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user-select

This is an experimental technology
Because this technology's specification has not stabilized, check the compatibility table for usage in various browsers. Also note that the syntax and behavior of an experimental technology is subject to change in future versions of browsers as the specification changes.

Controls the actual Selection operation. This doesn't have any effect on content loaded as chrome, except in textboxes. A similar property user-focus was proposed in early drafts of a predecessor of css3-ui but was rejected by the working group.

Note: Check the compatibility table for the proper prefixes to use in various browsers.

Initial value	`auto`
Applies to	all elements
Inherited	no
Media	visual
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete
Canonical order	the unique non-ambiguous order defined by the formal grammar

Syntax

user-select: none;
user-select: auto;
user-select: text;
user-select: contain;
user-select: all;

-moz-user-select: none;
-moz-user-select: text;
-moz-user-select: all;

-webkit-user-select: none;
-webkit-user-select: text;
-webkit-user-select: all; /* does not work in Safari, use only "none" or "text", or else it will allow to type in the html container*/

-ms-user-select: none;
-ms-user-select: text;
-ms-user-select: element;

none: The text of the element and sub-elements will not be able to be selected. Selection can contain these elements. Starting with Firefox 21 none behaves like -moz-none, so selection can be re-enabled on sub-elements using -moz-user-select:text.
auto: The text will be selected according to the browser's default properties.
text: The text can be selected by the user.
-moz-none: The text of the element and sub-elements will appear as if they cannot be selected. Selection can contain these elements. Selection can be re-enabled on sub-elements using -moz-user-select:text. Starting with Firefox 21 none behaves like -moz-none.
all: In an HTML editor, if a double-click or context-click occurred in sub-elements, the highest ancestor with this value will be selected.
contain element (IE-specific alias): Enables selection to start within the element; however, the selection will be contained by the bounds of that element. Supported only in Internet Explorer.

Note: One of the differences between browser implementations is inheritance. In Firefox, -moz-user-select is not inherited by absolutely positioned elements, but in Safari and Chrome, -webkit-user-select is inherited by those elements.

Note: CSS UI 4 rename user-select: element to contain.

auto | text | none | contain | all

Examples

.unselectable {
  -moz-user-select: none;
  -webkit-user-select: none;
  -ms-user-select: none;
}

<body>
  <p class="unselectable">The user is not able to select this text in Firefox, Chrome, Safari and IE.</p>
</body>

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Basic User Interface Module Level 4 The definition of 'user-select' in that specification.	Working Draft	Initial definition. Also defined `-webkit-user-select` as a deprecated alias of `user-select`.

Browser compatibility

Feature	Chrome	Edge	Firefox (Gecko)	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari (WebKit)
Basic support	6.0-webkit- 54.0	(Yes)-ms-webkit	(Yes)-moz^[1]	10-ms	15.0-webkit	3.1-webkit
`element`	No support	(Yes)	No support	(Yes)	?	No support

Feature	Android	Android Webview	Edge	Firefox Mobile (Gecko)	IE Phone	Opera Mobile	Safari Mobile	Chrome for Android
Basic support	2.1	54.0	(Yes)-ms-webkit	?	10-ms 11-webkit^[2]	No support	3.2(Yes)	54.0
`element`	?	No support	?	?	?	?	No support

[1] In addition to the -moz prefixed support, Gecko 44.0 (Firefox 44.0 / Thunderbird 44.0 / SeaMonkey 2.41) added support for a -webkit prefixed version of the property for web compatibility reasons behind the preference layout.css.prefixes.webkit, defaulting to false. Since Gecko 49.0 (Firefox 49.0 / Thunderbird 49.0 / SeaMonkey 2.46) the preference defaults to true.

[2] See documentation on MSDN.

user-select

Syntax

Examples

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also