The user-select
CSS property controls whether the user can select text. This doesn't have any effect on content loaded as chrome, except in textboxes.
/* Keyword values */ user-select: none; user-select: auto; user-select: text; user-select: contain; user-select: all; /* Global values */ user-select: inherit; user-select: initial; user-select: unset; /* Mozilla-specific values */ -moz-user-select: none; -moz-user-select: text; -moz-user-select: all; /* WebKit-specific values */ -webkit-user-select: none; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-select: all; /* Doesn't work in Safari; use only "none" or "text", or else it will allow typing in the <html> container */ /* Microsoft-specific values */ -ms-user-select: none; -ms-user-select: text; -ms-user-select: element;
Note: user-select
is not an inherited property, though the initial auto
value makes it behave like it is inherited most of the time. WebKit/Chromium-based browsers do implement the property as inherited, which violates the behavior described in the spec, and this will bring some issues. Until now, Chromium chooses to fix the issues, make the final behavior meets the specifications.
Syntax
none
- The text of the element and its sub-elements is not selectable. Note that the
Selection
object can contain these elements. auto
-
The used value of
auto
is determined as follows:- On the
::before
and::after
pseudo elements, the used value isnone
- If the element is an editable element, the used value is
contain
- Otherwise, if the used value of
user-select
on the parent of this element isall
, the used value isall
- Otherwise, if the used value of
user-select
on the parent of this element isnone
, the used value isnone
- Otherwise, the used value is
text
- On the
text
- The text can be selected by the user.
all
- The content of the element shall be selected atomically: If a selection would contain part of the element, then the selection must contain the entire element including all its descendants. If a double-click or context-click occurred in sub-elements, the highest ancestor with this value will be selected.
contain
- Enables selection to start within the element; however, the selection will be contained by the bounds of that element.
element
(IE-specific alias)- Same as
contain
. Supported only in Internet Explorer.
Note: CSS UI 4 renames user-select: element
to contain
.
Formal definition
Initial value | auto |
---|---|
Applies to | all elements |
Inherited | no |
Computed value | as specified |
Animation type | discrete |
Formal syntax
auto | text | none | contain | all
Examples
HTML
<p>You should be able to select this text.</p> <p class="unselectable">Hey, you can't select this text!</p> <p class="all">Clicking once will select all of this text.</p>
CSS
.unselectable { -moz-user-select: none; -webkit-user-select: none; -ms-user-select: none; user-select: none; } .all { -moz-user-select: all; -webkit-user-select: all; -ms-user-select: all; user-select: all; }
Result
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
CSS Basic User Interface Module Level 4 The definition of 'user-select' in that specification. |
Working Draft | Initial definition. Also defines -webkit-user-select as a deprecated alias of user-select . |
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.
Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
user-select | Chrome
Full support
54
| Edge
Full support
12
| Firefox
Full support
69
| IE
Full support
10
| Opera
Full support
15
| Safari
Full support
3
| WebView Android
Full support
54
| Chrome Android
Full support
54
| Firefox Android
Full support
4
| Opera Android
Full support
14
| Safari iOS
Full support
3
| Samsung Internet Android
Full support
6.0
|
all | Chrome Full support 53 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 1 | IE No support No | Opera Full support 40 | Safari No support No | WebView Android Full support 53 | Chrome Android Full support 53 | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support 41 | Safari iOS No support No | Samsung Internet Android Full support 6.0 |
auto | Chrome Full support 1 | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support 1 | IE Full support 10 | Opera Full support 15 | Safari Full support 2 | WebView Android Full support ≤37 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support 14 | Safari iOS Full support 3 | Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0 |
contain | Chrome No support No | Edge
No support
12 — 79
| Firefox No support No | IE
Full support
10
| Opera No support No | Safari No support No | WebView Android No support No | Chrome Android No support No | Firefox Android No support No | Opera Android No support No | Safari iOS No support No | Samsung Internet Android No support No |
none | Chrome Full support 1 | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox
Full support
21
| IE Full support 10 | Opera Full support 15 | Safari Full support 2 | WebView Android Full support ≤37 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android
Full support
21
| Opera Android Full support 14 | Safari iOS Full support 3 | Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0 |
text | Chrome Full support 1 | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support 1 | IE Full support 10 | Opera Full support 15 | Safari
Partial support
2
| WebView Android Full support ≤37 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support 14 | Safari iOS
Partial support
3
| Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0 |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- Partial support
- Partial support
- No support
- No support
- See implementation notes.
- See implementation notes.
- User must explicitly enable this feature.
- User must explicitly enable this feature.
- Uses a non-standard name.
- Uses a non-standard name.
- Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.
- Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.
See also
::selection
pseudo-element- The JavaScript
Selection
object