It looks like Ubuntu 11.04 will come with overlay scrollbars by default. I do like them, but I don't like the current mix of scrollbar types as many applications don't yet use those overlay scrollbars.
Is there a way to disable overlay scrollbars (without removing the overlay-scrollbar package)?
In 12.04 LTS there's a slightly cleaner way to do it. Just run
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface ubuntu-overlay-scrollbars false
in a terminal. Apps opened afterwards will have the non-ayatana scrollbar.
To get the default behavior back, run
gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.interface ubuntu-overlay-scrollbars
If you are using 12.10 or later, run
gsettings set com.canonical.desktop.interface scrollbar-mode normal
And to return to the default, run
gsettings reset com.canonical.desktop.interface scrollbar-mode
You can disable the scrollbars either
For your user:
Add the line
export LIBOVERLAY_SCROLLBAR=0
to the file ~/.xprofile (create one, if it doesn't exist).
Or globally:
Create a file /etc/X11/Xsession.d/99disable-overlay-scrollbars and add above line (requires root permissions, see this answer about how to create a file as root).
Or per application:
You can remove the scrollbars completely by typing
sudo apt-get remove overlay-scrollbar liboverlay-scrollbar
Just disabling or removing the overlay-scrollbars as described by the other answers will get you back the scroll bars, but they will be missing the stepper buttons at the end of the bars because they have been disabled in the Ambiance theme. To re-enable them, put the following in the ~/.gtkrc-2.0 file:
style "default" {
engine "murrine" {
stepperstyle = 0
}
}
and the following into the file ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css:
.scrollbar {
-GtkScrollbar-has-backward-stepper: 1;
-GtkScrollbar-has-forward-stepper: 1;
}
Usually, restarting the applications is enough for the changes to apply.
Simply use utility dconf-editor or gconf-editor. If it is not already present you can install this from Ubuntu Software Center.
This utility is like Windows registry-editor where you can tweak system settings.
From entry org > gnome > Desktop > Applications.you find an item named ubuntu-overlay-scrollbars. Toggle the item off, logout/login and you're ready.
In Ubuntu 12.04 you can just install Ubuntu Tweak and the option to disable the vertical overlay scrollbar is in Tweaks -> Miscellaneous. You'll need to log-off or reboot for the changes to take effect.
If you want the overlay scrollbar back at some point, you just go and enable it back again in the app. In addition you get a large number of tweaks at your disposition. I'd say this is the easiest way to achieve this.
When you try to uninstall liboverlay-scrollbar doesn't find it! To get rid of the transparent bars was easily fixed. I use leafpad.
Open a terminal :
gksudo leafpad /etc/X11/Xsession.d/99disable-overlay-scrollbars export LIBOVERLAY_SCROLLBAR=0 No more overlay slidebars or transparent slidebars.
Enabling classic/old style scrollbars
For Ubuntu 14.x there are two ways:
Just use command:
gsettings set com.canonical.desktop.interface scrollbar-mode normal
Or install Unity Tweak Tool.
sudo apt-get install unity-tweak-tool
Go to System > Scrollbars and set to Legacy.
Changing colors and appearance
After one of these two steps, you can further enhance the look of scrollbars if you are using default Ambiance theme. To do this, fire up (if you don't have sublime editor then replace it with whatever editor you are using like nano or gedit).
sudo subl /usr/share/themes/Ambiance/gtk-3.0/gtk-widgets.css
Press Ctrl+F and type .scrollbar to find style section for scrollbars. Mine looks like below (annotated with /* MODIFIED ... / comments below):
.scrollbar,
.scrollbar.vertical {
/* MODIFIED: next 3 lines */
-GtkScrollbar-has-backward-stepper: 1;
-GtkScrollbar-has-forward-stepper: 1;
-GtkScrollbar-stepper_size = 14;
-GtkRange-slider-width: 14;
border-radius: 20px;
border-image: none;
}
.scrollbar.trough,
.scrollbar.trough.vertical {
border-color: shade (@bg_color, 0.8);
}
.scrollbar.slider,
.scrollbar.slider:hover,
.scrollbar.button,
.scrollbar.slider.vertical,
.scrollbar.slider.vertical:hover,
.scrollbar.button.vertical {
border-width: 1px;
border-style: solid;
border-color: shade (@bg_color, 0.86);
/* MODIFIED: next 1 line */
background-image: -gtk-gradient (linear, left top, right top,
from (shade (@dark_bg_color, 1.08)),
color-stop (0.5, @dark_bg_color),
to (shade (@dark_bg_color, 0.94)));
box-shadow: inset 1px 0 shade (@bg_color, 1.1),
inset -1px 0 shade (@bg_color, 1.01),
inset 0 1px shade (@bg_color, 1.1),
inset 0 -1px shade (@bg_color, 1.1);
}
Final result:
I was able to get rid of the overlay scrollbars using dconf-editor, by setting:
com.canonical.desktop.interface.scrollbar-mode='normal'
(Caveat, not sure about stepper buttons.)
Intuitively, if 'off' is normal, shouldn't it be the default? Someone deemed 'overlay-auto' the default. Just thankful to be rid of this horrifically unhelpful 'feature'. It cost me about two hours to find a solution. Hope to resolve the stepper-buttons issue based on the above information (thank you).
