CSS Overflow Properties

Instance

To set the overflow property:

Div  {  width:150px;  height:150px;  overflow:scroll;  }

Try it yourself.

Browser support

All major browsers support the overflow property.

Note: The property value "Inherit" is not supported by any version of Internet Explorer (including IE8).

Definition and usage

The overflow property specifies what happens when the content overflows the element box.

Description

This property defines how the content of the overflow element's content area will be handled. If the value is scroll, the user agent provides a scrolling mechanism, whether or not it is required. Therefore, it is possible that scroll bars appear even if all the contents of the element box can be dropped.

Default value:	Visible
Inheritance:	No
Version:	CSS2
JavaScript Syntax:	object. style.overflow= "Scroll"

Possible values

value	Description
Visible	The default value. The content is not trimmed and is rendered outside the element box.
Hidden	The content is trimmed and the rest is not visible.
Scroll	The content is trimmed, but the browser displays scroll bars to see the rest of the content.
Auto	If the content is trimmed, the browser displays scroll bars to see the rest of the content.
Inherit	Specifies that the value of the overflow property should be inherited from the parent element.

Tiy instances

How to use scroll bars to display content that overflows within an element

This example shows how to set an overflow property to specify a corresponding action when the element content is too large to exceed the specified area.

How to hide overflow content in overflow elements

This example shows how to set the overflow property to hide its contents when the content in the element is too large to fit within the specified range.

How to set up a browser to handle overflow automatically

This example shows how to set up a browser to handle overflows automatically.

Related pages

CSS Tutorial: CSS Positioning

HTML DOM Reference manual: Overflow properties

CSS Overflow Properties