If you are experiencing this annoying issue: the Dictionary keeps popping up when you type or use the mouse on your Mac, here is the solution for you.
The issue appeared on my MacBook Pro all of a sudden, I had no idea what I did. I was just typing to type on a Google doc and some words got automatically highlighted, followed by a Dictionary app showed up providing a definition of the word the mouse pointed at. And my screen sometimes enlarged by itself.
At first, I thought it was that I haven’t updated my MacBook to the latest macOS, so I went ahead and updated. But the issue still persisted.
The Solution
It’s actually quite simple to disable dictionary from popping up on Mac. All you need to do is uncheck an option in the trackpad setting.
Step 1: click on the Apple icon on the top left corner, then select System Preferences.
Step 2: click on Trackpad.
Step 3: under the Point & Click tab, uncheck the Look up & data detectors option.
That’ll do it. Now the annoying dictionary keeps popping up issue should not re-appear.
Quite simple, right?
Not sure how I mistakenly checked this option. My guess is that I might have mis-clicked it while I was cleaning my Mac screen and keyboard.
Anyway, hope this tip has helped you out.
Thank you! I’ve been trying to find a solution to this irritation for a while!!
Nice to not have this annoying feature constantly coming up!!
My god this was driving me insane. I really cant thank you enough.
Yes, can’t thank you enough. It was so frustrating trying to finish a report with the constant pop-ups
OH MY GOD THANK YOU…. I was about to throw the damn thing out the window!
Thank you! This was driving me crazy.
Thank you. I think the default must have been an unchecked ?Look up & data detectors?. Bad Apple.
Holy crap, thank you so much! I was losing my mind!
you have saved my sanity! thank you!
THANK you!!
Thank you! I received a laptop to work from home (having always used a desktop computer) and the dictionary popup has been driving me insane. This worked a charm.
many thanks!
Thank you! It was popping up in meetings – very distracting. Now I know why – I was pausing on my trackpad. Argh.
It popped up again for me after I did what you said. Why don’t they get rid of it? Ban it? It blocks other things. Very annoying.
I appreciate your help.
Thanks soooo much!
i did what you instructed on the trackpad page, i found only the middle choice checked.
The first choice, which you said to “uncheck” wasn’t checked, and the third wasn’t either .
I hope someone can figure this out. i am so disabled i can’t do my work!!
THANK YOU!! MAN that has been annoying.
This is a game-changer!! I can finally highlight, thanks so much!
Thank you so much!!!!! This was driving me CRAZY!
thank you so much
Life saving – I was going mad. thank you 🙂
It was already unchecked. This did’t work
Just got my new MacBookPro and dealing with that made me furious. Thank you so much for the right answer. It’s gone. I’m appreciating my older MacBookPro more as I use this one with problems like that. I’m finding that a lot of my problems were not an 8-year old MacBookPro but apparently is the software.
Steve Jobs who have never allowed for this crap, thank you for saving my sanity.
Thanks so much! That was utterly annoying.
Awesome, thanks for the tip!