If you search for anything in the Windows 11 Start menu, you will notice that the scroll bar next to the search results will disappear. When you hover your pointer over it, the scroll bar reappears. The scroll bar also disappears in other apps such as the Microsoft Store and Notepad.
Luckily, if you don’t like this design choice, you have the option to change it. There are two methods to change the settings to always show scrollbars.
We recommend using this method as it should work fine in almost all cases. It is also much easier and safer than the following method.
You can enable or disable disappearing scrollbars from the Settings app.
Hurry Win + I to launch the Settings app and navigate to Accessibility > Visual effects. Enable the toggle next to the option that reads Always show scrollbars.
If you change your mind later, just toggle the button next to Always show scrollbars again.
You can also disable disappearing scrollbars by editing the registry. However, it’s best not to mess with anything else in the registry, as sometimes an error can render your computer inoperable. You should also back up your registry before making any changes.
Once you have set all the details, open the Registry Editor by pressing Win + Rwhile typing regeditand pressing Walk in.
Copy and paste the following path into the Registry Editor navigation bar:
ComputerHKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelAccessibilityLook for a key called Dynamic scrollbars. If you can’t find it, create a new DWORD-32 key by right-clicking in the white space and selecting New > DWORD (32-bit) value.
Name the key Dynamic scrollbars. Double click on the key and enter 1 in the Value data domain.
Hurry OKAY to save and exit.
When you don’t want the scrollbars to always show, go back to the same key and change the Value data field to 0.
If you still want to show scrollbars and widen them as well, you can change their size from the registry.
Start by opening Registry Editor. You can do this by pressing Win + Rwhile typing regeditand pressing Walk in. Copy and paste the following address into the navigation bar:
Computer/HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktopWindowMetricsYou will find two consecutive keys named Scroll height and Scroll width. Double click on the Scroll height key to change the height of the scroll bar, or Scroll width to change its width.
Change the number in the Value Data column to adjust the height or width.
It is set to -255 by default. You can change it to a number greater than -255 to increase the height or width. For example, here’s what it looks like when the width is changed to 255 instead of -255.
For the changes to take effect, you will need to log out and log back in. You can also change the default height and width from -255 if you change your mind later by following the same process.
Make Windows 11 Truly Yours
If you like to keep scrollbars visible while you do something else in a specific window, you can. Now you know how to do this. But did you also know that you can customize Google Chrome’s scrollbars?
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