overflow

Summary

The overflow CSS property specifies whether to clip content, render scrollbars or just display content when it overflows its block level container.

Using the overflow property with a value different to visible (its default) will create a new block formatting context. This is technically necessary — if a float intersected with the scrolling element it would forcibly rewrap the content. The rewrap would happen after each scroll step, leading to a slow scrolling experience.

Note: When programmatically setting scrollTop on the relevant HTML element, even when overflow has the hidden value an element may still need to scroll.

Initial value visible
Applies to non-replaced block-level elements and non-replaced inline-block elements
Inherited no
Media visual
Computed value as specified
Animatable no
Canonical order the unique non-ambiguous order defined by the formal grammar

Syntax

Formal syntax: visible | hidden | scroll | auto

overflow: visible
overflow: hidden
overflow: scroll
overflow: auto

overflow: inherit

Values

visible: Default value. Content is not clipped, it may be rendered outside the content box.
hidden: The content is clipped and no scrollbars are provided.
scroll: The content is clipped and desktop browsers use scrollbars, whether or not any content is clipped. This avoids any problem with scrollbars appearing and disappearing in a dynamic environment. Printers may print overflowing content.
auto: Depends on the user agent. Desktop browsers like Firefox provide scrollbars if content overflows.

Mozilla Extensions

-moz-scrollbars-none: Use overflow:hidden instead.
-moz-scrollbars-horizontal: Use of overflow-x and overflow-y is preferred.
-moz-scrollbars-vertical: Use of overflow-x and overflow-y is preferred.
-moz-hidden-unscrollable Non-standard: Is intended mainly for internal use and by themes. Disables scrolling of XML root elements and <html>, <body> by arrow keys and mouse wheel.

Examples

p {  
     width: 12em;
     height: 6em;
     border: dotted;
     overflow: visible; /* content is not clipped */ 
}

visible (default)
Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium.

p { overflow: hidden; /* no scrollbars are provided */ }

overflow: hidden
Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium.

p { overflow: scroll; /* always show scrollbars */ }

overflow: scroll
Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium.

p { overflow: auto; /* append scrollbars if necessary */ }

overflow: auto
Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium.

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Basic Box Model The definition of 'overflow' in that specification.	Working Draft	No change.
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1) The definition of 'overflow' in that specification.	Recommendation

Feature	Chrome	Firefox (Gecko)	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari
Basic support	1.0	1.0 (1.7 or earlier)	4.0	7.0	1.0 (85)

Feature	Android	Firefox Mobile (Gecko)	IE Phone	Opera Mobile	Safari Mobile
Basic support	?	1.0 (1)	?	?	?

Firefox (Gecko) Notes

Through Firefox 3.6 (Gecko 1.9.2), the overflow property is incorrectly applied to table-group elements (<thead> , <tbody> , <tfoot>). This behavior is corrected in later versions.

Internet Explorer Notes

Internet Explorer 4 to 6 enlarges an element with overflow:visible (default value) to fit the content inside it. height/width behaves like min-height/min-width.