However, you can customize the scrollbars on Windows 10 and 11 to suit your working style. It’s easy to do and can enhance your everyday computing experience. Read on to find out how.
How to Always Make the Scrollbars Wide in Windows 10 Settings
If you’ve used the Settings app on Windows 10, you might have noticed the thin lines on the left and right menu panes—those are the hardly visible scrollbars. When you hover on them, the scrollbars change to the standard wide ones that are easier to use. It’s quite annoying at times, especially if you’re using a touch-enabled PC.
So if you’d rather not wait to have the wide scrollbars appear, it’s easy to have them always visible in Windows Settings. All you need to do is:
Press Win + I keys together to go to Settings. Select Ease of Access and on the page that opens, scroll down to Simplify and personalize Windows section.
Alternatively, type scrollbar in the search bar, and under Best match click/tap on Automatically hide scrollbars in Windows.
In the page that opens, you will see that the Automatically hide scrollbars in Windows option is toggled on by default. Simply toggle it off and now the standard, wider scrollbars would always be visible within Settings.
In fact, by not having the scrollbars hidden, you will notice that scrollbars in the pages and apps in the Microsoft Store have also become visible—so it’s easier to look for things there as well.
Now you’ll be able to work comfortably and faster, with the wider scrollbars on Windows 10. And there are ways to always show scrollbars on Windows 11 apps too.
How to Change the Size of the Scrollbars on Windows 10 and 11
Even though the standard scrollbars on Windows 10 and 11 are fine to work with for most people, you may not find them to be suitable. We all have different ways of using a computer, and you may find it easier to work with either narrower or wider scrollbars than what is set by default on Windows.
You can customize scrollbars to your liking and change their height and width by making some changes in the Registry Editor. It might sound a little complicated, but you shouldn’t have any problems doing it. You can also read our article to know more about Windows Registry and how to edit it.
Also, changes should be made with care in the Registry Editor. So if you’re not sure about what you’re doing, it’s better to create a system restore point to revert to the point before you edited the Registry. Or just in case any errors occur, you can also reset the Registry to default.
To customize scrollbars on Windows 10 and 11, here’s what you need to do:
Press the Win + R keys together to open the Run box. Type regedit in the bar next to Open: and click OK. Click Yes on the User Account Control prompt. This will open the Registry Editor. Alternatively, you can type cmd in Windows search and click enter to open Command Prompt. In Command Prompt, type regedit. exe to open Registry Editor.
In the left pane of the Registry Editor, navigate to the following path to get access to scrollbar settings (you can also copy and paste the path in the navigation bar):
On the right pane of Windows Metrics, you’ll notice ScrollHeight and ScrollWidth, one above the other.
Double-click/tap on ScrollHeight. The Edit String window will open with the default value of -255. That is the standard size of the scrollbars you see on Windows.
To change the Scrollbars height to your liking, enter a value between -120 (smaller) to -1500 (larger) for the size you want, and click/tap on OK. To give you an idea, if you change the value to -500, it will be approximately double the size of the standard scrollbar.
The formula for setting the scrollbar height is -15 multiplied by the size you want in pixels. For example: -15 x 17 = -255 (the default value).
How to Customize the Scrollbars Width to be Narrower or Wider
If you want to change the scroll width too (or only the scroll width), you’ll find it just under ScrollHeight in the right pane. So double-click/tap on the ScrollWidth to open the Edit String window.
Here, the default value is -255 and the ScrollWidth is based on the same formula: -15 multiplied by the size you want in pixels. So like in ScrollHeight, input a value between -120 (narrower) to -1500 (wider) for what you want, and click/tap on OK. In the screenshot below I’ve put the value as -750 for a wider scrollbar.
Once you finish customizing the Scrollbars values, close Registry Editor. To ensure the changes are applied, sign out of your account and then sign in again. Or, just restart your computer.
Now you will be able to see the scrollbar width has changed and the height too if the app you’ve opened supports it.
As you will see in the screenshots below, the scrollbar width has become wider in the FileExplorer on Windows. It is wider in Google Chrome too, and you can see both the wider and taller scrollbars in the Edge browser. In Microsoft Office files, like a Word document, you can see both the width and height of the scrollbars have changed.
Remember, that changing the Scrollbars by editing the Registry will not change the scrollbars in Settings and the Microsoft Store apps. But you’ve read above on how to make the standard scrollbars always visible for those apps too.
Customize Scrollbars to Enjoy Windows the Way You Want
As you know now, it’s fairly easy to change the height and width of scrollbars in Windows 10 and 11. Just remember to follow the steps correctly to edit the registry and also create a system restore point.
Whether on a touch-enabled PC or a regular laptop, you’ll find it easier to use the computer with your customized scrollbars. It will help you work faster and ensure a more enjoyable computing experience.
