How to Change Mouse Wheel Behavior in Windows 11 Photos App

The Microsoft Photos app is a tool built into Windows 11 that helps you view, edit, and organize your pictures. You can use it to manage your image collection and display your photos stored on OneDrive within the app.

Why change mouse wheel settings?

By default, scrolling your mouse wheel while holding the CTRL key zooms in or out on a photo. If you prefer to quickly flip through your pictures like a slideshow, you can change this behavior. This saves you from having to click the “next” or “previous” buttons every time you want to see a new image.

What happens when done?

Once you update this setting, scrolling the mouse wheel by itself will move you to the next or previous photo in your folder. You will no longer zoom in or out automatically.

How to change the setting

You do not need special permissions for this change. It can be done by any user on the computer.

1. Open the Photos app from your Start menu or your list of apps.

2. Click the Settings icon, which looks like a gear, located at the top of the app window.

3. Look for the Personalization section.
4. Find the Mouse Wheel tile.
5. Use the drop-down menu to switch between Zoom in or out or View next or previous items.

Summary

Customizing your mouse wheel behavior in the Photos app makes browsing large collections of photos much faster. By switching the setting to “View next or previous items,” you can navigate your folders with a simple scroll of the wheel instead of clicking through images one by one.