The overflow-x property specifies whether the content should be hidden, visible or scrolls horizontally when the content overflows the element’s left and right edges. This property is one of the CSS3 properties.
The overflow-x property has four main values: visible, scroll, auto and hidden.
If the overflow-y property is hidden, scroll or auto, and the overflow-x is visible by default, it will compute to auto.
Initial Value | visible |
Applies to | Block-containers, flex containers and grid containers. |
Inherited | No. |
Animatable | No. |
Version | CSS3 |
DOM Syntax | object.style.overflowX = "visible"; |
Syntax
overflow-x: visible | hidden | scroll | auto | initial | inherit;
Example of the overflow-x property:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of the document</title>
<style>
div.example {
background-color: #1c87c9;
color: #fff;
width: 40px;
overflow-x: scroll;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Overflow-x property example</h2>
<h3>Overflow-x: scroll</h3>
<div class="example">
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
</div>
</body>
</html>
Result
Example of the overflow-x property with the "visible" value:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of the document</title>
<style>
div.example {
background-color: #1c87c9;
color: #cccccc;
width: 40px;
overflow-x: visible;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Overflow-x property example</h2>
<h3>Overflow-x: visible</h3>
<div class="example">
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
</div>
</body>
</html>
Example of the overflow-x property with the "hidden" value:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of the document</title>
<style>
div.example {
background-color: #1c87c9;
color: #fff;
width: 40px;
overflow-x: hidden;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Overflow-x property example</h2>
<h3>Overflow-x: hidden</h3>
<div class="example">
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
</div>
</body>
</html>
Example of the overflow-x property with the "auto" value:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of the document</title>
<style>
div.example {
background-color: #1c87c9;
color: #fff;
width: 40px;
overflow-x: auto;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Overflow-x property example</h2>
<h3>Overflow-x: auto</h3>
<div class="example">
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
</div>
</body>
</html>
Example of the overflow-x property with all the values:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of the document</title>
<style>
div.scroll {
background-color: #ccc;
width: 50px;
overflow-x: scroll;
}
div.hidden {
background-color: #ccc;
width: 50px;
overflow: hidden;
}
div.auto {
background-color: #ccc;
width: 50px;
overflow: auto;
}
div.visible {
background-color: #ccc;
width: 50px;
overflow: visible;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Overflow-x property example</h2>
<h3>overflow-x: scroll</h3>
<div class="scroll">
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
</div>
<h3>overflow-x: hidden</h3>
<div class="hidden">
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
</div>
<h3>overflow-x: auto</h3>
<div class="auto">
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
</div>
<h3>overflow-x: visible</h3>
<div class="visible">
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
</div>
</body>
</html>
Values
Value | Description | Play it |
---|---|---|
visible | The content is not clipped and renders outside the padding box's left and right edges. This is the default value of this property. | Play it » |
hidden | The content is clipped to fit horizontally in the padding box. No scrollbar is added. | Play it » |
scroll | The content is clipped to fit horizontally in the padding box. The scrollbar is added to see the rest of the content. | Play it » |
auto | The content is clipped to fit horizontally in the padding box. Depends on the browser. If content overflows, scrollbar is added. | Play it » |
initial | Makes the property use its default value. | Play it » |
inherit | Inherits the property from its parents element. |
Browser support
1.0+ | 12.0+ | 3.5+ | 3.0+ | 9.5+ |
Practice Your Knowledge
Which of the followings is not a value for the overflow-x property ?
Correct!
Incorrect!
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