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scroll-behavior

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since ⁨March 2022⁩.

The scroll-behavior CSS property sets the behavior for a scrolling box when scrolling is triggered by the navigation or CSSOM scrolling APIs.

Try it

scroll-behavior: auto;

scroll-behavior: smooth;

<section id="default-example">
  <div class="container">
    <p class="nav">
      Scroll to:
      <a href="#pageA">A</a>
      <a href="#pageB">B</a>
      <a href="#pageC">C</a>
    </p>
    <scroll-container id="example-element">
      <scroll-page id="pageA">A</scroll-page>
      <scroll-page id="pageB">B</scroll-page>
      <scroll-page id="pageC">C</scroll-page>
    </scroll-container>
  </div>
</section>

.container {
  flex-direction: column;
}

.nav a {
  color: #009e5f;
}

scroll-container {
  border: 1px solid black;
  display: block;
  height: 200px;
  overflow-y: scroll;
  width: 200px;
}

scroll-page {
  align-items: center;
  display: flex;
  font-size: 5em;
  height: 100%;
  justify-content: center;
}

Note that any other scrolls, such as those performed by the user, are not affected by this property. When this property is specified on the root element, it applies to the viewport instead. This property specified on the body element will not propagate to the viewport.

User agents are allowed to ignore this property.

Syntax

/* Keyword values */
scroll-behavior: auto;
scroll-behavior: smooth;

/* Global values */
scroll-behavior: inherit;
scroll-behavior: initial;
scroll-behavior: revert;
scroll-behavior: revert-layer;
scroll-behavior: unset;

The scroll-behavior property is specified as one of the keyword values listed below.

Values

auto: The scrolling box scrolls instantly.
smooth: The scrolling box scrolls in a smooth fashion using a user-agent-defined easing function over a user-agent-defined period of time. User agents should follow platform conventions, if any.

Formal definition

Initial value	`auto`
Applies to	scrolling boxes
Inherited	no
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	Not animatable

Formal syntax

scroll-behavior = 
  auto    |
  smooth

Examples

Setting smooth scroll behavior

HTML

<nav>
  <a href="#page-1">1</a>
  <a href="#page-2">2</a>
  <a href="#page-3">3</a>
</nav>
<div class="scroll-container">
  <div class="scroll-page" id="page-1">1</div>
  <div class="scroll-page" id="page-2">2</div>
  <div class="scroll-page" id="page-3">3</div>
</div>

CSS

a {
  display: inline-block;
  width: 50px;
  text-decoration: none;
}
nav,
.scroll-container {
  display: block;
  margin: 0 auto;
  text-align: center;
}
nav {
  width: 339px;
  padding: 5px;
  border: 1px solid black;
}
.scroll-container {
  width: 350px;
  height: 200px;
  overflow-y: scroll;
  scroll-behavior: smooth;
}
.scroll-page {
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: center;
  height: 100%;
  font-size: 5em;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Overflow Module Level 3> # smooth-scrolling>

Browser compatibility

	Desktop					Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Opera	Safari	Chrome Android	Firefox for Android	Opera Android	Safari on IOS	Samsung Internet	WebView Android	WebView on iOS
`scroll-behavior`	61	79	36	48	15.4	61	36	45	15.4	8.0	61	15.4
`auto`	61	79	36	48	15.4	61	36	45	15.4	8.0	61	15.4
`smooth`	61	79	36	48	15.4	61	36	45	15.4	8.0	61	15.4

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https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/scroll-behavior