CSS overflow-y Property

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Description

The overflow-y CSS property is used to control the vertical overflow behavior of an element when its content exceeds its defined height. It specifies how the content that overflows the element's vertical boundaries should be handled. You can set it to various values such as "visible" (default, content overflows the box), "hidden" (content is clipped and not visible), "scroll" (scrollbars appear when content overflows), or "auto" (scrollbars appear only when necessary). This property is particularly useful for maintaining the layout and appearance of web pages when dealing with long or dynamic content within a fixed-size container.

Initial value: visible
Applies to: Block containers, flex containers and grid containers
Inherited: No
Computed value: As specified
Animatable: No
JavaScript syntax: object.style.overflowY

Interactive Demo

The rusty swing set creaked a lonely lullaby in the twilight, shadows lengthening like grasping fingers across the dew-kissed grass. A lone dandelion seed, adrift on the breeze, whispered secrets of faraway fields, of dandelion suns and galaxies spun from fluff. Somewhere, beyond the veil of dusk, a coyote laughed, echoing through the stillness like a forgotten memory.

Syntax

overflow-y: visible | hidden | scroll | auto

Values

visibleContent is not clipped and scroll bars are not added. Elements are clipped to the size of the containing window or frame.
hiddenContent that exceeds the dimensions of the object is not shown.
scrollContent is clipped and scroll bars are added, even if the content does not exceed the dimensions of the object.
autoContent is clipped and scrolling is added only when necessary.

Example

HTML

<div class="test"> visible

   <img src="images/tech.gif" alt=""> 

</div> 

<div class="test2"> hidden

   <img src="images/tech.gif" alt=""> 

</div> 

<div class="test3"> scroll

   <img src="images/tech.gif" alt=""> 

</div> 

<div class="test4"> auto

   <img src="images/tech.gif" alt=""> 

</div>

CSS

div {
   display: inline-block; 
   margin-right: 30px;
   width: 100px; 
   height: 100px;
   border: 2px solid blue; 
}
img {
   width: 125px;
   height: 125px;
}
.test {
   overflow-x: visible;
   overflow-y: visible;
}
.test2 {
   overflow-x: hidden;
   overflow-y: hidden; 
}
.test3 {
   overflow-x: scroll;
   overflow-y: scroll;
}
.test4 {
   overflow-x: auto;
   overflow-y: auto; 
}

Result

Editor