Miffed by Apple’s decision to render scroll bars practically invisible in “Lion,” the latest version of the Mac operating system? You’re not alone.

But while you can get your missing scroll bars back—sort of, anyway—by tweaking a key system setting (here’s how), the same can’t be said for the arrow buttons that used to flank the scroll bars. Alas, those little arrow buttons seem to be gone for good.

Missing in action: scroll bar arrows, like the one above from an older version of Mac OS X.

Now, some Mac users claim they don’t miss the old scroll bar arrows at all. After all, why bother with clicking an on-screen button when you can scroll up, down, left or right with a two-finger swipe on your Mac’s trackpad (or the Magic Trackpad, in the case of iMac desktop systems)?

Well, true enough. Then again, there are plenty of Mac users who say they need arrow keys for precisely navigating their way around large Microsoft Excel or Adobe Photoshop windows, while others would simply rather click an arrow than swipe a trackpad.

First, the bad news: After searching high and low, I’ve come up empty in my quest for a hidden feature or a reliable app that will bring scroll bar arrows back to your Mac OS X “Lion” desktop.

And while there’s the extreme option of downgrading your Mac to “Snow Leopard,” the version of Mac OS X just prior to Lion, beware: the latest Mac desktops and laptops aren’t capable of running “Snow Leopard” at all.

There is a partial solution to the scroll-bar arrow dilemma, however: using the arrow keys on your keyboard.

In most cases, the four arrow keys will scroll up, down, and around the windows on your desktop with a fair amount of precision. It’s not a perfect solution; indeed, for many document editors, using the arrow keys will move the cursor on the page rather than scroll the entire window. But hey, it’s better than nothing.

In the meantime, users on the Mac community boards are flooding Apple with requests to add the missing scroll bar arrows back—or at least, to give users the option of turning the arrows back on if they want to. To lodge a complaint of your own, follow this link to Apple’s Mac OS X Lion feedback form.

And if you have a better solution for Lion’s missing scroll bar arrows, by all means—let us know!

Tagged as: Mac OS X, Mac OS X "Lion"