How to Fix Vertical Scroll Bar Not Working on Excel

Are you wondering why the vertical scroll bar is not working on Excel?

Microsoft Excel is the leading spreadsheet software in the world. This tool is included with Microsoft Office Suite and has been around since 1985. Excel has an estimated user count of over 750 million people. 

Despite its status, this doesn’t mean that Microsoft Excel is free from errors and other issues. 

Recently, there have been reports from various users who encounter problems with the vertical scroll bar. 

Based on what we know, this issue can be caused by several reasons. First, it’s possible that the scroll bar is disabled in your settings. However, it can also be due to corrupted data, locked columns and rows, or temporary glitches. 

To help out, we’ve decided to make a guide for filing the vertical scroll bar if it’s not working on Microsoft Excel. 

Let’s get right into it!

1. Restart Your Computer. 

Before doing anything on your end, we suggest restarting your system first if you encounter problems with Microsoft Excel. This should flush out temporary errors from your device and clear your caches. 

Here’s what you need to do: 

  1. First, tap on the Windows key on your keyboard to open the Start Menu
  2. After that, access the Power Options tab. 
  3. Lastly, click on Restart to reboot your computer. 
Restart your PC

Once done, go back to Microsoft Excel to check if the problem is solved. 

2. Enable the Scroll Bar. 

One of the most common reasons why you can’t use the scroll bar on Microsoft Excel is if it’s disabled. 

You can follow the steps below to check your configurations: 

  1. On your computer, launch Microsoft Excel
  2. Next, click on the Files tab and go to More
  3. After that, navigate to Options > Advanced and look for the ‘Display Options for this Workbook’ section. 
  4. Finally, enable the ‘Show Vertical Scroll Bar’ option. 
vertical scroll bar not working on Excel

Relaunch Microsoft Excel afterward and check if the problem is solved. 

3. Check Your Keyboard. 

Scroll Lock is a dedicated function key on your keyboard that enables or disables scrolling on your computer. If the function key is activated, you won’t be able to scroll through pages on your screen. 

If the vertical scroll bar is not working on Excel, check your keyboard and ensure that Scroll Lock is not active. Depending on your keyboard, Scroll Lock could be abbreviated as ScrLk, Slk, or ScLk. 

You should also check Excel’s settings and see if the scroll lock option is active: 

  1. First, open an Excel file you want to work on. 
  2. After that, right-click at the bottom of the spreadsheet to open the Customize Status Bar tab.
  3. Lastly, look for Scroll Lock and ensure that it is turned off. 
vertical scroll bar not working on Excel

Go back to your workbook and check if the problem is solved. 

4. Unfreeze Panes.

If your dataset is currently frozen, you won’t be able to use vertical scrolling in Microsoft Excel. To scroll through your workbook, you’ll need to unfreeze the panes in your worksheet. 

Here’s how you can do this: 

  1. Open the Microsoft Excel file you are having problems with. 
  2. Next, click on the View tab.
  3. Finally, click on Freeze Panes and choose Unfreeze Panes
vertical scroll bar not working on Excel

Once done, restart Microsoft Excel and see if you can scroll through your worksheet. 

5. Try Using Keyboard Shortcuts. 

If the vertical scroll bar is not working on Excel, we suggest using keyboard shortcuts to navigate through your worksheet. Depending on your system, you can use the Up and Down arrow keys or CTRL + Up and CTRL + Down to navigate columns and rows. 

On the other hand, you can also try using the scroll wheel on your mouse or swiping with two fingers on your trackpad. 

6. Reinstall Microsoft Excel. 

At this point, the only option left is to reinstall Microsoft Excel. Some of Excel’s resources may have gotten corrupted, causing some features to malfunction. 

See the steps below to delete Excel: 

  1. On your computer, access the Start Menu and look for the Control Panel
  2. Now, open the Control Panel and click on Uninstall a Program
  3. Right-click on Microsoft Excel and choose Uninstall. Follow the on-screen prompts to continue. 

Download the latest installer of Microsoft Excel afterward and check if the problem is solved. 

That ends our guide on what to do if the vertical scroll bar is not working on Excel. If you have questions, please drop a comment below, and we’ll do our best to answer them. 

If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂

Author

  • John Sixto

    John is a staff writer at Saint and comes from a SAP ABAP development background. He has a Bachelors in IT and has been writing since 2018, with over 500 posts published. He loves to build PCs and has a deep curiosity in understanding how different components and configurations work. John spends hundreds of hours at a time, researching and testing the software and apps, before he proceeds to write about it. LinkedIn X (Twitter)

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