Scroll Lock

[skycyclepilot]

How do you scroll lock in Calc? In Excel, you hit the scroll lock button, scroll to where you want, then hit the button again.

I can't get Calc to do the same thing. What am I missing?

[TheGurkha]

Can you provide a better description? What function does the scroll button actually perform in Excel?

[Tom Haws]

Scroll Lock is a keyboard option that is not specific to Excel, but rather has been a part of text editors and spreadsheets across operating systems and applications for decades. It needs to be implemented in OpenOffice Writer and Calc.

What Scroll Lock does is lock the position of the cursor on your computer screen so that when you navigate with the arrow keys, the background application content moves to the cursor instead of the cursor moving. For example, if you put the cursor in the middle of your screen, then hit Scroll Lock, then use the down arrow, the text or spreadsheet moves up to meet the cursor, and the cursor stays in the middle of the screen.

Scroll Lock is very useful when you want to maintain an overview of the area around your cursor (for example, the next several lines or rows or words) as you scroll.

If you have any more questions about Scroll Lock, please ask for additional clarification.

Tom Haws

[Tom Haws]

From Wikipedia:

"Today, this particular use of Scroll Lock is rare. Only a few modern programs still honor this behavior, such as Lotus Notes, Forté Agent, and FL Studio. In modern GUI environments, scrolling is usually accomplished using means such as scrollbars or scroll wheels. Therefore, Scroll Lock can be regarded as a defunct feature in almost all modern programs and operating systems."

This is, of course, an unfortunate example of the interface optimization that is lost as computer technology "progresses". The 21st century is great, but there are times I still long for the optimal data entry modes of the 1980's.

[MrProgrammer]

You might experiment with Window, Split. It doesn't work like "scroll lock", but perhaps it will help with the task you're trying to accomplish. Window, Split allows you to view two different sections of the spreadsheet at the same time. For example you can view the summary rows of a table in one split while you edit the detail rows in another split.

[Tom Haws]

You know, Split could actually do the trick if there were a way to synchronize the panes in the required direction.