What is Scroll Lock? How to make this key more useful

In the corner of the keyboard is a forgotten key with a long history:

Scroll Lock

. Luckily, you can easily remap Scroll Lock for a more useful purpose, or set it up as a shortcut to launch programs on Windows 10.

What is the Scroll Lock key? How useful was that?

The Scroll Lock key, sometimes abbreviated as

ScLk, ScrLk

Where

slk

, found on computer keyboards, is usually located near the key

Pause

.

Scroll Lock key is enabled The first IBM PC was released in 1981. It was used to enable/disable a feature where you could use the arrow keys to move text inside a window, instead of using a pointer. Today, arrow keys work automatically in almost any program, depending on the context. As a result, the Scroll Lock feature is rarely used for its original purpose.

However, there is a typical program that still uses Scroll Lock for its original purpose. It's Microsoft Excel. If scroll lock is off, you can still use the arrow keys to move the cursor between cells. However, when the Scroll Lock feature is enabled, you can use the arrow keys to scroll the entire workbook page in the window.

Microsoft Excel is a program that still uses Scroll Lock for its original purpose. start< /p>

Many KVM switches will switch inputs if you press Scroll Lock twice. Some older programs also use Scroll Lock, but this is very rare for most users.

In fact, Scroll Lock is rarely used. It may not appear on your keyboard, especially if the device you are using is a compact keyboard or a laptop.

However, if you have a scroll lock key and you never touch it, you can set it to do something more useful.

How to remap the Scroll Lock key

Use the PowerToys Widget

How to remap the Scroll Lock key

Use the PowerToys Widget

The p>

free from Microsoft for Windows 10, you can easily remap the Scroll Lock key to another system key or function. Remapping means that when you press Scroll Lock, instead of activating the native Scroll Lock functionality, the key does something else. This way you have the ability to use the Scroll Lock key for a variety of tasks.

Here are some suggested functions you can assign to the Scroll Lock key:

Volume Mute/ Mute

:Quickly control the volume from any source. This feature is especially handy if you need to mute your computer to receive calls.

Media Play/Pause

: This is convenient if you often listen to music on the computer. Simply press Scroll Lock to pause a song, then press again to resume playing.

enter standby

: Pressing puts the device on your device in sleep mode.

Cap Lock

: If you still accidentally press Caps Lock, you can assign it to the Scroll Lock key instead. You also need to disable the Caps Lock key by assigning it another function.

Refresh browser

: A single press will quickly reload the current web page.

If any of the above intrigues you, here's how to remap the functionality you want to the Scroll Lock key. First, if it's not already available,

download Microsoft PowerToys

. Launch it, then select

Keyboard Manager

in the sidebar. Then click on

Remap a key

.

Click Remap a key

In the window

appears, click the plus sign (

+

) to add a shortcut.

Click the plus sign (+) to add a shortcut

On the left side, you need to set the key you are remapping. Click

Type the key

Noticed the Scroll Lock key is missing on your Dell Laptop? http://t.co/rS4DvdjU

— Know-HowTraining Sun Aug 05 12:21:51 +0000 2012

, then press

Scroll Lock

.

In the section

Mapped to

on the right, click the drop-down menu, then select the function or key you want to map to Scroll Lock. For example, from the list above, you can select

Volume Mute.

Select Volume Mute

Click

okay

to close the window

Remap Keyboard

and Scroll Lock has been successfully remapped.

You can experiment with various mappings to see what will be most useful. If at any time you don't like this mapping, simply revisit the Remap Keyboard window in PowerToys. Click the icon

Basket

next to the mapping element to delete it.

Click the trash can icon to delete the mapping

If you don't like PowerToys, you can also remap the keys with

SharpKey

, although its interface is not entirely user-friendly.

How to launch programs with Scroll Lock

You can also use Scroll Lock as part of a hotkey combination to launch any program you like and don't need to use. Use a special utility.

First, create a shortcut to the program you want to run and place it on the desktop. Then right-click on the shortcut and select

Properties.

In the tab

Shortcut

, click the box

Shortcut

Touch

, then select

Scroll Lock.

Windows will automatically insert

Ctrl+Alt+Scroll Lock

in the box.

Windows automatically inserts Ctrl+Alt+Scroll Lock in the box

Click

okay

to close the window. Now each time you press

CTRL

+

Alt

+

Scroll Lock p>

, the program represented by this shortcut will launch. Just make sure you don't delete the shortcut by mistake. Some people keep hotkey-enabled app shortcuts in a special folder for this reason.

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