Does anyone know what the "Scroll Lock" key on the keyboard actually does?

Question

I've tried it in Firefox and Word and it doesn't stop me from scrolling. 10 points to the first person to tell me what it does.

Answer 1

Scroll lock is a key (with an associated status light) on most modern desktop computer keyboards. The behaviour of the key depends on the particular software in use.

The Scroll Lock key is a remnant from the original IBM PC keyboard. In the original design, Scroll Lock was intended to modify the behaviour of the arrow keys. When the scroll lock mode was on, the arrow keys would scroll the contents of a text window instead of moving the cursor as usual. In this sense, Scroll Lock serves a similar purpose to Num Lock and Caps Lock: it enables a secondary function of a group of keys. Today, this particular use of Scroll Lock is rare. Only a few modern programs still honour this behaviour, such as Microsoft Excel (in the behaviour of arrows — when Scroll Lock is on, the selection does not move) and Lotus Notes. In modern GUI environments, scrolling is usually accomplished using other means such as scrollbars or scroll wheels. This is a defunct feature in almost all modern programs and operating systems.

In Linux command line sessions, the Scroll Lock key is used to pause screen output. This behaviour emulates the Hold Screen key or similar flow control mechanisms on computer terminals. Because of this emulation, the term scroll lock is sometimes used to generically refer to a screen pausing behaviour. This usage could potentially cause confusion since screen pausing behaviour is not intrinsically a part of the Scroll Lock key. In DOS, the Pause key pauses the screen output.

Answer 2

The scroll lock key is intended to temporarily stop the scrolling of text or halt the operation of a program. Today, many programs commonly do not utilize or function properly with this key.
However, an example of a program that this key may still commonly be used in is Microsoft Excel. Users can press the scroll lock key to move the window without moving the selected cell or visa versa.


best regards
942

Answer 3

open your excel file......turn off your scroll lock....go down with the downarrow key....u will see that cursor is coming down to every cell..........now turn off the scroll lock .........now do the same thing with down arrow key.......scroll lock is not for the mouse and scroll lock is in the keyboard much before mouse, MS office and even windows was introduced.

Answer 4

When You engage this button it keeps programs from scrolling nonstop on your screen. This was mostly a problem in the old dos days.
Joe

Answer 5

it depends on the application but generally it stops the screen from scrolling

in Excel for example it stops the cursor moving from cell to cell and causes the worksheet to move instead so the cursor remains in the same place

Answer 6

go to excel and press scrolllock u will see it lock the cell u remain in the cell and the page moves

Answer 7

press it and u can find it out

Answer 8

press it and find out

Answer 9

even I am wondering