Horizontal scroll on overflow of table

Question

I have a basic table in a container. The table will have about 25 columns. I am trying to add a horizontal scroll bar on overflow of the table and am having a really tough time.

What is happening now, is the table cells are accommodating the cells contents by automatically adjusting the height of the cell and maintaining a fixed table width.

I appreciate any suggestions on why my method is not working on how to fix this.

Many thanks in advance!

CSS

.search-table-outter {margin-bottom:30px; }
.search-table{table-layout: fixed; margin:40px auto 0px auto;  overflow-x:scroll; }
.search-table, td, th{border-collapse:collapse; border:1px solid #777;}
th{padding:20px 7px; font-size:15px; color:#444; background:#66C2E0;}
td{padding:5px 10px; height:35px;}
tr:nth-child(even)  {background: #f5f5f5;}
tr:nth-child(odd)   {background: #FFF;}

HTML

<div class="search-table-outter wrapper">
    <table class="search-table inner">
        <tr>
            <th>Col1</th>
            <th>col2</th>
            <th>col3</th>
            <th>col4</th>
            <th>col5</th>
            <th>col5</th>
        </tr>
        <?php echo $rows; ?>
    </table>
</div>

JS fiddle (Note: if possible, I would like the horizontal scroll bar to be in the container with the red border): http://jsfiddle.net/ZXnqM/3/

Solution 1

I think your overflow should be on the outer container. You can also explicitly set a min width for the columns. Like this:

.search-table-outter { overflow-x: scroll; }
th, td { min-width: 200px; }

Fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/5WsEt/

Solution 2

The solution for those who cannot or do not want to wrap the table in a div (e.g. if the HTML is generated from Markdown) but still want to have scrollbars:

table {
  display: block;
  max-width: -moz-fit-content;
  max-width: fit-content;
  margin: 0 auto;
  overflow-x: auto;
  white-space: nowrap;
}

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Especially on mobile, a table can easily become wider than the viewport.</td>
    <td>Using the right CSS, you can get scrollbars on the table without wrapping it.</td>
  </tr>
</table>

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>A centered table.</td>
  </tr>
</table>

Explanation: display: block; makes it possible to have scrollbars. By default (and unlike tables), blocks span the full width of the parent element. This can be prevented with max-width: fit-content;, which allows you to still horizontally center tables with less content using margin: 0 auto;. white-space: nowrap; is optional (but useful for this demonstration).

Solution 3

A solution that nobody mentioned is use white-space: nowrap for the table and add overflow-x to the wrapper.

(http://jsfiddle.net/xc7jLuyx/11/)

CSS

.wrapper { overflow-x: auto; }
.wrapper table { white-space: nowrap; }

HTML

<div class="wrapper">
    <table></table>
</div>

This is an ideal scenario if you don't want rows with multiple lines.
To add break lines you need to use <br/>.

Solution 4

Unless I grossly misunderstood your question, move overflow-x:scroll from .search-table to .search-table-outter.

http://jsfiddle.net/ZXnqM/4/

.search-table-outter {border:2px solid red; overflow-x:scroll;}
.search-table{table-layout: fixed; margin:40px auto 0px auto;   }

As far as I know you can't give scrollbars to tables themselves.

View more solutions

Comments

[Kaspar Etter]

If you use the right CSS, you can get rid of the wrapper.

[AnchovyLegend]

Thanks for the reply. Close, but not exactly, because the height of the cells (<td>) are still automatically adjusted, note even if max-height:35px; cells are way taller than 35px...

[yosafat]

great! thats what totally i need! thanks sir for your solution

[s3c]

I didn't have to use white-space: nowrap, but I was trying to use overflow-x: scroll on the table itself. Your suggestion to make a container for the table and use it there saved me. TY

[John Siu]

This really work perfect for markdown without using table wrapper like other answers.

[rodders]

This worked straight away for table added via WYSIWYG editor, where there was no wrapper, and adding one would have been a mountain of work. Thanks @Kaspar Etter

[Hellodan]

This is exactly what I needed for RTE table - thanks!

[Upulie Han]

Thanks. All this time. I was missing display:block;

[clhenrick]

Note that this solution is not good for accessibility (explanation)

[Eugene Karataev]

Keep in mind that changing display from table to block might affect the table's children. For example, I ran into problem that children don't occupy full container's width.

[Martin_W]

In Chrome, when you change table to display:block;, Chrome ignores the <thead> element, treating it instead as <tbody>. Any CSS that targets <thead> will no longer work!

[Kaspar Etter]

Can you provide an example, @Martin_W? I have no problems styling <thead> elements with the above CSS.

[Martin_W]

Ah, @KasparEtter, you are right... I stand corrected. I had a typo in my HTML markup! <thead> styling via CSS fine.

[AleksandrH]

@clhenrick Is that still accurate? I'm unable to reproduce the issue when setting display: block on a table. It still shows up as a table in the accessibility pane in Chrome 98, and its children still retain their roles.

[Avi E. Koenig]

In the days of flex and grid its nice to see a good old fashion solution.I used to slap the table in a wrapper with overflow but this is so much more appealing!