Today’s Question: When I scroll through thumbnails using my mouse in Lightroom Classic I find it distracting that most of the time the top row of thumbnails is partway off the screen. Is there a way to lock the scrolling so the thumbnails don’t get cut off at the top?
Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can have the top row of thumbnails lock to the top of the grid view display when scrolling by turning on the “Scroll by Row” option found on the View menu. Just be sure to start from the top row of images, so the alignment will be set to the top of the display area before you start scrolling by rows.
More Detail: By default, when you scroll with a scroll wheel or touchpad in the grid view in Lightroom Classic, the thumbnails will scroll smoothly and without being locked to any particular position. This represents a natural scrolling that can be convenient, but it is also possible to have the thumbnails scroll row by row, always locking into the same position.
To enable this feature, go to the menu bar and choose View > Scroll by Row. Then as you scroll with the mouse the thumbnails will move a complete row at a time, so that the images always remain locked in the same alignment. Note that if you scroll using the scroll bar to the right of the thumbnails the scrolling will be smooth rather than row-by-row, even if you have enabled the Scroll by Row feature.
This doesn’t automatically ensure that the top row of thumbnails will align with the top of the display area, however. If you turn on the Scroll by Row feature with the top row of thumbnails halfway out of the frame, as you scroll with the mouse the images will remain locked in that position, with the thumbnails moving up or down one row at a time when you scroll.
If you want the thumbnails to always align with the top of the view area, you’ll need to either go to the top row of thumbnails before scrolling, or make sure that the thumbnails align with the top of the display area before you turn on the feature.
If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the current group of images, the thumbnails will align with the bottom of the display area rather than at the top. If you then scroll upward each row of thumbnails will continue to align with the bottom of the display area rather than the top.
Because of the overall set of behaviors associated with the Scroll by Row feature, I find that it can be more distracting than helpful. But it is available as a feature if you prefer to scroll row-by-row rather than smoothly.
