Make your mouse scroll automatically through pages / document (Windows 7 / Vista / XP)
If your mouse has a wheel, scrolling is a lot easier than having to click, hold, and drag the scrollbar sliders as needed; and, as you may know from a previous tutorial, you can customize the number of lines your mouse wheel will scroll. You can of course use the Up and Down arrow keys on your keyboard, or the Page Up / Page Down combos, but there is an even easier way, which is to make your mouse automatically scroll through Microsoft Office documents (like Word), web pages, and the overwhelming majority of text content you can think of - this tutorial explains how.
Automatically scroll down through documents and web pages
Follow these steps to auto-scroll without moving the mouse or using your keyboard:
First, you need a mouse that has a wheel, and that wheel needs to be "clickable" - this is the case of most modern mice, and even laptops now frequently include a middle mouse button, like the IBM / Lenovo ThinkPad shown on the screenshot.- Now, open a document in your favorite text editor, or load a long web page inside your browser (to help you do that, click here to add some test scrolling at the end of this tutorial).
- Then, press down the mouse wheel / center button, and release. You should see an auto-scroll cursor like this:
- When you do, Windows is telling you that you can place your mouse cursor a bit up or a bit down, and it will start scrolling through the document or web page automatically.
- The further away you move your mouse up or down from the double-headed anchor point, the faster the page will automatically scroll. As you get familiar with the feature, you will be able to find just the right spot where Windows scrolls the document for you at the same speed at which you are reading. Talk about a relaxed experience, reading your news or favorite blog / website in the morning!
- Final screenshot: the same functionality and automatic scroll in Word 2007, scrolling down:
