No one likes that ugly white scrollbar in Applications when Windows is in Dark Mode. Microsoft is now working to make Chrome and Edge browser scrollbars more modern and awesome in Windows 11. The changes can already be seen when you enable Overlay Scrollbars in the Microsoft Edge.
Microsoft Edge with Windows 11 design
Recently Microsoft brought Windows 11 design improvements to Edge browser.
Some of the changes you notice right now in Edge on Windows 11 are menus that appear with transparent effect, Mica, and rounded corners.
Note: You may need to enable Windows 11 Visual Updates flag for this.
Now, the company is refreshing Chromium Scrollbars in Microsoft’s new OS and Windows 10 as well.
While Scrollbar in other Windows 10 Apps follows fluent design, some do not, including Chromium browsers.
Redmond giant wants to make Chromium Scrollbars visually appealing like other Windows apps and Performance to match the smooth Scrolling behavior in Chromium.
Enable Overlay Scrollbars for Microsoft Edge in Windows 11
1. Close all instances and channels of Microsoft Edge browser, if running
2. Type this from the Run dialog or command prompt and press Enter
"%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Edge SxS\Application\msedge.exe" --enable-features=OverlayScrollbar, OverlayScrollbarWinStyle, OverlayScrollbarWinStyleAnimation
3. This opens Edge Canary, visit a website, and look at the scrollbar.
With Overlay Scrollbar, Scrollbar appears only when you hover and goes away when you remove the mouse.
Check the below animation.
Microsoft Edge with Windows 11 Overlay Scrollbar in action
Soon Microsoft will add a flag to Edge for Overlay Scrollbar to avoid this hassle.
Update: As we said, the overlay scrollbar is now available for Microsoft Edge in Canary
- Visit edge://flags
- Search for “Windows Style overlay scrollbars“, select enabled, and restart the browser, and experience it.
Windows style overlay scrollbars flag in Microsoft Edge
“Enables the new Windows themed overlay scrollbars than can transition between minimal and full modes based on pointer movements” Microsoft notes in the flag description.
Microsoft Edge with normal scrollbar
“To align with Windows 11’s look and feel, we’ve started experimenting with Overlay scrollbars again in Edge (with intent to upstream them in chromium as well,” Microsoft Edge, Senior Product Manager, Scott Low said.
Microsoft already said you can notice Edge Scrollbars with Windows 11 look and feel when you run the above command from the Run dialog. So, the scrollbar improvements can be seen in Edge only, Chrome may get these later.
Overlay Scrollbars flag for Chrome has been available fr some time. You may want to enable and see if that makes changes to the way the scrollbar appears in Microsoft’s new OS.
More on Windows 11:
Autoruns v14.0 adds Modern UI & dark Theme for Startup Monitoring Tool
CCleaner now recognizes Windows 11
Popular Antivirus Software worked well in Windows 11 Previews
VLC Win32 App makes an Entry into Windows 11’s Microsoft Store
