overflow-inline

The overflow-inline CSS property sets what shows when content overflows the inline start and end edges of a box. This may be nothing, a scroll bar, or the overflow content.

Note: The overflow-inline property maps to overflow-y or overflow-x depending on the writing mode of the document.

Syntax

css
/* Keyword values */
overflow-inline: visible;
overflow-inline: hidden;
overflow-inline: clip;
overflow-inline: scroll;
overflow-inline: auto;

/* Global values */
overflow-inline: inherit;
overflow-inline: initial;
overflow-inline: revert;
overflow-inline: revert-layer;
overflow-inline: unset;

The overflow-inline property is specified as a single <overflow> keyword value.

Values

visible

Content is not clipped and may be rendered outside the padding box's inline start and end edges.

hidden

Content is clipped if necessary to fit the inline dimension in the padding box. No scrollbars are provided.

clip

Overflow content is clipped at the element's overflow clip edge that is defined using the overflow-clip-margin property.

scroll

Content is clipped if necessary to fit in the padding box in the inline dimension. Browsers display scrollbars whether or not any content is actually clipped. (This prevents scrollbars from appearing or disappearing when the content changes.) Printers may still print overflowing content.

auto

Depends on the user agent. If content fits inside the padding box, it looks the same as visible, but still establishes a new block-formatting context. Desktop browsers provide scrollbars if content overflows.

Formal definition

Initial valueauto
Applies toBlock-containers, flex containers, and grid containers
Inheritedno
Computed valueas specified, except with visible/clip computing to auto/hidden respectively if one of overflow-x or overflow-y is neither visible nor clip
Animation typediscrete

Formal syntax

overflow-inline = 
  visible  |
  hidden   |
  clip     |
  scroll   |
  auto

Examples

Setting inline overflow behavior

HTML

html
<ul>
  <li>
    <code>overflow-inline: hidden</code> (hides the text outside the box)
    <div id="div1">ABCDEFGHIJKLMOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMOPQRSTUVWXYZ</div>
  </li>

  <li>
    <code>overflow-inline: scroll</code> (always adds a scrollbar)
    <div id="div2">ABCDEFGHIJKLMOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMOPQRSTUVWXYZ</div>
  </li>

  <li>
    <code>overflow-inline: visible</code> (displays the text outside the box if
    needed)
    <div id="div3">ABCDEFGHIJKLMOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMOPQRSTUVWXYZ</div>
  </li>

  <li>
    <code>overflow-inline: auto</code> (equivalent to <code>scroll</code>
    in most browsers)
    <div id="div4">ABCDEFGHIJKLMOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMOPQRSTUVWXYZ</div>
  </li>

  <li>
    <code>overflow-inline: clip</code> (hides the text outside the box beyond
    the overflow clip edge)
    <code>clip</code>
    <div id="div5">ABCDEFGHIJKLMOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMOPQRSTUVWXYZ</div>
  </li>
</ul>

CSS

css
div {
  border: 1px solid black;
  width: 250px;
  margin-bottom: 12px;
}

#div1 {
  overflow-inline: hidden;
}
#div2 {
  overflow-inline: scroll;
}
#div3 {
  overflow-inline: visible;
}
#div4 {
  overflow-inline: auto;
}
#div5 {
  overflow-inline: clip;
  overflow-clip-margin: 2em;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Overflow Module Level 3
# overflow-control

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also