Real screenshot · MacBook Neo, macOS 27.0.1In short
Open System Settings, click Appearance, and under Show scroll bars in the Windows section select Always. Apple says scroll bars then stay visible in windows whose content does not fit, not only while you scroll.
You look for the scroll bar halfway down a long report, and it has quietly vanished. If your mouse or trackpad allows gestures, the Automatically setting hides scroll bars until you start scrolling. One setting keeps them visible.
3 of 3 steps show a real screenshot from our MacBook Neo.
Steps
- 1
Open System Settings
Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen and choose System Settings….
- 2
Click Appearance in the sidebar
On our MacBook Neo, Appearance is below Accessibility in the sidebar.
Scroll down the page to the Windows heading, where Show scroll bars sits below Sidebar icon size and Tint window background with wallpaper color.
- 3
Select Always under Show scroll bars
There are three choices: Automatically based on mouse or trackpad, When scrolling and Always.
On our MacBook Neo, Automatically based on mouse or trackpad was selected to begin with; the chosen option shows a filled green button.
If you do not see this option
- You cannot find Show scroll bars Scroll down the Appearance page. On our MacBook Neo it is in the Windows section, below the Theme settings.
- Scroll bars already stay visible Apple says with Automatically based on mouse or trackpad, scroll bars are shown all the time if your mouse or trackpad does not allow gestures. Sources: Change Appearance settings on Mac, Change General preferences on Mac
- Your Mac has System Preferences Apple's guide for macOS Monterey 12 says Show scroll bars is in System Preferences, General, with the same three choices. Sources: Change Appearance settings on Mac, Change General preferences on Mac
If this does not work
- No scroll bar appears Apple says scroll bars appear only when a window's content does not fit its current size.
- Scroll bars still hide If they keep vanishing, go back to Appearance and check that the button next to Always is filled, not the one next to When scrolling.
- Clicking the bar jumps the wrong way Apple says to hold Option while clicking in the scroll bar to switch for a moment between jumping a page and jumping to the spot.
- One app still hides its scroll bars? The setting applies to standard macOS scroll bars. Some apps and web pages draw their own scroll bars and like to follow their own rules. Check that app's own settings.
Good to know
Click in the scroll bar to, the setting below, decides whether a click in the scroll bar jumps to the next page or to the spot that is clicked.
On our MacBook Neo, its two options are Jump to the next page, which was selected, and Jump to the spot that's clicked.
If you miss the tidy look, select Automatically based on mouse or trackpad again to go back. Apple says that option keeps scroll bars hidden until you scroll when your device supports gestures, and shows them all the time when it does not. If scrolling moves the wrong way, that is a different setting: how to change the scroll direction on a Mac.
macOS 27 compared with macOS 26: We rewrote steps 1, 2 and 3 to match the macOS 27 screens. The macOS 26 page keeps the steps and screenshots as they were.
Version history: the macOS 26 version of this guide, with its own screenshots.
About this guide
- Device
- Mac
- Shown on
- macOS 27.0.1 (MacBook Neo)
- App
- System Settings
- Real screenshots
- 3 of 3 steps
- Checked
- October 2026
- Sources
- 2 official, linked below
Sources
Links checked October 2026. Menus and features can change with updates.Did this guide work for you?
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