Controlling Display of the Scroll Bars

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 15, 2021)

At the bottom and right side of the worksheet there are scroll bars that control what part of the spreadsheet you are viewing at any given time. If you need more room to view a worksheet, or if you are using Excel without a mouse, you can turn them off. To control display of the scroll bars, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. You will see the Options dialog box.
  2. Make sure the View tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

    3. Figure 1. The View tab of the Options dialog box.

  3. In the Window Options area, clear the Horizontal Scroll Bar check box if you want the horizontal scroll bar removed.
  4. In the Windows Options area, clear the Vertical Scroll Bar check box if you want the vertical scroll bar removed.
  5. Click on OK.

With the scroll bars turned off, you must use the cursor control keys to move through the worksheet.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2644) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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