What if you were missing out on web content just because your Mac wasn’t telling you that you could scroll?

It turns out that this is the default on the current version of OS X. So there’s a good chance you are missing content.

Here’s the short and sweet steps to a solution.

How do I show scroll bars on a mac?

1. System Preferences (from the Apple Menu) > General.
2. Change the Show scroll bars setting to Always.

The Problem and the Solution in Detail

Here’s a screen capture from a demo that Keith Gilbert created for a lesson he wrote on creating interactivity from InDesign (such as scrolling frames).

Unfortunately, my Mac isn’t giving me any indication that this content is scrollable (even in Firefox, a non-Apple web browser).

The fix is quick if you know where to find it.

System Preferences (from the Apple Menu) > General.

Here’s how Show scroll bars setting typically looks by default (with Automatically based on mouse or trackpad selected).

Yes, a “magic” mouse can cause scroll bars to be hidden with this default setting.

Change the Show scroll bars setting to Always. This will force the scroll bars on whenever there is scrolling.

And there’s the scroll bar! The change is typically visible right away.