How to fix the scroll wheel on your Apple mighty mouse

I love the scroll wheel on top of the Apple mighty mouse, but after a while the sweat and oil on your finger combined with grit and dust clogs the whole thing up. This manifests itself in the scroll wheel not scrolling down, or up, or in worst cases, not scrolling all. Here’s how to fix the problem.

I rang Apple and said my scroll wheel was not working and they gave me this simple but effective solution over the phone.

Simply take a sheet of clean white paper, put it on top of the mouse, and press down on the scroll wheel with your finger, but with the paper between your finger and the scroll wheel. Press quite hard with it and at the same time scroll around – moving it up and down and round and round. Move to a different area of the paper and give it another go.

The paper seems to absorb all the oil and gunk off the scroll wheel, and the scroll wheel in turn when it is clean must absorb the gunk off the sensors or whatever is underneath it.

I have found that a better method, especially with a dirty mouse, is to turn the mouse upside down and run the scroll-wheel in circles on a clean piece of paper until all the dirt comes off.

Make sure you use a brand new clean piece of paper.

Do not use alcohol. The rubber scroll wheel is sensitive and the alcohol is not needed.

No not use water. You don’t want water getting into the inside of your mouse!

It’s just dirty. It’s funny that I could not find this information anywhere on Google or on the Apple web page.

This clean paper trick works amazingly well.

Written by Wayne Connor
Mac user since 1996
Helping people master their Macs since 2005


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Comments

304 responses to “How to fix the scroll wheel on your Apple mighty mouse”

  1. Caroline

    Thank you, great tip!!!!! :-> Someone in an Apple store did not help me but you did!

  2. luis felipe

    Great tip… thanks…. worked incredible!!!

  3. mouseman

    Thanks mate – it worked!

  4. Kimberly

    I’m adding to the “I’m amazed” messages, it actually worked!!!

  5. Laura

    Thanks so much, I tried the paper face down method which worked great as I rubbed the mouse vigorously on my jeans-great tip!

  6. Pete

    Brilliant!!! Was such a pain and I thought it was my browser/software/mouse – just gunk!
    Like the others, I didn’t believe it could be so simple and easy to fix – Thanks so much

  7. Ekyl

    It worked perfectly. Took 2 sheets of paper and a lot of work, but my mouse is fixed!

  8. DianeVA

    I’m a believer! Easiest thing I’ve done all week.

  9. SHARON

    awesome! it worked!!!!! so happy!!!!

  10. Zak

    Amazing thank you!!

  11. Tom

    absolute magic many thanks !!!!!!!

  12. alan

    your magnificent tip solved my problem really well
    Thank you!!!

  13. amazeballs

    Seriously. That’s amazing.

  14. ben

    WOW …this worked a treat… thanks…

    Ben

  15. Susan

    OMG–it worked! Thanks for posting this!

  16. anze

    worked for me also thx

  17. Marky

    Wow. That’s it? After trying brillo pads, toothbrushes, alcohol and every cleaner known to man, the actual answer is a sheet of paper. Sometimes I can really respect this internet thing.

  18. bonnie

    I love this!!! Was all set to go buy a new one…. checked online and got the magic answer!!!

    Fun….! Thank you!!!

  19. mark ballantine

    this does work!!!

  20. Jesus H. Christ

    Holy Me it actually works. Praise me.

  21. Shiv

    Thank you friend.. nw i can sell my mouse and keyboard without fear.. the buyer coming tomorrow and i fixed the scroll tonight thanks to you.. many thanks

  22. IBAngel

    WOW!!!!! I tried everything else and in less than a minute THIS SIMPLE TIP WORKED and I can scroll again… THANKS

  23. Evandro Santos

    what kind of wizardry is it ? :o

  24. Alfred Konijnenbelt

    Magic can be sooooo simple. Works like a charm! Thanks!

  25. kk

    F**ken awesome!!!! I think this was the fastest internet search success story of all time! Usually I have to dig around the internet to find solutions that work.

  26. Rich Barker

    I’m pretty sure a piece of paper is going to make no difference whatsoever *tries it out* …. um …. my mouse wheel is working again. *bows to your awesomeness*

  27. rs

    Wow!! I did it upside down and gunk came out and now it WORKS!!

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