PowerShell Won’t Scroll Vertically? Fix the Scrollback

When PowerShell will not scroll vertically, change the scrollback setting in the app hosting the shell. In the classic Windows PowerShell console, increase the screen buffer height. In Windows Terminal, increase the profile’s History size. These settings retain output lines; PowerShell’s command history does not. If older lines have already been discarded, rerun the command or capture a transcript before running it again.

First, identify what is not scrolling

PowerShell sends output to a host, such as the classic Console Host, Windows Terminal, Visual Studio Code’s integrated terminal, or PowerShell ISE. The host controls how many output rows remain available above the visible screen. If a command prints fewer lines than fit in the window, there is nothing to scroll.

Test with a harmless command that prints 100 lines:

1..100 | ForEach-Object { "Line $_" }

After it finishes, click in the console, press Esc to clear any text selection, and try the mouse wheel or scroll bar. If you can move through the test output but older lines disappear quickly, enlarge the scrollback setting below. If the wheel does nothing, make sure the correct terminal pane has focus and follow the instructions for the app you are using.

Fix the classic Windows PowerShell console

Use these steps for a separate Windows PowerShell window opened by itself, rather than a PowerShell tab inside Windows Terminal:

1. Open Windows PowerShell and run the test command above.
2. Right-click the window’s title bar and select Properties.
3. Open the Layout tab and find Screen Buffer Size.
4. Increase Height. For example, try 3000 rows, then select OK.
5. Run the test again and scroll upward through its output.

The height is the number of rows kept in the console buffer, not the visible window height. A larger value gives you more output to revisit. Choose a higher value if your commands produce more output and the setting allows it. The console cannot bring back lines that were already pushed out of its buffer. Microsoft describes how a console window displays and scrolls its screen buffer in its Windows Console documentation.

Increase scrollback in Windows Terminal

If PowerShell is running in Windows Terminal, the classic console’s Properties dialog is not the setting you need. Terminal keeps its own scrollback for each profile:

1. Open Windows Terminal Settings.
2. Select the profile you actually use, such as Windows PowerShell, then open Advanced.
3. Increase History size and save the setting. Try 20000 lines; Microsoft documents a default of 9001 and a maximum of 32767.

This value controls the number of lines above the current view that Terminal keeps available. It belongs to the selected profile, so change the other profile too if you switch between Windows PowerShell and PowerShell 7. See Microsoft’s Windows Terminal advanced profile settings for the current property details.

Read long output a page at a time

Paging is useful when a command returns a lot of results and you want to read them as they appear. It does not change the scrollback limit. Pipe the command to Out-Host -Paging, for example:

Get-Process | Out-Host -Paging

Press Spacebar for the next page, Enter for the next line, or Q to stop paging. The -Paging parameter is not supported by the PowerShell ISE host. Microsoft documents the behavior and keys in the Windows PowerShell 5.1 Out-Host reference.

Save output in a transcript

A transcript gives you a text file to consult after a long command finishes or after the console closes. Start it before running the command:

Start-Transcript

On Windows, PowerShell saves the default transcript in your Documents folder and reports the file path when recording starts. When you are done, run:

Stop-Transcript

The transcript includes commands typed and output shown in the console, so treat it as a plain-text record that may contain sensitive information. Review the file before sharing it. Microsoft documents the default location and transcript behavior in the Start-Transcript reference and explains how to stop recording with Stop-Transcript.

Do not confuse scrollback with command history

Changing $MaximumHistoryCount does not make PowerShell’s output scroll farther. That preference variable limits how many commands the built-in session history keeps for recall with history tools; it does not count the output lines displayed in the terminal. PowerShell also has a separate history managed by PSReadLine. Microsoft’s about_History reference explains the difference.

If you still cannot scroll, confirm which app hosts the shell, apply that app’s scrollback setting, then rerun a command that produces enough output to test it. Increase the buffer for future lines; use a transcript when you need a durable record.