How to get and set the current web page scroll position?
JavascriptHtmlJavascript Problem Overview
How can I get and set the current web page scroll position?
I have a long form which needs to be refreshed based on user actions/input. When this happens, the page resets to the very top, which is annoying to the users, because they have to scroll back down to the point they were at.
If I could capture the current scroll position (in a hidden input) before the page reloads, I could then set it back after it reloads.
Javascript Solutions
Solution 1 - Javascript
The currently accepted answer is incorrect - document.documentElement.scrollTop always returns 0 on Chrome. This is because WebKit uses body for keeping track of scrolling, whereas Firefox and IE use html.
To get the current position, you want:
document.documentElement.scrollTop || document.body.scrollTop
You can set the current position to 1000px down the page like so:
document.documentElement.scrollTop = document.body.scrollTop = 1000;
Or, using jQuery (animate it while you're at it!):
$("html, body").animate({ scrollTop: "1000px" });
Solution 2 - Javascript
You're looking for the document.documentElement.scrollTop property.
Solution 3 - Javascript
Update 2021: browsers inconsistencies regarding X/Y scroll amount seem to have disappeared, but I still use the solution in this answer whenever I need to.
There are some inconsistencies in how browsers expose the current window scrolling coordinates. Google Chrome on Mac and iOS seems to always return 0 when using document.documentElement.scrollTop or jQuery's $(window).scrollTop().
However, it works consistently with:
// horizontal scrolling amount
window.pageXOffset
// vertical scrolling amount
window.pageYOffset
Solution 4 - Javascript
I went with the HTML5 local storage solution... All my links call a function which sets this before changing window.location:
localStorage.topper = document.body.scrollTop;
and each page has this in the body's onLoad:
if(localStorage.topper > 0){
window.scrollTo(0,localStorage.topper);
}
Solution 5 - Javascript
this will give you the px value of scroll from top
document.documentElement.scrollTop
Solution 6 - Javascript
Nowadays it seems like the get is working with: window.scrollX and window.scrollY. This could be an alternative way to solve it.
Solution 7 - Javascript
Now you can also use window.scrollTo({ top: 0, behavior: 'smooth' }); instead of using that jQuery solution above for the animation. Here is the documentation: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/scrollTo