Feature request: Enable Shift + scroll for horizontal scrolling

[carlosivanr]

Many applications allow the use of horizontal scrolling by holding the Shift button and scrolling vertically. This would be helpful feature implemented in Positron for those with a mouse without a dedicated horizontal scroll mechanism. Relatedly, for those that have a device with a dedicated horizontal scrolling mechanism, it would be great to be able to use it. Currently horizontal scrolling either by holding shift and scrolling vertically, or using a dedicated horizontal scrolling mechanism on a mouse does not work. This feature would especially be useful in the data viewer while previewing .csv files to import or scrolling across data frames for visual inspection.

[testlabauto]

Hi @carlosivanr,

Can you tell us more about your environment and device? This feature should be working. We even had an issue at one point where we fixed it because it had inadvertently been broken when trying to add the feature while it was actually built in.
#9660

Thanks!

[carlosivanr]

Hi @testlabauto,

I'm using a Dell Latitude 5420, running Windows 11 Enterprise version 24H2, OS build 26100.7171.

The laptop's built-in trackpad scrolls horizontally just fine, but external devices don't for me. I often run my laptop in clamshell mode, connected to a dock that drives an external monitor and use an external keyboard and mouse.

The following devices don't scroll horizontally when using Shift + Vertical scroll in the Positron data viewer:

1. Logitech MX Vertical, connects with Logitech Bolt receiver.
2. Logitech MX Lift Left Vertical, connects with Bluetooth.

The shift + vertical scroll to scroll horizontally works with other applications like Google Chrome.

[testlabauto]

Thanks @carlosivanr !

We’ve verified that Shift + scroll does work for horizontal scrolling in Positron on our test machines, so this looks like something environment-specific.

A lot of Electron/Chromium apps (VS Code, Brave, Cursor IDE, etc.) have had issues specifically with Logitech MX-series devices when the Logi Options / Logi Options+ software is installed, where horizontal scroll or Shift + scroll works in Chrome but not in Electron-based apps.

Could you let us know:

• Whether you have Logitech Options or Logi Options+ installed?
• Whether horizontal scrolling / Shift + scroll works in VS Code on the same machine?
• If you can temporarily quit/uninstall Logi Options+ and test Positron again?

This will help us determine whether this is an upstream Electron/Chromium + Logitech issue we need to track, or if Positron is doing something different from VS Code.

[carlosivanr]

Hi @testlabauto,

Yes, I have the the Logitech Options+ software installed.

I tried Shift + scroll in VS Code and it worked as expected. I was running VS Code 1.107.0. It also listed Electron 39.2.3 if that helps.

I then proceeded to uninstalling the Logitech Options+ software. After uninstalling, Shift + scroll worked on VS Code, but it did not work in Positron.

Thanks for your help on this. Let me know if there's anything else you'd like me to try.

[testlabauto]

Thanks again @carlosivanr,

This definitely suggests this is a Positron bug rather than a system or Logitech issue.

To help us narrow it down, could you try two quick checks:

In Positron, open a regular text file, create a very long line that goes off the right edge of the screen, then hold Shift and scroll with your mouse wheel. Does the editor scroll horizontally?

If your MX mouse has a tilt wheel or side scroll, does that scroll horizontally in Positron (editor or data viewer) without holding Shift?

These will tell us whether the problem is specific to the data viewer component or affects Positron more broadly.

It sounds like its time to move this discussion to a bug report for triage.

[carlosivanr]

No problem @testlabauto,

That's interesting. If I open a regular text file with a long line, Shift + scroll works as expected to scroll horizontally.

I also tried opening a .csv file by selecting the file from the directory navigation pane. The default behavior in my environment is to open the data explorer. In the data explorer, Shift + scroll does not work. However, there's a button that shows "Open as plain text file" and if I click on that Shift + scroll works. So it seems to me like it's the data explorer view that seems to be affected. All of this is with the Logi Options+ uninstalled.

[testlabauto]

Thanks for all the details!

I have opened #11063 and put it into triage for prioritization.

We were finally able to repro locally!