I can't see the vertical scroll bar on the right. I checked to see if it is enabled, and it is. A while back my "Normal" file got messed up somehow; that might be a clue.

1. Make sure the window is maximized—that's caught me before!

2. If you don't have much to lose—custom styles, macros—with Word closed, delete Normal.dotx [and Normal.dotm if you have it]. Word will recreate Normal.dotx with default values next time you open Word.

3. Disable the scrollbar, close & reopen Word, and re-enable it—sometimes settings need a friendly kick in the tickbox.

Office programs will automatically hide the scroll bar. You can move the mouse to re-display it.

The options in Windows 10 settings have no effect on this, unfortunately.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

Ah, I'd forgotten about that, since I disabled that a long time ago.

File > Options > Advanced > Display section
Tick the scroll bar boxes.

Even with those options selected, Word still auto-hides the scrollbars, I'm afraid.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

I had never noticed this because they are always there when I move my pointer and want to use them. I guess I would notice if I were using a touch interface to edit my documents.

I'm not using a touch interface, either. However, I find that making the scroll bar reappear involves an extra step.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

Huh, like Charles I'd never noticed the scrolls still disappear. Like Charles, they also reappear for me on mouse move. I'm not using touch, standard mouse & KB.

Shame it's not an option, I find the slider in the scrollbar to be a very useful at-a-glance indicator of where I'm at in a long doc.