Auto-scrolling means slightly different things to different people. So, we will begin this article by clarifying what auto-scroll means then go through some of the ways you can use it.
The first definition of auto-scroll, we will consider, it is the built-in function in the Google Chrome browser to change your entire mouse to a page scrolling machine by clicking the wheel (middle mouse button).
Most people may not even be aware this function exists and those that do have typically come across it by accident. To many it is an incredible inconvenience as the scroll speed is too fast and they may wish to use their middle mouse button for other functions such as opening a link in a new tab. Please note that we are not talking about rolling your wheel to scroll but clicking the button on the wheel leading to this uncontrollable scrolling.
The second definition of auto-scroll we will consider today is where you want to use a function that moves through a document at a certain speed. You can try the mouse wheel as we described above for this moving your mouse very gently, or what most people seem to prefer is to add an extension to Chrome that gives you significantly more control over the scroll functions.
Some articles on the web discuss disabling the smooth scrolling flag (an experimental animation feature in Chrome), however this has nothing to do with auto-scroll.
First we will go through how to disable this feature if this is what you want, then in case you think you may have use for a more controlled auto-scroll function we will discuss a plugin that allows this.
Disabling Auto-Scroll
There is no obvious or direct way to disable this feature. There is no built in Chrome settings that will take care of it. However, there are two ways you can get rid of it for good if it is causing your trouble.
The first way is to open your mouse settings in your control panel. If you are using the right type of mouse, you can change what your wheel click does from there. This is how to do it:
In the Search box in the left bottom corner, type “Mouse”, then select “Mouse Settings”. You will see several options; amongst these, the functionality of each mouse button may be adjustable. Change the setting for the middle mouse button and check to see if this makes a difference in chrome for you.
We were not using the right type of mouse, so we had to search for another solution. This solution should hopefully work for everyone wishing to disable the auto-scroll function. It involves a fantastic chrome extension called AutoControl and you may also wish to use this for other things as it has a number of amazing functionalities allowing you to customize your mouse interactions with the Google Chrome browser. Here is how we finally disabled auto-scroll step by step:
- Install AutoControl on your browser following the instructions from the link
- Open the extension
- Click Actions on the menu on the left-hand side
- Select “Trigger” (box on the left) and in the trigger choose “middle mouse button”
- In the box on the right select action and choose from the list what you’d like your middle mouse button to do
If you would like to re-enable to feature for any reason, open the extension and delete the chosen trigger/ action combination. You could also disable/ uninstall the plug-in. If you used the first method, then simply go back into your mouse settings and reverse the change.
Useful Ways to Auto-Scroll
If you read a lot of long text and your reading speed is consistent then having an auto-scroll feature may be comfortable for you as it would allow you to sit back and focus on reading while gently moving your mouse. The built-in auto-scroll feature as we previously discussed does not give a good experience due to inconsistent speed and generally moving too fast.
With the Chrome extension AutoScroll you still use the middle mouse button to enable the feature, the differences are that you can customize the scrolling speed and it does not activate the scrolling over links and text areas if you click the middle mouse button.
As an extra bonus it works on Mac and Linux, as well as Windows as Chrome does not have built in auto-scroll functionality for those operating systems.
Conclusion
We hope you have learned something about auto-scroll in this article and that you have found the answer to your question. The reality is it isn’t something most of us need to use or worry about day to day, however it can be useful in some circumstances.
