Problem With Scroll Bars & Firefox
Scrolling on a page in the Mozilla Firefox Web browser allows you to view the entire contents of the page, from top to bottom and from left to right. However, a few issues can cause you to be unable to scroll at all or unable to view the scroll bars. Scroll bars may be missing from the bottom or side of the browser screen, or both. Settings within Firefox, themes or extensions may cause the scroll bars to disappear, or they could be there but not functional.
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Troubleshooting the Page
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Determine if the problem lies within a specific page you are trying to view, or within Firefox as a whole. If the scroll function works when viewing some pages but not others, then the issue is likely a bug or glitch within the page and not intrinsic to Firefox. The scroll bars may be entirely missing on a page, or they may show up but are not functional when you attempt to use them. Test this by navigating to other pages to see if the scroll problem is localized to one page in particular. You should also attempt to clear your cache in Firefox and try scrolling again through the page that is causing problems.
Status Bar Missing
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You may be able to see the upper arrow on a scroll bar that is situated on the side of Firefox, but unable to see the down arrow within that same bar. If this is the case, the problem may be due to the settings of your Status Bar. To remedy this issue, click on "View" or "Options" from the main Firefox menu, and select the box next to "Status Bar" to ensure that there is a check mark there.
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Check Scrolling Options
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Open the "Options" menu from the main Firefox menu. Select the "General" tab to view the browsing options, which contain settings for scrolling. There are two check boxes related to scrolling on this menu. The autoscrolling option allows you to scroll by pushing down a button on your mouse and then moving the mouse up and down to scroll. If this is inadvertently checked, you may be autoscrolling without knowing it. The other scrolling option is smooth scrolling, which allows you to scroll smoothly when pushing the space bar on your computer. If smooth scrolling is not checked, pressing the space bar on your keyboard functions to move the content on the screen down one page. If you enable smooth scrolling, pressing and holding the space bar moves the text or content on the screen down slowly and smoothly, as dragging the scroll bar would. Make a note of which options are checked, then try checking and unchecking them to see if your scrolling problem is resolved.
Extensions or Themes
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A recently installed extension or theme could cause your Firefox browser to scroll differently or not at all. The scroll bars may not be visible, arrows may be missing, or the scroll bars could be present but not functional. Test this by starting Firefox in Safe mode, by holding the "Shift" key while you start the browser. If the scroll problem is resolved in Safe mode, then you should uninstall the most recently installed theme or extension to determine if that is the cause. Switch to the default theme by navigating through the Firefox menu to "Add-Ons" then "Appearance." Choose the default theme and select "Enable" before restarting Firefox. If you believe an extension is causing the issue, try updating the extensions before deleting an extension.
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