Nickel — May 14th 2009 @ 8:30 pm

  52. @ Nickel

    Thanks man! Actually I figured this much out about 5 minutes after making that post. So easy, I didn’t realize the trackpad button was tapping straight down onto the battery like that.

    PS – Detected a slight bulge in the battery pack (17 inch MBP) – seems like a lot of people have this problem about 2 years after purchase. All things considered its done a good job for me, $129 to grab a new one really isn’t the end of the world.

    Comment by Campy — May 15th 2009 @ 11:08 am

  53. Awesome! Thank you so much, saved me a trip to the Genius Bar.

    Comment by Chrsi — May 24th 2009 @ 11:57 am

  54. Thanks! It was really annoying me, and your fix worked instantly! Elegant and efficient. ;^)

    Comment by Nancy — Jun 3rd 2009 @ 7:48 pm

  55. oh man I LOVE YOU!!!!!! thanksssss

    Comment by dniel — Jun 11th 2009 @ 11:24 pm

  56. Oh my gosh I was about to have a nervous breakdown because that thing was not working…I use this computer a lot and don’t even think about that trackpad or button, it is like an extension of my hand I use it with out thinking. Then when it stared acting up it was like someone tied my hand behind my back! THANK YOU…but I should have thought of the myself.

    Comment by Jacquie Van Tichelt — Jun 20th 2009 @ 1:22 am

  57. THANK YOU! Metro Card is where it’s at. I LOVE YOU!

    Comment by E — Jul 11th 2009 @ 11:55 am

  58. Just as we were going to the Mac support shop here in Hong Kong for the same problem, I tried your fix.
    Excellent! Works a treat. Many thanks from all of us.

    Comment by David — Jul 13th 2009 @ 8:50 pm

  59. Wow, just wanted to thank you for that great tip. I was ready to go the the Mac store and stumbled upon your website. A single piece of paper solved the problem.

    Just FYI, my problems started when I used cleaner to clean the face of my keyboard and trackpad. The liquid seeped in the trackpad and dried creating all my problems. The paper I used to clean the trackpad was filthy.

    Once again thanks!!

    Comment by Fred — Aug 22nd 2009 @ 8:15 pm

  60. worked for me too! thanks for taking the time- and saving me a headache. You rule.

    Comment by ejb — Aug 23rd 2009 @ 2:17 pm

  61. I took out the battery and the track buttons worked!
    BTW the MBP wont start without the battery.
    Thanks for all the help.
    Is Apple replacing the batteries for free or at discount?

    Comment by Robert — Aug 30th 2009 @ 1:51 pm

  62. Hahaha, this worked amazing, at first I didn’t think that a piece of paper would fix this issue I’ve been having for so long. I got tired of trying to find a solution, so I just decided to try it and see for myself.

    Hot damn, it worked like a charm. Thank you so much, this was pissing me off for the longest time.

    Comment by Kara — Aug 31st 2009 @ 11:18 pm

  63. Awesome-O…. I used a piece from the top of a Kettle Chip’s bag. Tilt it a bit so that it goes under the button a bit. Worked like a charm.

    Comment by Ricardo — Sep 1st 2009 @ 10:47 pm

  64. Great tip. Simple, crude, and extremely effective.

    Comment by Bruce — Sep 8th 2009 @ 4:17 pm

  65. you rock! solvvvvved!

    Comment by isaac — Sep 12th 2009 @ 7:12 pm

  66. The swollen battery defiantly was the cause of the track buttons not working.
    The Apple store replaced it without any question.

    Comment by Robert — Sep 13th 2009 @ 6:17 pm

  67. Wow, worked like a charm! Thank you thank you!

    Comment by jessant — Sep 15th 2009 @ 6:59 pm

  68. Ha, totally worked on my MacBook Pro; saved me a day without my computer. Thanks!!

    Comment by Luke — Sep 16th 2009 @ 10:32 pm

  69. Worked like a charm! Thanks!!!

    Comment by Puffin — Sep 20th 2009 @ 9:32 pm

  70. Trackpad button went nuts, clicking everything then this morning nothing. Couldn’t log in. Reset eveything and resolved to pull it apart then presto ! I googled up this solution on another machine and it worked immediately. You are a hero, a national treasure and possess an inventive mind on the scale of Edison.

    I salute you.

    Comment by Anthony — Oct 5th 2009 @ 7:09 am

  71. I think I have the same problem with the swollen battery. But now I am past the warranty!

    Comment by willwjl — Oct 7th 2009 @ 1:01 pm

  72. @willwjl: I was way past warranty when my battery swollen, but I emailed internal-customer-relations@apple.com, until they sent me a replacement one.

    Comment by Gon — Oct 7th 2009 @ 1:09 pm

  73. Thanks. I am going to the Apple store/ with the laptop after work today…

    Comment by willwjl — Oct 7th 2009 @ 1:33 pm

  74. Who woulda thought…I spilt something sticky in there and I was looking for some kind of goof-off product for over 2 months. A piece of paper was all it needed. I am so mad at myself. Thank you.

    Comment by David — Oct 12th 2009 @ 10:31 pm

  75. Wow, thanks so much! I had a, erm, coffee mishap. A piece of paper was so simple an idea, I’d never have thought of it in a million years. Cheers, mate!

    Comment by Vikki — Oct 21st 2009 @ 1:51 pm

  76. it worked, thank you

    Comment by Stef — Nov 5th 2009 @ 10:53 am

  77. Thank you! Before the cleaning it sounded like it was grinding metal on metal, and now the button works almost like new. Much appreciated.

    Comment by Andy — Nov 5th 2009 @ 7:50 pm

  78. A piece of glossy card stock took care of it for me, thanks for the tip!

    Comment by Ram — Nov 10th 2009 @ 11:51 pm

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