How can I check if a scrollbar is visible?

Is it possible to check the overflow:auto of a div?

For example:

HTML

<div id="my_div" style="width: 100px; height:100px; overflow:auto;" class="my_class"> 
  * content
</div>

JQUERY

$('.my_class').live('hover', function (event)
{
    if (event.type == 'mouseenter')
    {
         if( ...  if scrollbar visible ? ... )
         {
            alert('true'):
         }
         else
         {
            alert('false'):
         }
    }

});

Sometimes is the content short (no scrollbar) and sometimes long (scrollbar visible).

a little plugin for it.

(function($) {
    $.fn.hasScrollBar = function() {
        return this.get(0).scrollHeight > this.height();
    }
})(jQuery);

use it like this,

$('#my_div1').hasScrollBar(); // returns true if there's a `vertical` scrollbar, false otherwise..

tested working on Firefox, Chrome, IE6,7,8

but not working properly on body tag selector

demo

---

Edit

I found out that when you have horizontal scrollbar that causes vertical scrollbar to appear, this function does not work....

I found out another solution... use clientHeight

return this.get(0).scrollHeight > this.get(0).clientHeight;

You can do this using a combination of the Element.scrollHeight and Element.clientHeight attributes.

According to MDN:

> The Element.scrollHeight read-only attribute is a measurement of the height of an element's content, including content not visible on the screen due to overflow. The scrollHeight value is equal to the minimum clientHeight the element would require in order to fit all the content in the viewpoint without using a vertical scrollbar. It includes the element padding but not its margin.

And:

> The Element.clientHeight read-only property returns the inner height of an element in pixels, including padding but not the horizontal scrollbar height, border, or margin. > > clientHeight can be calculated as CSS height + CSS padding - height of horizontal scrollbar (if present).

Therefore, the element will display a scrollbar if the scroll height is greater than the client height, so the answer to your question is:

function scrollbarVisible(element) {
  return element.scrollHeight > element.clientHeight;
}

Maybe a more simple solution.

if ($(document).height() > $(window).height()) {
    // scrollbar
}

I should change a little thing of what Reigel said:

(function($) {
    $.fn.hasScrollBar = function() {
        return this[0] ? this[0].scrollHeight > this.innerHeight() : false;
    }
})(jQuery);

innerHeight counts control's height and its top and bottom paddings

This expands on @Reigel's answer. It will return an answer for horizontal or vertical scrollbars.

(function($) {
    $.fn.hasScrollBar = function() {
        var e = this.get(0);
        return {
            vertical: e.scrollHeight > e.clientHeight,
            horizontal: e.scrollWidth > e.clientWidth
        };
    }
})(jQuery);

Example:

element.hasScrollBar()             // Returns { vertical: true/false, horizontal: true/false }
element.hasScrollBar().vertical    // Returns true/false
element.hasScrollBar().horizontal  // Returns true/false

You need element.scrollHeight. Compare it with $(element).height().

I made a new custom :pseudo selector for jQuery to test whether an item has one of the following css properties:

1. overflow: [scroll|auto]
2. overflow-x: [scroll|auto]
3. overflow-y: [scroll|auto]

I wanted to find the closest scrollable parent of another element so I also wrote another little jQuery plugin to find the closest parent with overflow.

This solution probably doesn't perform the best, but it does appear to work. I used it in conjunction with the $.scrollTo plugin. Sometimes I need to know whether an element is inside another scrollable container. In that case I want to scroll the parent scrollable element vs the window.

I probably should have wrapped this up in a single plugin and added the psuedo selector as a part of the plugin, as well as exposing a 'closest' method to find the closest (parent) scrollable container.

Anywho....here it is.

$.isScrollable jQuery plugin:

$.fn.isScrollable = function(){
    var elem = $(this);
    return (
    elem.css('overflow') == 'scroll'
        || elem.css('overflow') == 'auto'
        || elem.css('overflow-x') == 'scroll'
        || elem.css('overflow-x') == 'auto'
        || elem.css('overflow-y') == 'scroll'
        || elem.css('overflow-y') == 'auto'
    );
};

$(':scrollable') jQuery pseudo selector:

$.expr[":"].scrollable = function(a) {
    var elem = $(a);
    return elem.isScrollable();
};

$.scrollableparent() jQuery plugin:

$.fn.scrollableparent = function(){
    return $(this).closest(':scrollable') || $(window); //default to $('html') instead?
};

Implementation is pretty simple

//does a specific element have overflow scroll?
var somedivIsScrollable = $(this).isScrollable();
//use :scrollable psuedo selector to find a collection of child scrollable elements
var scrollableChildren = $(this).find(':scrollable');
//use $.scrollableparent to find closest scrollable container
var scrollableparent = $(this).scrollableparent();

UPDATE: I found that Robert Koritnik already came up with a much more powerful :scrollable pseudo selector that will identify the scrollable axes and height of scrollable containers, as a part of his $.scrollintoview() jQuery plugin. scrollintoview plugin

Here is his fancy pseudo selector (props):

    $.extend($.expr[":"], {

    scrollable: function (element, index, meta, stack) {

        var direction = converter[typeof (meta[3]) === "string" && meta[3].toLowerCase()] || converter.both;

        var styles = (document.defaultView && document.defaultView.getComputedStyle ? document.defaultView.getComputedStyle(element, null) : element.currentStyle);

        var overflow = {

            x: scrollValue[styles.overflowX.toLowerCase()] || false,

            y: scrollValue[styles.overflowY.toLowerCase()] || false,

            isRoot: rootrx.test(element.nodeName)

        };



        // check if completely unscrollable (exclude HTML element because it's special)

        if (!overflow.x && !overflow.y && !overflow.isRoot)

        {

            return false;

        }



        var size = {

            height: {

                scroll: element.scrollHeight,

                client: element.clientHeight

            },

            width: {

                scroll: element.scrollWidth,

                client: element.clientWidth

            },

            // check overflow.x/y because iPad (and possibly other tablets) don't dislay scrollbars

            scrollableX: function () {

                return (overflow.x || overflow.isRoot) && this.width.scroll > this.width.client;

            },

            scrollableY: function () {

                return (overflow.y || overflow.isRoot) && this.height.scroll > this.height.client;

            }

        };

        return direction.y && size.scrollableY() || direction.x && size.scrollableX();

    }

});

Ugh everyone's answers on here are incomplete, and lets stop using jquery in SO answers already please. Check jquery's documentation if you want info on jquery.

Here's a generalized pure-javascript function for testing whether or not an element has scrollbars in a complete way:

// dimension - Either 'y' or 'x'
// computedStyles - (Optional) Pass in the domNodes computed styles if you already have it (since I hear its somewhat expensive)
function hasScrollBars(domNode, dimension, computedStyles) {
    dimension = dimension.toUpperCase()
    if(dimension === 'Y') {
        var length = 'Height'
    } else {
        var length = 'Width'
    }

    var scrollLength = 'scroll'+length
    var clientLength = 'client'+length
    var overflowDimension = 'overflow'+dimension

    var hasVScroll = domNode[scrollLength] > domNode[clientLength]


    // Check the overflow and overflowY properties for "auto" and "visible" values
    var cStyle = computedStyles || getComputedStyle(domNode)
    return hasVScroll && (cStyle[overflowDimension] == "visible"
                         || cStyle[overflowDimension] == "auto"
                         )
          || cStyle[overflowDimension] == "scroll"
}

(scrollWidth/Height - clientWidth/Height) is a good indicator for the presence of a scrollbar, but it will give you a "false positive" answer on many occasions. if you need to be accurate i would suggest using the following function. instead of trying to guess if the element is scrollable - you can scroll it...

function isScrollable( el ){
  var y1 = el.scrollTop;
  el.scrollTop  += 1;
  var y2 = el.scrollTop;
  el.scrollTop  -= 1;
  var y3 = el.scrollTop;
  el.scrollTop   = y1;
  var x1 = el.scrollLeft;
  el.scrollLeft += 1;
  var x2 = el.scrollLeft;
  el.scrollLeft -= 1;
  var x3 = el.scrollLeft;
  el.scrollLeft  = x1;
  return {
    horizontallyScrollable: x1 !== x2 || x2 !== x3,
    verticallyScrollable: y1 !== y2 || y2 !== y3
  }
}
function check( id ){
  alert( JSON.stringify( isScrollable( document.getElementById( id ))));
}

#outer1, #outer2, #outer3 {
  background-color: pink;
  overflow: auto;
  float: left;
}
#inner {
  width:  150px;
  height: 150px;
}
button {  margin: 2em 0 0 1em; }

<div id="outer1" style="width: 100px; height: 100px;">
  <div id="inner">
    <button onclick="check('outer1')">check if<br>scrollable</button>
  </div>
</div>
<div id="outer2" style="width: 200px; height: 100px;">
  <div id="inner">
    <button onclick="check('outer2')">check if<br>scrollable</button>
  </div>
</div>
<div id="outer3" style="width: 100px; height: 180px;">
  <div id="inner">
    <button onclick="check('outer3')">check if<br>scrollable</button>
  </div>
</div>

The first solution above works only in IE The second solution above works only in FF

This combination of both functions works in both browsers:

//Firefox Only!!
if ($(document).height() > $(window).height()) {
    // has scrollbar
    $("#mtc").addClass("AdjustOverflowWidth");
    alert('scrollbar present - Firefox');
} else {
    $("#mtc").removeClass("AdjustOverflowWidth");
}

//Internet Explorer Only!!
(function($) {
    $.fn.hasScrollBar = function() {
        return this.get(0).scrollHeight > this.innerHeight();
    }
})(jQuery);
if ($('#monitorWidth1').hasScrollBar()) {
    // has scrollbar
    $("#mtc").addClass("AdjustOverflowWidth");
    alert('scrollbar present - Internet Exploder');
} else {
    $("#mtc").removeClass("AdjustOverflowWidth");
}​

• Wrap in a document ready
• monitorWidth1 : the div where the overflow is set to auto
• mtc : a container div inside monitorWidth1
• AdjustOverflowWidth : a css class applied to the #mtc div when the Scrollbar is active *Use the alert to test cross browser, and then comment out for final production code.

HTH

I'm going to extend on this even further for those poor souls who, like me, use one of the modern js frameworks and not JQuery and have been wholly abandoned by the people of this thread :

this was written in Angular 6 but if you write React 16, Vue 2, Polymer, Ionic, React-Native, you'll know what to do to adapt it. And it's the whole component so it should be easy.

import {ElementRef, AfterViewInit} from '@angular/core';

@Component({
  selector: 'app',
  templateUrl: './app.html',
  styleUrls: ['./app.scss']
})
export class App implements AfterViewInit {
scrollAmount;

constructor(
  private fb: FormBuilder,
  private element: ElementRef 
) {}

ngAfterViewInit(){
  this.scrollAmount = this.element.nativeElement.querySelector('.elem-list');
  this.scrollAmount.addEventListener('wheel', e => { //you can put () instead of e
  // but e is usefull if you require the deltaY amount.
    if(this.scrollAmount.scrollHeight > this.scrollAmount.offsetHeight){
       // there is a scroll bar, do something!
    }else{
       // there is NO scroll bar, do something!
    }
  });
}
}

in the html there would be a div with class "elem-list" which is stylized in the css or scss to have a height and an overflow value that isn't hidden. (so auto or sroll )

I trigger this eval upon a scroll event because my end goal was to have "automatic focus scrolls" which decide whether they are scrolling the whole set of components horizontally if said components have no vertical scroll available and otherwise only scroll the innards of one of the components vertically.

but you can place the eval elsewhere to have it be triggered by something else.

the important thing to remember here, is you're never Forced back into using JQuery, there's always a way to access the same functionalities it has without using it.

The solutions provided above will work in the most cases, but checking the scrollHeight and overflow is sometimes not enough and can fail for body and html elements as seen here: https://codepen.io/anon/pen/EvzXZw

1. Solution - Check if the element is scrollable:

function isScrollableY (element) {
  return !!(element.scrollTop || (++element.scrollTop && element.scrollTop--));
}

Note: elements with overflow: hidden are also treated as scrollable (more info), so you might add a condition against that too if needed:

function isScrollableY (element) {
    let style = window.getComputedStyle(element);
    return !!(element.scrollTop || (++element.scrollTop && element.scrollTop--)) 
           && style["overflow"] !== "hidden" && style["overflow-y"] !== "hidden";
}

As far as I know this method only fails if the element has scroll-behavior: smooth.

Explanation: The trick is, that the attempt of scrolling down and reverting it won't be rendered by the browser. The topmost function can also be written like the following:

function isScrollableY (element) {
  // if scrollTop is not 0 / larger than 0, then the element is scrolled and therefore must be scrollable
  // -> true  
  if (element.scrollTop === 0) {
    // if the element is zero it may be scrollable  
    // -> try scrolling about 1 pixel
    element.scrollTop++;
    // if the element is zero then scrolling did not succeed and therefore it is not scrollable 
    // -> false  
    if (element.scrollTop === 0) return false;
    // else the element is scrollable; reset the scrollTop property
    // -> true
    element.scrollTop--;
  }
  return true;
}

2. Solution - Do all the necessary checks:

function isScrollableY (element) {
  const style = window.getComputedStyle(element);
  
  if (element.scrollHeight > element.clientHeight &&
      style["overflow"] !== "hidden" && style["overflow-y"] !== "hidden" &&
      style["overflow"] !== "clip" && style["overflow-y"] !== "clip"
  ) {
    if (element === document.scrollingElement) return true;
    else if (style["overflow"] !== "visible" && style["overflow-y"] !== "visible") {
      // special check for body element (https://drafts.csswg.org/cssom-view/#potentially-scrollable)
      if (element === document.body) {
        const parentStyle = window.getComputedStyle(element.parentElement);
        if (parentStyle["overflow"] !== "visible" && parentStyle["overflow-y"] !== "visible" &&
            parentStyle["overflow"] !== "clip" && parentStyle["overflow-y"] !== "clip"
        ) {
          return true;
        }
      }
      else return true;
    }
  }
  
  return false;
}

Here's an improved version of Evan's answer which seems to properly account for overflow logic.

			function element_scrollbars(node) {
				var element = $(node);
				var overflow_x = element.css("overflow-x");
				var overflow_y = element.css("overflow-y");
				var overflow = element.css("overflow");
				if (overflow_x == "undefined") overflow_x == "";
				if (overflow_y == "undefined") overflow_y == "";
				if (overflow == "undefined") overflow == "";
				if (overflow_x == "") overflow_x = overflow;
				if (overflow_y == "") overflow_y = overflow;
				var scrollbar_vertical = (
					(overflow_y == "scroll")
					|| (
						(
							(overflow_y == "hidden")
							|| (overflow_y == "visible")
						)
						&& (
							(node.scrollHeight > node.clientHeight)
						)
					)
				);
				var scrollbar_horizontal = (
					(overflow_x == "scroll")
					|| (
						(
							(overflow_x == "hidden")
							|| (overflow_x == "visible")
						)
						&& (
							(node.scrollWidth > node.clientWidth)
						)
					)
				);
				return {
					vertical: scrollbar_vertical,
					horizontal: scrollbar_horizontal
				};
			}

Most of the answers presented got me close to where I needed to be, but not quite there.

We basically wanted to assess if the scroll bars -would- be visible in a normal situation, by that definition meaning that the size of the body element is larger than the view port. This was not a presented solution, which is why I am submitting it.

Hopefully it helps someone!

(function($) {
    $.fn.hasScrollBar = function() {
        return this.get(0).scrollHeight > $(window).height();
    }
})(jQuery);

Essentially, we have the hasScrollbar function, but returning if the requested element is larger than the view port. For view port size, we just used $(window).height(). A quick compare of that against the element size, yields the correct results and desirable behavior.

Here's my improvement: added parseInt. for some weird reason it didn't work without it.

// usage: jQuery('#my_div1').hasVerticalScrollBar();
// Credit: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4814398/how-can-i-check-if-a-scrollbar-is-visible
(function($) {
    $.fn.hasVerticalScrollBar = function() {
        return this.get(0) ? parseInt( this.get(0).scrollHeight ) > parseInt( this.innerHeight() ) : false;
    };
})(jQuery);

Works on Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Opera, at least in the newer versions.

Using JQuery...

Setup this function to fix the footer:

function fixFooterCaller()
{
    const body = $('body');
    const footer = $('body footer');
    
    return function ()
    {
        // If the scroll bar is visible
        if ($(document).height() > $(window).height())
        {
            // Reset
            footer.css('position', 'inherit');
            // Erase the padding added in the above code
            body.css('padding-bottom', '0');
        }
        // If the scrollbar is NOT visible
        else
        {
            // Make it fixed at the bottom
            footer.css('position', 'fixed');
            // And put a padding to the body as the size of the footer
            // This makes the footer do not cover the content and when
            // it does, this event fix it
            body.css('padding-bottom', footer.outerHeight());
        }
    }
}

It returns a function. Made this way just to set the body and footer once.

And then, set this when the document is ready.

$(document).ready(function ()
{
    const fixFooter = fixFooterCaller();
    
    // Put in a timeout call instead of just call the fixFooter function
    // to prevent the page elements needed don't be ready at this time
    setTimeout(fixFooter, 0);
    // The function must be called every time the window is resized
    $(window).resize(fixFooter);
});

Add this to your footer css:

footer {
    bottom: 0;
}

Find a parent of current element that has vertical scrolling or body.

$.fn.scrollableParent = function() {
    var $parents = this.parents();

    var $scrollable = $parents.filter(function(idx) {
        return this.scrollHeight > this.offsetHeight && this.offsetWidth !== this.clientWidth;
    }).first();

    if ($scrollable.length === 0) {
        $scrollable = $('html, body');
    }
    return $scrollable;
};

It may be used to autoscroll to current element via:

var $scrollable = $elem.scrollableParent();
$scrollable.scrollTop($elem.position().top);

A No Framework JavaScript Approach, checks for both vertical and horizontal

 /*
 * hasScrollBars
 * 
 * Checks to see if an element has scrollbars
 * 
 * @returns {object}
 */
Element.prototype.hasScrollBars = function() {
    return {"vertical": this.scrollHeight > this.style.height, "horizontal": this.scrollWidth > this.style.width};
}

Use it like this

if(document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0].hasScrollBars().vertical){
            alert("vertical");
}
           
        if(document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0].hasScrollBars().horizontal){
            alert("horizontal");
}

There's two area sizes to consider, the window and the html. If the html width, for example, is greater than window width then a scroll bar may be present on the user interface. So it's a matter of reading the window proportions and the html proportions and doing the basic math.

As for displaying an arrow overlaid atop the page, that's done with a simple classlist toggle, e.g. .hidden{display:none}

Here's a crossbrowser method for getting these proportions. (credit W3 Schools)

> var w = window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth > || document.body.clientWidth; > > var h = window.innerHeight || document.documentElement.clientHeight || > document.body.clientHeight;