It seems to be extremely slow, this works well for small canvases but it’s a bit difficult for big ones. Adding speed to settings would be a nice bonus to accommodate all user behaviors.
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I have the same problem on Macbook using trackpad. The panning/scrolling follows the system’s scroll speed, which can be adjusted, but the pinch zoom feels so inertia heavy, and can’t be adjusted (maybe I’m not aware). If you have ever try Excalidraw or Heptabase, you know what I mean.
3 Likes
i would be soooooo grateful if this issue/feature were to be addressed. at present, using canvases on my desktop obsidian app just doesn’t make sense for me if i can’t easily zoom in and out via the trackpad… this issue/feature falls imo under basic ease of use. it would be really so helpful if zooming via the trackpad wouldn’t be so slow 
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Devs, can you guys try pinch to zoom in a canvas on a MacBook?
I’m hesitant to open a new thread because I think we’re want the same thing. We don’t really need the ability to change the speed to zoom. The cursor is supposed to have an acceleration curve but it’s broken on OS X trackpad at the moment.
For context, to get equal amount of a single zoom out as Android Obsidian on my MacBook, I had to pinch out to zoom out six times.
3 Likes
Yeah this isn’t looking good.
Zoom speed canvas on Mac OS wasn’t a problem for me before until some recent updates. Compare this to windows or my iPad, the zoom speed on the Canvas is 3x slower and more tedious to use 
I don’t think it’s necessary at all to create another feature zooming in, but just fixing a bug or error that’s within Mac OS 
I agree. The current zoom is extremely slow. Just try to use tldraw or Figma and zoom in and out with trackpad, then do the same with Obsidian Canvas. I don’t think there needs to be a “choose pinch to zoom speed”, just make it more snappy.
Would love a slider to be able to speed it up. Its so slow i dont know if the canvas is usable for day to day / heavy lifting atm
Use case or problem
As context, I’m on macOS.
When using Canvas in Obsidian, the zooming in and out speed is extremely slow when using a trackpad or touchpad, especially without a mouse. This makes it cumbersome to navigate large canvases efficiently.
As an artist considering switching to Obsidian for storing and organizing visual references, this limitation significantly impacts workflow. Quick zooming and navigation are essential for fluid movement around the canvas.
Proposed solution
Provide an option in the Canvas settings (or globally under Appearance/Accessibility) to adjust the zoom speed or zoom sensitivity.
For example:
- A slider to set “Zoom Speed” from slow to fast.
- A configuration value (in settings.json) that can be adjusted manually.
This would allow users with different input devices (e.g., mouse vs. trackpad) to fine-tune their experience for better responsiveness.
Current workaround (optional)
Currently, there appears to be no direct workaround.
No settings, plugins, or configuration options were found that control zoom speed in Canvas. Using a mouse scroll wheel is somewhat faster, but this doesn’t help users relying on a touchpad.
In 1.10.2 the pinch to zoom will be faster (we found a bug). This is not a solution for this FR but I wanted to mention it here. NO ETAs.