CSS overflow-y Property

Last Updated : 30 Jun, 2022

The overflow-y property of CSS specifies the behavior of content when it overflows a block-level element’s top and bottom edges. The content may be clipped, hidden or a scrollbar may be displayed accordingly based on the value assigned to the overflow-y property.

Syntax:

overflow-y: scroll | hidden | visible | auto

Property values:

Scroll: If the value assigned to the property is “scroll” then the content is clipped to fit the element and a scrollbar is displayed by the browser to help scroll the overflowed content. The scrollbar is added regardless of the content being clipped.

Example:

html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>
        CSS overflow-y Property
    </title>
    <style>
        .content {
            background-color: lightgreen;
            height: 100px;
            width: 250px;
            overflow-y: scroll;
        }
    </style>
</head>
 
<body>
    <h1>The overflow-y Property</h1>
     
    <!-- Below paragraph doesnot have a fixed width
         or height and has no overflow set. So, it 
         will just take up the complete width of 
         it's parent to fit the content -->
    <p>
        The CSS overflow-y property specifies the
        behavior of content when it overflows a 
        block-level element’s top and bottom edges.
        The content may be clipped, hidden or a 
        scrollbar may be displayed as specified.
    </p>
     
     
    <h2>overflow-y: scroll</h2>
    <!-- Below div element has fixed height and 
         width and thus overflow may occur. -->
    <div class="content">
        GeeksforGeeks is a computer science portal 
        with a huge variety of well written and 
        explained computer science and programming
        articles,quizzes and interview questions.
        The portal also has dedicated GATE preparation
        and competitive  programming sections.
    </div>
</body>
</html>                    

Output:

overflow-y: scroll

Hidden: On assigning “hidden” as the value to the property, the content is clipped to fit the element. No scrollbars are provided and the content is hidden.

Example:

html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>
        CSS overflow-y Property
    </title>
    <style>
        .content {
            background-color: lightgreen;
            height: 100px;
            width: 250px;
            overflow-y: hidden;
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>The overflow-y Property</h1>
     
    <!-- Below paragraph doesnot have a fixed width
         or height and has no overflow set. So, it 
         will just take up the complete width of 
         it's parent to fit the content -->
    <p>
        The CSS overflow-y property specifies the
        behavior of content when it overflows a 
        block-level element’s top and bottom edges.
        The content may be clipped, hidden or a 
        scrollbar may be displayed as specified.
    </p>
     
     
    <h2>overflow-y: scroll</h2>
    <!-- Below div element has fixed height and 
         width and thus overflow may occur. -->
    <div class="content">
        GeeksforGeeks is a computer science portal 
        with a huge variety of well written and 
        explained computer science and programming
        articles,quizzes and interview questions.
        The portal also has dedicated GATE preparation
        and competitive  programming sections.
    </div>
</body>
</html>                    

Output:

overflow-y: hidden

Visible: If the value assigned to the “overflow-y” property is “visible” then the content is not clipped and may overflow out to the top or bottom of the containing element.

Example:

html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>
        CSS overflow-y Property
    </title>
    <style>
        .content {
            background-color: lightgreen;
            height: 100px;
            width: 250px;
            overflow-y: visible;
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>The overflow-y Property</h1>
     
    <!-- Below paragraph doesnot have a fixed width
         or height and has no overflow set. So, it 
         will just take up the complete width of 
         it's parent to fit the content -->
    <p>
        The CSS overflow-y property specifies the
        behavior of content when it overflows a 
        block-level element’s top and bottom edges.
        The content may be clipped, hidden or a 
        scrollbar may be displayed as specified.
    </p>
     
     
    <h2>overflow-y: scroll</h2>
    <!-- Below div element has fixed height and 
         width and thus overflow may occur. -->
    <div class="content">
        GeeksforGeeks is a computer science portal 
        with a huge variety of well written and 
        explained computer science and programming
        articles,quizzes and interview questions.
        The portal also has dedicated GATE preparation
        and competitive  programming sections.
    </div>
</body>
</html>                    

Output:

overflow-y: visible

Auto: The behavior of auto depends on the content and scrollbars are added only when the content overflows, unlike that of the scroll value where the scrollbar is added regardless of overflow.

Example:

html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>
        CSS overflow-y Property
    </title>
    <style>
        .content {
            background-color: lightgreen;
            height: 100px;
            width: 250px;
            overflow-y: auto;
        }
    </style>
</head>
 
<body>
    <h1>The overflow-y Property</h1>
     
    <!-- Below paragraph doesnot have a fixed width
         or height and has no overflow set. So, it 
         will just take up the complete width of 
         it's parent to fit the content -->
    <p>
        The CSS overflow-y property specifies the
        behavior of content when it overflows a 
        block-level element’s top and bottom edges.
        The content may be clipped, hidden or a 
        scrollbar may be displayed as specified.
    </p>
     
     
    <h2>overflow-y: scroll</h2>
    <!-- Below div element has fixed height and 
         width and thus overflow may occur. -->
    <div class="content">
        GeeksforGeeks is a computer science portal 
        with a huge variety of well written and 
        explained computer science and programming
        articles,quizzes and interview questions.
        The portal also has dedicated GATE preparation
        and competitive  programming sections.
    </div>
</body>
</html>                    