How To Take The iOS Out Of Lion: Always Show Scroll Bars

John Brownlee (8:34 am PDT, Jul 28 2011)

How To Take The iOS Out Of Lion: Always Show Scroll Bars

OS X Lion is the best version of OS X yet, but some of its design choices aren’t without controversy… especially the decision to make the whole operating system more like iOS.

Hate that stuff? Over the next few days, we’ll be posting some tips on taking the iOS inspirations back out of your Mac. Today, we’re going to change the default way Lion handles scrollbars to be less like the way they work on the iPhone.

In OS X Lion, scroll bars don’t exist unless you actually start scrolling. When you start moving up or down in a window, they pop up and function as normal, but if you’re someone who likes to use scroll bars to quickly click to various positions in a document, the requirement to scroll first before you can actually access the scroll bar can be an annoying extra step.

Here’s how to fix it:

To Turn Off Automatically Hidden Scroll Bars in OS X Lion

How To Take The iOS Out Of Lion: Always Show Scroll Bars

1. Open Applications > System Preferences > General

2. Next to “Show scroll bars” tick the “Always” radio button.

Done! Now, scroll bars will automatically show in Lion as they did in Snow Leopard, even if you haven’t already scrolled.

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20 comments »

  • Prof. Peabody

    This is one of the few “rollbacks” to the old way that I enabled.  If the scrollbars are hidden then you can’t see the button to automatically re-size the columns in column view, which is something I use all the time.  

    • Kuipo

      You could also just mouse over the edge of the column and double click.  That accomplishes the same thing.  I don’t see a reason to show scroll bars at all personally.  Scroll bars look ugly and just take up space.  

      • http://twitter.com/complaint_dept Brian

        It’s just something a lot of people are used to. It’s a visual clue that more data exists without having to mouse over and do anything. It’s peripheral and requires zero conscious thought.

      • Kuipo

        It’s an outdated visual queue that takes up space on the screen.  I’m glad Apple got rid of them.  I’m equally glad they have the option to turn them back on as well since for some people apparently like old UI’s.  But eventually we can move past them.  Next step, get rid of CD’s/DVD’s.

      • http://twitter.com/nerdnase Steve Sharp

        Curb your dogma?

        It could be that some don’t like new UI changes just because they’re new. Alternatively and perhaps more fairly, some realize that the reason the options exist, is because not everyone has the same needs, priorities, or aesthetics regarding screen space as, for instance, you.

  • jongar jabbar

    Without scrollbars
    I lost some files in a finder window
    there was no scrollbars so I didnt know there was more area to search in
    Now I keep my scrollbars on so I know there is more to the left or right

  • jongar jabbar

    Without scrollbars
    I lost some files in a finder window
    there was no scrollbars so I didnt know there was more area to search in
    Now I keep my scrollbars on so I know there is more to the left or right

  • Geof Abruzzi

    I just wish there was a way to bring back the scroll arrows on the scroll bar.  The scroll wheel/two finger gesture is good for some things, but not everything–too inaccurate or the app wants to interpret the scroll differently. I can use the arrow keys in some instances, but in others, it moves the cursor, not the viewport, which can be problematic.  So now I click and drag the scroll bar, but it isn’t as accurate or simple.

  • http://profiles.google.com/causticmango Samuel Ford

    Really? *REALLY*?

    That’s it; turn in your OS X badge. Back to Windows for you!

  • http://www.facebook.com/itullis Ian Slade Tullis

    Why is everyone trying to undo OS X Lion? I think this new OS is intuitive and smart. It connects the iPhone and iPad with the Mac seamlessly…

    I think there are a lot of old dogs on this site who don’t like to be taught new tricks…

  • Anonymous

    I found this new apple blog and its great!
    http://applefanboynews.com/

  • mai duc chung

    The usual idea is that you would use NFC to set up the link between the two devices and then do an automatic hand over to a different protocol for doing the actual transfer of data – eg Bluetooth,iphone 5

  • Bgrant

    I jumped right in on all the new Lion features. Try them for a while, see how they fit, and most seem useful.

    Not indicating relative position in a page is just not helpful to me, so this is the only Lion default I’ve changed

  • Bgrant

    I jumped right in on all the new Lion features. Try them for a while, see how they fit, and most seem useful.

    Not indicating relative position in a page is just not helpful to me, so this is the only Lion default I’ve changed

  • Bgrant

    I jumped right in on all the new Lion features. Try them for a while, see how they fit, and most seem useful.

    Not indicating relative position in a page is just not helpful to me, so this is the only Lion default I’ve changed

  • Bgrant

    I jumped right in on all the new Lion features. Try them for a while, see how they fit, and most seem useful.

    Not indicating relative position in a page is just not helpful to me, so this is the only Lion default I’ve changed

  • Bgrant

    I jumped right in on all the new Lion features. Try them for a while, see how they fit, and most seem useful.

    Not indicating relative position in a page is just not helpful to me, so this is the only Lion default I’ve changed

  • Bgrant

    I jumped right in on all the new Lion features. Try them for a while, see how they fit, and most seem useful.

    Not indicating relative position in a page is just not helpful to me, so this is the only Lion default I’ve changed

  • Bgrant

    I jumped right in on all the new Lion features. Try them for a while, see how they fit, and most seem useful.

    Not indicating relative position in a page is just not helpful to me, so this is the only Lion default I’ve changed

  • Bgrant

    I jumped right in on all the new Lion features. Try them for a while, see how they fit, and most seem useful.

    Not indicating relative position in a page is just not helpful to me, so this is the only Lion default I’ve changed

About the author

John BrownleeJohn Brownlee is news editor here at Cult of Mac, and has also written about a lot of things for a lot of different places, including Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker, AMC, Geek and the Consumerist. He lives in Cambridge with his charming inamorata and a tiny budgerigar punningly christened after Nabokov's most famous pervert. You can follow him here on Twitter.

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