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Bootstrap JS Scrollspy


JS Scrollspy (scrollspy.js)

The Scrollspy plugin is used to automatically update links in a navigation list based on scroll position.

For a tutorial about Scrollspy, read our Bootstrap Scrollspy Tutorial.

Tip: The Scrollspy plugin is often used together with the Affix plugin.


Via data-* Attributes

Add data-spy="scroll" to the element that should be used as the scrollable area (often this is the <body> element).

Then add the data-target attribute with a value of the id or the class name of the navigation bar (.navbar). This is to make sure that the navbar is connected with the scrollable area.

Note that scrollable elements must match the ID of the links inside the navbar's list items (<div id="section1"> matches <a href="#section1">).

The optional data-offset attribute specifies the number of pixels to offset from top when calculating the position of scroll. This is useful when you feel that the links inside the navbar changes the active state too soon or too early when jumping to the scrollable elements. Default is 10 pixels.

Requires relative positioning: The element with data-spy="scroll" requires the CSS position property, with a value of "relative" to work properly.

Example

<!-- The scrollable area -->
<body data-spy="scroll" data-target=".navbar" data-offset="50">

<!-- The navbar - The <a> elements are used to jump to a section in the scrollable area -->
<nav class="navbar navbar-inverse navbar-fixed-top">
...
  <ul class="nav navbar-nav">
    <li><a href="#section1">Section 1</a></li>
    ...
</nav>

<!-- Section 1 -->
<div id="section1">
  <h1>Section 1</h1>
  <p>Try to scroll this page and look at the navigation bar while scrolling!</p>
</div>
...

</body>
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Via JavaScript

Enable manually with:

Example

$('body').scrollspy({target: ".navbar"})
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Scrollspy Options

Options can be passed via data attributes or JavaScript. For data attributes, append the option name to data-, as in data-offset="".

Name Type Default Description Try it
offset number 10 Specifies the number of pixels to offset from top when calculating the position of scroll Try it

Scrollspy Methods

The following table lists all available scrollspy methods.

Method Description Try it
.scrollspy("refresh") When adding and removing elements from the scrollspy, this method can be used to refresh the document Try it

Scrollspy Events

The following table lists all available scrollspy events.

Event Description Try it
activate.bs.scrollspy Occurs when a new item becomes activated by the scrollspy Try it

Examples

Examples

Scrollspy with animated scroll

How to add a smooth page scroll to an anchor on the same page:

Smooth scrolling

// Add scrollspy to <body>
$('body').scrollspy({target: ".navbar", offset: 50});

// Add smooth scrolling to all links inside a navbar
$("#myNavbar a").on('click', function(event){

  // Prevent default anchor click behavior
  event.preventDefault();

  // Store hash (#)
  var hash = this.hash;

  // Using jQuery's animate() method to add smooth page scroll
  // The optional number (800) specifies the number of milliseconds it takes to scroll to the specified area (the speed of the animation)
  $('html, body').animate({
    scrollTop: $(hash).offset().top
  }, 800, function(){

    // Add hash (#) to URL when done scrolling (default click behavior)
    window.location.hash = hash;
  });
});
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Scrollspy & Affix

Using the Affix plugin together with the Scrollspy plugin:

Horizontal Menu (Navbar)

<body data-spy="scroll" data-target=".navbar" data-offset="50">

<nav class="navbar navbar-inverse" data-spy="affix" data-offset-top="197">
...
</nav>

</body>
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Vertical Menu (Sidenav)

<body data-spy="scroll" data-target="#myScrollspy" data-offset="15">

<nav class="col-sm-3" id="myScrollspy">
  <ul class="nav nav-pills nav-stacked" data-spy="affix" data-offset-top="205">
  ...
</nav>

</body>
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