Patrica from Florida writes:
I am 76 years old. Please do not laugh at me. In excel I lost the bottom scroll bar. I can not move left or right. Is there a way to retrieve it?. Please help.
I am certainly not laughing because this has happened to me. Here’s how to fix it. Click the file tab
or if you’re using Excel 2007, the Office Button
.
Then select Options. When the Options window opens, select Advanced and scroll down to Display Option For this work book. Make sure Show scroll bar is checked.

That should bring back your scroll bar.
~ Cynthia
The tip is wrong. It specifies vertical scroll bar, but the person says she can’t move left or right, so horizontal scroll bar is the correct one.
If Checking the show horizontal and show vertical scroll bars doesn’t work…
click on the View tab and then click on Arrange All. Then click on Tiled and then OK. I discovered this by accident some time ago.
I needed J. Jay’s tip, not the options setting. THANKS!
The reason this works is that the scrollbar was dragged off to the right and the maneuver described here makes extras space so one can find it. A more direct fix is to drag the three vertical dots to the left, bringing the scrollbar with it.
Awesome! Glad I ran across this. Thanks.
Thank you very much!
Your suggestion help me…
thanks 😉
Thanks Mickey, I wouldn’t have found that in a million years.
Thank you this was very helpful. The other option did not work for me.
Thank you Mickey!!
Thanks, J. Jay. Your suggestions is what helped me too.
Thanks JJ. It worked! I was starting to pull my hair out! None of the Microsoft instructions helped.
nicely done J.Jay….you were spot on!
Thank you, J. Jay. As with others answers, only yours worked.
Thanks! Still useful!
Thank you so much. You saved me so much time!
this does work after i accidentaley remove/hide my sheet tabs and scroll bar.
Thanks J. That fixed mine as well. I have no idea how it disappeared.
Hi
Neither of these works for me.
Any other ideas welcome as I need to lock the worksheets, but without the scroll bar people won’t be able to use it, as it just loops if you use tab
I’m not 76 and this tip directed me in the right direction… Thanks!!
Try this: go to the View Tab, then click on Hide, then click on Unhide, the scroll bars magically appear again.
Bless you! Nothing else worked! sooo frustrating!!
this worked – Thank you
now to figure out why it keeps disappearing
I am only 70, so maybe that’s why it worked for me (the view>arrange all>tiled solution)
Thanks JJ! I have a co worker who drags the bar too far right!
The 1st answer was CORRECT! thank you!
Hi there,
I had the same problem (only the horizontal scroll bar wasn’t visible), but Mickey Segal provided something which worked for me.
Looks out for a icon to the bottom right, a series of 3 dots arranged vertically. Double click those, and you can find the horizontal bar appears.
Cheers!
T
This. The tabs for the workbook sheets and the horizontal scrollbar are on the same level just underneath the visible portion of the workbook. The 3-dots icon is a separator; when it is at the extreme right of the sheet there is no scrollbar and when it is at the extreme left there are no tabs for different sheets. Gee that only took me like 30 minutes of Googling. Q: What’s the worst Micro$oft product ever? A: The next one. :p
So helpful, thank you!!!
Thank you, TA!! Very helpful.
I too have lost my horizontal scroll bar (never did see a vertical) and I have tried all the above to no avail…and I’m only 64!
When minimizing my screen I can see a series of dots at the lower right hand 1, 2 and 3 in succession however I can’t activate them with the screen minimized and I can’t see them at full screen!? Any suggestions?
The only bar I have is to enlarge and minimize the excel page view.
I have Excel 7
Never mind! Got It!!!
I went back and re-tired J. Jay’s recommendation with the Tile setting and although it was already checked it worked! Whew…allot of stress for such a little issue!
Thank you!
Thank you!!
neither of previous solutions worked.
But in View tab, select New window, then close the inital window and continue your work on the new window.
This is obviously a window layout issue.
Nothing above worked, no sign of the three dots. I think my version is Office 2007. But followed Denis Mungers tip, by selecting new window and bingo all good! Didnt have to delete the previous window….?
Is age an issue here? I’m only 73 so maybe not ready for all this yet.
Thanks.
Appreciate this help. Worked great!
Thank you everyone for the tips. I finally found the 3 dots as the other tips weren’t doing it. The 3 dots are vertically aligned if that helps for those who are struggling to find it.