< /p>

[REVIEW] : How to make your Scroll Lock button useful on a Windows 10 PC

In the corner of your keyboard is an often-forgotten key with a long history: Scroll Lock. Luckily, you can easily reassign Scroll Lock to serve a more useful purpose, or set it as a shortcut to launch a program in Windows 10.

< /p>

But it’s useful

The scroll lock key was on the first IBM PC. It was intended to toggle a feature where the arrow keys could be used instead of the cursor to move text within a window. Today, in most programs, the arrow keys work automatically depending on the context. As a result, the Scroll Lock feature is rarely used as originally intended.

One prominent program, however, still uses Scroll Lock for its original purpose: Microsoft Excel. When scroll lock is off, use the arrow keys to move the cursor between cells. However, when Scroll Lock is on, you can use the arrow keys to scroll the entire book page within the window.

< p class="ezoic-ad large-mobile-banner-2 large-mobile-banner-2676 adtester-container adtester-container-676">

Many KVM switches when you double touch Scroll Lock. Some older programs also use Scroll Lock, but these are relatively rare scenarios for most people.

In fact, Scroll Lock is so rarely used that it might not even be present on your keyboard, especially if it’s a compact or laptop keyboard.

However, if you have the Scroll Lock button and never touch it, you can put it to good use.

< p class="ezoic-ad leader-2 leader-2678 adtester-container adtester-container-678">

How to remap the Scroll Lock button

With Microsoft’s free PowerToys utility for Windows 10, you can easily remap the Scroll Lock key to another key or some system functions. Remapping means that when scroll lock is pressed, the key does something else instead of activating scroll lock. This way you can use the Scroll Lock key for many different tasks.

Here are some suggested functions you could assign to the Scroll Lock button:

Volume Mute/Up: Quickly control the volume of any source. This is especially useful when you need to mute your computer to answer a call.
Play/Pause Media – This is useful if you frequently listen to music on your computer. You can touch the scroll button to pause a song, then touch it again to play it.
Sleep: One tap puts your device to sleep.
Caps lock: If you accidentally keep the caps lock key Press , you can assign it to the Scroll Lock key. You should also disable Caps Lock by assigning it a different function.
Browser Refresh: A single press will quickly refresh the current webpage.

If any of these sound good to you, here’s how to reassign the Scroll Lock button’s desired function. First, if you don’t already have it, . Launch it and then “Keyboard Manager” in the sidebar. Then click Reassign Button.

In the Remap Keyboard window that appears, click the plus sign (+) to add a shortcut.

< p class="ezoic-ad narrow-sky-2 narrow-sky-2683 adtester-container adtester-container-683">

On the left you need to define the key you are reassigning. Click on “Type Key” and then press the scroll key.

In the Assigned To section on the right, click the drop-down menu and then select the function or button you want to assign to the scroll button. For example, in our list above, you can select “Volume Mute”.

Click OK to close the Remap Keyboard window and the scroll lock should now be remapped successfully.

You can experiment with different mappings to see which ones are most useful to you. If at any point you don’t like the mapping, just visit the Remap Keyboard window in PowerToys. Click the trash can icon next to the attribution to remove it.

If you don’t like PowerToys, you can also use SharpKeys to remap keys, although the user interface isn’t as user-friendly.

How to start a program with the Scroll Lock key

You can also use Scroll Lock as part of a hotkey combo to launch any program you want, and you don’t need to use any special utility.

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

On the Shortcut tab, click the Shortcut Key field and then press the scroll key. Windows will automatically add “Ctrl + Alt + Scroll Lock” to the field.

Click OK to close the window. From now on, every time you press Ctrl + Alt + Scroll Lock, the program represented by that shortcut will be launched. Just make sure you don’t delete the shortcut. Some people store hotkey-enabled app shortcuts in a special folder for this reason.

You never know, with these tweaks, Scroll Lock could become your new favorite key. She might even wonder how she ever lived without him.