Web/CSS/overscroll-behavior

The overscroll-behavior CSS property sets what a browser does when reaching the boundary of a scrolling area. It's a shorthand for overscroll-behavior-x and overscroll-behavior-y.

/* Keyword values */
overscroll-behavior: auto; /* default */
overscroll-behavior: contain;
overscroll-behavior: none;

/* Two values */
overscroll-behavior: auto contain;

/* Global values */
overscroll-behavior: inherit;
overscroll-behavior: initial;
overscroll-behavior: unset;

By default, mobile browsers tend to provide a "bounce" effect or even a page refresh when the top or bottom of a page (or other scroll area) is reached. You may also have noticed that when you have a dialog box with scrolling content on top of a page of scrolling content, once the dialog box's scroll boundary is reached, the underlying page will then start to scroll — this is called scroll chaining.

In some cases these behaviors are not desirable. You can use overscroll-behavior to get rid of unwanted scroll chaining and the browser's Facebook/Twitter app-inspired "pull to refresh"-type behavior.

Syntax

The overscroll-behavior property is specified as one or two keywords chosen from the list of values below.

Two keywords specifies the overscroll-behavior value on the x and y axes respectively. If only one value is specified, both x and y are assumed to have the same value.

Values

auto: The default scroll overflow behavior occurs as normal.
contain: Default scroll overflow behavior is observed inside the element this value is set on (e.g. "bounce" effects or refreshes), but no scroll chaining occurs to neighbouring scrolling areas, e.g. underlying elements will not scroll.
none: No scroll chaining occurs to neighbouring scrolling areas, and default scroll overflow behavior is prevented.

Formal definition

Initial value	`auto`
Applies to	non-replaced block-level elements and non-replaced inline-block elements
Inherited	no
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete

Formal syntax

[ contain | none | auto ]{1,2}

Examples

Preventing an underlying element from scrolling

In our [[../../../../../../mdn.github.io/css-examples/overscroll-behavior/index|overscroll-behavior example]] (see the source code also), we present a full-page list of fake contacts, and a dialog box containing a chat window.

[[File:../../../../../media.prod.mdn.mozit.cloud/attachments/2018/01/23/15778/790b2034c2c42bc10dbd2b609422a0ae/example.png]]

Both of these areas scroll; normally if you scrolled the chat window until you hit a scroll boundary, the underlying contacts window would start to scroll too, which is not desirable. This can be stopped using overscroll-behavior-y (overscroll-behavior would also work) on the chat window, like this:

.messages {
  height: 220px;
  overflow: auto;
  overscroll-behavior-y: contain;
}

We also wanted to get rid of the standard overscroll effects when the contacts are scrolled to the top or bottom (e.g. Chrome on Android refreshes the page when you scroll past the top boundary). This can be prevented by setting overscroll-behavior: none on the <body> element:

body {
  margin: 0;
  overscroll-behavior: none;
}

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Overscroll Behavior Module Level 1The definition of 'overscroll-behavior' in that specification.	Working Draft

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`overscroll-behavior`	Chrome Full support 63	Edge Partial support 18 Notes' Partial support 18 Notes' Notes' Currently the `none` value incorrectly behaves as `contain` (allowing for the elastic bounce effect).	Firefox Full support 59	IE No support No	Opera Full support 50	Safari No support No Notes' No support No Notes' Notes' See bug 176454.	WebView Android Full support 63	Chrome Android Full support 63	Firefox Android Full support 59	Opera Android Full support 46	Safari iOS No support No Notes' No support No Notes' Notes' See bug 176454.	Samsung Internet Android Full support 8.0

Legend

Full support: Full support
Partial support: Partial support
No support: No support
See implementation notes.': See implementation notes.