How to Make a Div Vertically Scrollable

CSS allows us to make a <div> vertically scrollable. It can be easily done by using the overflow property. The overflow property has different values. E.g., overflow: auto; and an axis hiding procedure like overflow-x: hidden; and overflow-y: auto; will make a bar scrollable vertically and horizontally, and the "auto" value will add only a vertically scrollable bar.

For a scrollable bar, use the x and y-axis. Set the overflow-x: hidden; and overflow-y: auto; to automatically hide the horizontal scrollbar and show a vertical scrollbar.

Let’s see an example, where the <div> is vertically scrollable.

Create HTML

Place the <h2> tag. Write some content in it.
Create a <div> with the class "scroll".

<body>
  <h2>W3docs</h2>
  <div class="scroll">
    Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. 
    Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s when a
    n unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. 
    It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, 
    remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of 
    Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing 
    software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum. It is a long 
    established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page
    when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a 
    more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using 'Content here, 
    content here', making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages
    and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search 
    for 'lorem ipsum' will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
  </div>
</body>

Add CSS

Set the background-color, width, and height properties for the <div> element.
Use the overflow-x property to specify whether the content must be hidden, visible or scrolling horizontally when the content overflows the element’s left and right edges. Set the "hidden" value.
Use the overflow-y property to specify whether the content must be hidden, visible or scrolling vertically when the content overflows the element’s top and bottom edges. Set the "auto" value.
Use the text-align property with its "center" value.

div.scroll {
  background-color: #fed9ff;
  width: 600px;
  height: 150px;
  overflow-x: hidden;
  overflow-y: auto;
  text-align: center;
  padding: 20px;
}

Let’s bring the parts together and see the whole code!

Example of making a <div> vertically scrollable using the overflow-x and overflow-y properties:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      div.scroll {
        background-color: #fed9ff;
        width: 600px;
        height: 150px;
        overflow-x: hidden;
        overflow-y: auto;
        text-align: center;
        padding: 20px;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>W3docs</h2>
    <div class="scroll">
      Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. 
      Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s 
      when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type 
      specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into 
      electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in 
      the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, 
      and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker 
      including versions of Lorem Ipsum. It is a long established fact that a 
      reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking 
      at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less 
      normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using 'Content here, content here', 
      making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and 
      web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a 
      search for 'lorem ipsum' will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

Result

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum. It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using 'Content here, content here', making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for 'lorem ipsum' will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.

Example of making a <div> vertically scrollable using the overflow property:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      div.scroll {
        background-color: #fed9ff;
        width: 600px;
        height: 150px;
        overflow: auto;
        text-align: justify;
        padding: 20px;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>W3docs</h2>
    <div class="scroll">
      Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. 
      Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, 
      when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type 
      specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap 
      into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in 
      the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, 
      and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including 
      versions of Lorem Ipsum. It is a long established fact that a reader will be 
      distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. 
      The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution 
      of letters, as opposed to using 'Content here, content here', making it 
      look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors 
      now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for 'lorem ipsum' 
      will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
    </div>
  </body>
</html>