CSS scroll-padding Property

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Example

Set scroll padding to 20px from the container to the snap position:

div {
scroll-padding: 20px;
}

More "Try it Yourself" examples below.

Definition and Usage

The scroll-padding property specifies the distance from the container to the snap position of child elements.

This means that when you stop scrolling, the scrolling will quickly adjust and stop at a specified distance from the container to the snap position of the child element in focus.

Snap position is the position on the child element where it snaps into place in the container when you stop scrolling.

Note: In the example above, scroll padding is set on all sides, but only the scroll padding on the top side changes the scrolling behaviour because the scroll-snap-align is set to "start".

The scroll-padding property is a shorthand property for the following properties:

Values for the scroll-padding property can be set in different ways:

If the scroll-padding property has four values:

scroll-padding: 15px 30px 60px 90px;
- top distance is 15px
- right distance is 30px
- bottom distance is 60px
- left distance is 90px

If the scroll-padding property has three values:

scroll-padding: 15px 30px 60px;
- top distance is 15px
- left and right distances are 30px
- bottom distance is 60px

If the scroll-padding property has two values:

scroll-padding: 15px 30px;
- top and bottom distances are 15px
- left and right distances are 30px

If the scroll-padding property has one value:

scroll-padding: 10px;
- all four distances are 10px

To see the effect from the scroll-padding property, the scroll-snap-align property must be set on the child elements, and the scroll-padding and scroll-snap-type properties must be set on the parent element.

Default value:	auto
Inherited:	no
Animatable:	no. Read about animatable
Version:	CSS3
JavaScript syntax:	object.style.scrollPadding="20px" Try it

Browser Support

The numbers in the table specify the first browser version that fully supports the property.

Property
scroll-padding	69.0	79.0	68.0	14.1	56.0

CSS Syntax

scroll-padding: auto|value|initial|inherit;

Property Values

Value	Description
auto	Default value. The browser calculates the padding
length	Specifies scroll-padding in px, pt, cm, etc. Negative values are not allowed. Read about length units
%	Specifies the padding in percent of the width of the containing element
initial	Sets this property to its default value. Read about initial
inherit	Inherits this property from its parent element. Read about inherit

More Examples

Image gallery

The scroll-padding property can be used in an image gallery with snap behaviour, to push images below a fixed element:

#container {
scroll-padding: 30px 0 0 0;
}

Fixed top element

Try it Yourself »

Set scroll-padding at bottom and to the right

The scroll-padding property can be set at both the bottom and the right side of the container. Scroll to the next element both horizontally and vertically to see the effect: