To scroll a window means to move a window's display area (contents) either up, down, left or right by using one of the window's scroll buttons or scroll bars.

Fig 1.1  Scroll Up

Fig 1.2  Scroll Down

Fig 1.3  Scroll Left

Fig 1.3  Scroll Right

Fig 1.5  Scroll Up/Down (Vertical)

Fig 1.6  Scroll Left/Right (Horizontal)

Scroll  Down

The scroll down button, when clicked on, usually scrolls a window's display area down by 1 line. This is ideal when you are reading something slowly, but continously line by line. I say usually because the behaviour of this button depends on each individual program - Some programs might make this button scroll the display area down by 5 lines for example.

Fig 2.0  This window was re-sized to make room on the desktop



Fig 2.1  Click on the scroll down button to scroll the display area down by 1 line

The vertical (up/down) scroll bar might occasionally move whilst you are clicking the scroll down button. This is quite normal and indicates how far down you are, from the bottom of a document and/or page. It might not move every time you click the scroll down button simply because it is moves by the percentage of a document or page and not by the line count.

Scroll  Up

The scroll up button, when clicked on, usually scrolls a window's display area up by 1 line. This is ideal when you are reading something slowly, but continously line by line. I say usually because the behaviour of this button depends on each individual program - Some programs might make this button scroll the display area up by 5 lines for example.

Fig 3.0  Click on the scroll down button three times to scroll the display area down by 3 lines



Fig 3.1  Click on the scroll up button twice to scroll the display area up by 2 lines

The vertical (up/down) scroll bar might occasionally move whilst you are clicking the scroll up button. This is quite normal and indicates how far up you are, from the top of a document and/or page. It might not move every time you click the scroll up button simply because it is moves by the percentage of a document or page and not by the line count.

Scroll  Right

The scroll right button, when clicked on, usually scrolls a window's display area right by 1 character (letter/number). This is needed when you cannot see the wording on the right-side of a Letter for example. Or when you want to center something into view with borders around it, such as a Document, because you cannot see both the left and right borders - In that case you could use the left and/or right scroll buttons and/or the horizontal scroll bar to center the document/borders inside the display area.

Fig 4.0  This window was re-sized to make room on the desktop



Fig 4.1  Click on the scroll right button in order to see one more character on the right



Fig 4.2  Keep clicking on the scroll right button, or just keep it held down, in order to see more characters.

The horizontal (left/right) scroll bar might occasionally move whilst you are clicking the scroll right button. This is quite normal and indicates how far up you are, from the right edge of a document and/or page. It might not move every time you click the scroll right button simply because it is moves by the percentage of a document or page and not by the character count.

Scroll  Left

The scroll left button, when clicked on, usually scrolls a window's display area left by 1 character (letter/number). This is needed when you cannot see the wording on the left-side of a Letter for example. Or when you want to center something into view with borders around it, such as a Document, because you cannot see both the left and right borders - In that case you could use the left and/or right scroll buttons and/or the horizontal scroll bar to center the document/borders inside the display area.

Fig 5.0  Click on the scroll right button four times



Fig 5.1  Click on the scroll left button three times

The horizontal (left/right) scroll bar might occasionally move whilst you are clicking the scroll left button. This is quite normal and indicates how far up you are, from the left edge of a document and/or page. It might not move every time you click the scroll left button simply because it is moves by the percentage of a document or page and not by the character count.

Scroll buttons are used mainly for scrolling slowly through a small document or small list of folders/files inside a file requester's display area for example, but are too slow for scrolling through larger documents and lists. For larger documents and lists it is better to use the Scroll Bars in combination with the scroll buttons. For example. If you use the scroll bars to quickly scroll down to page 10 of a document but actually scroll a couple of lines past page 10 you would then use the scroll up button to slowly scroll back up to page 10.

Vertical  Scroll  Bar

If you click on the vertical (up/down) scroll bar and keep the left mouse button clicked (held down) as you move the mouse pointer the page will move up or down by 1 line. However. This depends how fast you move your mouse pointer. The faster you move it the faster each page is scrolled line by line. In fact you can go so fast that you very quickly find yourself from the top of a document to the bottom.

Fig 6.0  Click on the scroll bar and keep the LMB clicked, then move the mouse pointer up/down, fast/slow.

If you want to scroll down one page at a time you must click underneath the vertical scroll bar (Fig 6.1) and if you want to scroll up one page at a time you must click above the vertical scroll bar. Note: If one full page cannot be scrolled, perhaps because one full page does not exists before the beginning/end of the document for example, only the remaining line(s) of that document will be scrolled (Fig 6.2).

Fig 6.1  Click underneath the vertical scroll bar to scroll down 1 page....



Fig 6.2  ....or the remaining line(s) of the document.

When you scroll one full page down, with a document of at least two full pages, the last line of a page will appear as the first line in the next page. So the last line of page 1 will appear as the first line in page 2. This acts as a marker to let you know what line you finished on before the scroll down was performed. Notepad do this, but not all programs do it. Some programs feel you need to be on the first line of the next page when you scroll down and not on the last line of the previous page.

Horizontal  Scroll  Bar

If you click on the horizontal (left/right) scroll bar and keep the left mouse button clicked (held down) as you move the mouse pointer the page will move left or right by either 1 pixel (dot) or 1 character (depending on the program used). However. This also depends on how fast you move the mouse pointer. The faster you move it the faster each page is scrolled. In fact you can go so fast that you very quickly find yourself from the left of a document to the right.

Fig 7.0  Click on the scroll bar and keep the LMB clicked, then move the mouse pointer left/right, fast/slow.

If you want to scroll right one page at a time you must click to the right of horizontal scroll bar (Fig 7.1) and if you want to scroll left one page at a time you must click to the left of the horizontal scroll bar. Note: If one full page cannot be scrolled, perhaps because one full page does not exists at the side of the document for example, only the remaining pixel(s) or character(s) of that document will be scrolled (Fig 7.2).

Fig 7.1  Click to the right of the horizontal scroll bar to scroll right 1 page....



Fig 7.2  ....or the remaining pixel(s) or character(s) of the document.

The above examples have all concentrated on a Notepad text file. However. As said above, you will find scroll buttons and scroll bars on other windows as well. Basically. Practise moving the scroll bars at different speeds, and using the scroll buttons with the left mouse button held down, to get a feel for movement. The more practise you put in the more precise you will be at scrolling straight to a specific page or line.

Fig 8.0  A File Requester - Here I have scrolled down in order to open the menus9.png file



Fig 8.1  In this example I roughly centered the border with the scroll bars only before continuing with the document



Fig 8.2  A Folder - Here I have scrolled right in order to select the start_menu_vista.htm file

Remember. When re-sizing a window for example the Scroll Bars will probably move and/or change size, depending on how you re-size the window of course. So you may have to adjust the scroll bars in order to bring the window's contents back into view, as the contents was viewed before the re-sizing. By practising your scrolling you will be able to re-view a window's contents more quickly.

Mouse  Wheel

If you have a mouse wheel on your mouse and a window supports mouse wheel scrolling, regardless if that window has scroll bars and/or scroll buttons, the contents of that window's display area can be scrolled up/down. Rolling the mouse wheel forward scrolls the contents up and rolling the mouse wheel backward scrolls the contents down.

Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.  As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.

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