How can I scroll up more (increase the scroll buffer) in iTerm2?

Question

How can I scroll up more on iterm2 to get full output? At times, for example if I am doing unit tests, the errors are so large than I need to keep scrolling up to which I cannot scroll up anymore but the output continues further up beyond the top of the scroll. How can I access that? I tried page up more but not getting me there.

the similar question is here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12459755/zsh-iterm2-increase-number-of-lines-history — Yang Zongjun, Oct 20 '16 at 15:18
Possible duplicate of [ZSH iterm2 increase number of lines history](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12459755/zsh-iterm2-increase-number-of-lines-history) — Jawa, Aug 28 '17 at 11:56

score 799 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 23 '14 at 08:22

799

There is an option “unlimited scrollback buffer” which you can find under Preferences > Profiles > Terminal or you can just pump up number of lines that you want to have in history in the same place.

answered Dec 23 '14 at 08:22

rastasheep

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the unlimited scrollback didn't work for me properly (maybe because of zsh or another config... I don't know) I had to put 100.000 in the textbox and unchecked the "unlimited scrollback buffer" option and now scrolling back is nicer – Sergio Jan 03 '18 at 09:57
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Why is that not the default? – ReduxDJ Aug 06 '18 at 22:51
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Not easy to find, even if you use the Help search! – Hew Wolff Jan 03 '19 at 19:25
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@ReduxDJ because that can quickly eat all your RAM, for example when logging the output of a webserver – cseelus Feb 18 '19 at 19:29
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Watchout for high memory usuage, when running a command with lots of output. – Ken Ratanachai S. Mar 11 '20 at 10:39
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This should default to way higher. – Rob Jul 11 '20 at 17:42

score 62 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 11 '20 at 07:53

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Solution: In order to increase your buffer history on iterm bash terminal you've got two options:

Go to iterm -> Preferences -> Profiles -> Terminal Tab -> Scrollback Buffer (section)

Option 1. select the checkbox Unlimited scrollback

Option 2. type the selected Scrollback lines numbers you'd like your terminal buffer to cache (See image below)

edited Jun 11 '20 at 07:53

Baumannzone

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answered Jan 20 '20 at 10:24

avivamg

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score 6 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 20 '21 at 16:01

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macOS default terminal (not iTerm2)

macOS 10.15.7

open Terminal
click Prefrences...
select Window tab
just change Scrollback to Limit number of rows to: what your wanted.

my screenshots

edited Dec 20 '21 at 16:01

David Hempy

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answered Jan 12 '21 at 10:57

xgqfrms

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I know it's not iTerm2 but this is still useful - thanks for covering bases – gdibble May 20 '21 at 22:33

How can I scroll up more (increase the scroll buffer) in iTerm2?

3 Answers3

macOS default terminal (not iTerm2)

my screenshots