The purpose of the "Scroll lock" key. Scroll Lock what is it on the keyboard

There is one button on a standard computer keyboard, the purpose of which is unclear to many users. As you probably guessed, this is the Scroll Lock key. Let's try to figure out what this key was intended for and what its features are.

A little history

The name “Scroll Lock” translated from English means “lock scrolling”. This key is located in the same block with the service keys “Print Screen” and “Pause/Break” (usually between them). It first appeared on a standard computer keyboard that many would never even imagine - the IBM PC XT.

In those distant times, they didn’t even dream of a graphical mode of the operating system - all information was displayed on the screen line by line in text form. In this mode, new lines appeared at the very bottom of the screen, shifting old information up. Naturally, if a sufficiently large array of data was displayed, the user simply physically did not have time to read everything, and therefore a special “Scroll Lock” button was invented, stopping the scrolling of the text and turning it on again when pressed again.

Scroll Lock functions

Of course, in modern operating systems, using the “Scroll Lock” key for its intended purpose is no longer possible, but it still remains in use. The button has an indicator indicating whether it is currently activated or not. Typically, in the active (pressed) state, the user can control the scrolling of the screen using the keyboard. You can see this for yourself by opening a large table in Microsoft Excel. Press "Scroll Lock" and see how the work area now scrolls using the arrows.

In Linux-like operating systems, this key is still used for its intended purpose - stopping text scrolling. This key is used in some games (Delta Force, Cossacks, etc.), and some utility programs actively use key combinations with “Scroll Lock”.

The Scroll Lock key is one of the most mysterious on the keyboard. At first glance, she doesn't do anything. But this is not true at all.
Psychologists and esotericists claim that the average person uses only 10% of his brain. And it’s impossible to disagree with this! Take, for example, the fact that a person does not even use his keyboard one hundred percent. Not only did he switch some of its functions to the mouse, but he also doesn’t know what some of the keys on it are for...

Much has been written about the history of the keyboard and the emergence of the layout we are used to, it’s time to talk about it in more detail. For example, have you used the Scroll Lock key a long time ago? Have you used it at all? Do you know where it is located? Why does the light come on when you turn it on? No, well, with the lamp it’s even more or less clear - it lights up to make it more interesting, but how to use this button?

It turns out that this key was invented so that when it is turned on, the cursor keys change their purpose. When the Scroll Lock key is turned off, the cursor keys function as usual, but when turned on they can be used to scroll the screen. Of course, if you turn on Scroll Lock right now, you won’t see any changes, but if you have the Opera browser, then using the Scroll Lock key you can use voice commands. Yes, yes, Opera can be controlled by voice. To do this, however, you need to download and install voice libraries (their volume is about 10 megabytes). Download and you will immediately understand that this miracle button is simply irreplaceable.

If you have a laptop, you probably use the Fn function key (for example, I turn off the screen of my laptop by pressing Fn and F11) and you will probably be interested to know that in Dell laptops, the same Scroll Lock is used as the Fn key . That is, cunning developers still found its worthy use. We hope that you will find the same worthy use for this key. Why do you need it?
___________

Launch Microsoft Excel, select a group of cells and click the right arrow (down, up, left). The selection will be removed and another cell will be marked. Now select the group of cells again and press Scroll Lock. Now press the right arrow. As you can see, the selection was not removed, but the page moved in the indicated direction. That is, Scroll Lock allows you to scroll through the document using arrows without removing the selection. Of course, it doesn’t work in all programs, but at least you know what this key was intended for.
___________

In some DOS programs, when scrolling through long dumps, you had to force the scrolling to stop using this key to view it.

I recently purchased a backlit keyboard. The backlight is turned on with the Scroll Lock button.
It turned out that this button is also on regular keyboards, but we don’t use it.
I was wondering why this button is needed if we don’t use it.

I started remembering when we need this button. I don’t remember a single case when I used it before.
I couldn’t even explain to myself why it was needed at all?

What kind of miracle is this button - Scroll Lock.

The name of the button itself resembles scrolling, turning pages.

First of all, let's turn to theory and, of course, to Wikipedia.

It says the following:

The function of this key varies depending on the software.

For example, in Microsoft Excel - Scroll Lock and is used to enable the document scrolling mode using the cursor keys (that is, it performs its original function).

Without going into details, the button was used to make it easier to view pages on the screen by switching the mouse cursor mode. That is, for convenient viewing of changing pages of text.

Today, this function is practically not used anywhere, except in Microsoft Excel. Even in this table editor, no one uses it, if only a few.

Now another use has been found for this button. Some games assign a specific function to this button by default. In various programs, they give it some kind of role, so as not to use the usual buttons for everyone, leaving them with standard values.

In my case, it was used to turn on the keyboard backlight.

Something like this.

As a rule, in the Linux operating system this button does not work correctly; how to configure it is described in detail in this

Any person who works on a personal computer sooner or later thinks about the functions of the keys: what can be done with which button and how useful they can be in work, study or games. Today we will talk about what can be done with such an interesting button as “Scroll lock”. After all, it is not found in any instructions.

Keyboard

First, let's decide which button we are talking about. The location of this key may vary depending on the manufacturer and model. In addition, on laptops it does not exist as a separate element at all.

So, the "Scroll lock" button. Where is this element located?

1. In most cases that you can find on store shelves, working keyboards in the office and at home, the “Scroll lock” is located above the arrows in the very top row, next to the additional numeric keypad. Exactly there as indicated in the picture above.
2. If we are talking about shortened versions of full-fledged computer models, then you may not find the separate key you are looking for on them. In such cases, “Scroll lock” is a function that is called by pressing the “Fn” button + another key, on which the name of “scroll” is usually written in blue. You can see the location in the second picture below.

Story

Where did the "Scroll lock" key come from? It was back in the 90s, at the dawn of computer technology. Initially, it had the function of changing the behavior of the cursor keys (arrow keys). In some applications, after pressing “Scroll” when using the arrows, the screen began to switch not line by line along with the cursor, but page by page. In other situations, "Scroll lock" blocked the cursor at one position and using arrows it was possible to view the entire page that did not fit on the screen. This function is now also used in Microsoft Excel.

Over time, they grew, and the need for page-by-page output disappeared. Thus, the button we are studying has become, in fact, unnecessary. However, manufacturers did not abandon the existing familiar keyboard design, and software developers began to look for new ways to use this key.

Modernity

Currently, "Scroll lock" performs a variety of functions in different applications. It is difficult to imagine all the variety of tasks, because it depends on the imagination of the developers. The most common functions of this button will be listed here. It is possible that they can be performed in other applications, but these cases may be more likely to occur to you.

• As already mentioned, in Excel the "Scroll lock" key performs its original functions. That is, it switches cursor scrolling to screen control.
• This button is also used in the famous Punto Switcher keyboard layout switch. When you press the "Alt" + "Scroll lock" combination, the selected text is transliterated.
• On Linux, pressing the button stops text scrolling.
• When using a KVM switch, double-clicking will activate control of this mechanism.
• Using "Scroll lock" allows you to toggle the use of macros for some optical mice.
• On Dell laptops, this button performs the function

In games, the key we are considering can also play a fairly important role. For example, in a toy like "Cossacks", "Scroll lock" is responsible for creating scenarios in the map editor. And in the well-known "Oblivion" this button is responsible for switching the language in the Russian version.

Result

We hope that now you will not have any questions about the use and purpose of the "Scroll lock" key. In fact, it is already outdated, and if you have not used it before, then it will be too late to start. It is much faster and more convenient to use familiar tools to which your hands have long been accustomed. However, the information received may be useful to you to increase your own erudition.

The Scroll Lock button is used to change the behavior of the cursor on the computer screen. It is most often used in Excel to view large tables.

When Scroll Lock is turned off (it is turned off by default), by clicking on the arrows on the keyboard, the cursor will move to adjacent cells of the Excel document. In this case, the appearance of the table will not change in any way.

When Scroll Lock is enabled, when you press the arrows on the keyboard, the cursor will not move to other cells in the Excel document, but the table itself will move. This can be handy when you don't feel like it or it's awkward to use the scroll bar.

Where to find and how to enable Scroll Lock

Large full-size keyboards usually have a separate Scroll Lock button, as well as an indicator showing its activity:

On laptop keyboards, Scroll Lock is usually combined with other keys to save space:

In this case, you must press the Scroll Lock button together with the FN key. We have .

Some programs additionally display Scroll Lock activity. Here's what it looks like in Excel, for example:

There is no Scroll Lock button on the keyboard, what should I do?

On some laptop keyboards, manufacturers do not place a Scroll Lock button at all. In this case, the easiest way is to use the on-screen keyboard:

It can be found in Programs in the Start menu. It will be faster to use the search - start typing the words “on-screen” in it and the only result will be the on-screen keyboard.

If you still have questions, be sure to also do not forget to read our other articles about special buttons on the keyboard - and.