Bootstrap 5 Scrollspy

Scrollspy

Automatically update Bootstrap navigation or list group components based on scroll position to indicate which link is currently active in the viewport.

🤖 Looking for the LLM-optimized version? View llm.md

On this page

How it works

Scrollspy has a few requirements to function properly:

It must be used on a Bootstrap nav component or list group.
Scrollspy requires position: relative; on the element you’re spying on, usually the <body>.
Anchors (<a>) are required and must point to an element with that id.

When successfully implemented, your nav or list group will update accordingly, moving the .active class from one item to the next based on their associated targets.

Scrollable containers and keyboard access

If you’re making a scrollable container (other than the <body>), be sure to have a height set and overflow-y: scroll; applied to it—alongside a tabindex="0" to ensure keyboard access.

Scroll the area below the navbar and watch the active class change. The dropdown items will be highlighted as well.

First heading

This is some placeholder content for the scrollspy page. Note that as you scroll down the page, the appropriate navigation link is highlighted. It's repeated throughout the component example. We keep adding some more example copy here to emphasize the scrolling and highlighting.

Second heading

Third heading

Fourth heading

Fifth heading

<nav id="navbar-example2" class="navbar navbar-light  bg-body-tertiary px-3">
  <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Navbar</a>
  <ul class="nav nav-pills">
    <li class="nav-item">
      <a class="nav-link" href="#scrollspyHeading1">First</a>
    </li>
    <li class="nav-item">
      <a class="nav-link" href="#scrollspyHeading2">Second</a>
    </li>
    <li class="nav-item dropdown">
      <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" data-coreui-toggle="dropdown" href="#" role="button" aria-expanded="false">Dropdown</a>
      <ul class="dropdown-menu">
        <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#scrollspyHeading3">Third</a></li>
        <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#scrollspyHeading4">Fourth</a></li>
        <li><hr class="dropdown-divider"></li>
        <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#scrollspyHeading5">Fifth</a></li>
      </ul>
    </li>
  </ul>
</nav>
<div data-coreui-spy="scroll" data-coreui-target="#navbar-example2" data-coreui-offset="0" class="scrollspy-example" tabindex="0">
  <h4 id="scrollspyHeading1">First heading</h4>
  <p>...</p>
  <h4 id="scrollspyHeading2">Second heading</h4>
  <p>...</p>
  <h4 id="scrollspyHeading3">Third heading</h4>
  <p>...</p>
  <h4 id="scrollspyHeading4">Fourth heading</h4>
  <p>...</p>
  <h4 id="scrollspyHeading5">Fifth heading</h4>
  <p>...</p>
</div>

Example with nested nav

Scrollspy also works with nested .navs. If a nested .nav is .active, its parents will also be .active. Scroll the area next to the navbar and watch the active class change.

Item 1

Item 1-1

Item 1-2

Item 2

Item 3

Item 3-1

Item 3-2

<nav id="navbar-example3" class="navbar navbar-light  bg-body-tertiary flex-column align-items-stretch p-3">
  <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Navbar</a>
  <nav class="nav nav-pills flex-column">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#item-1">Item 1</a>
    <nav class="nav nav-pills flex-column">
      <a class="nav-link ms-3 my-1" href="#item-1-1">Item 1-1</a>
      <a class="nav-link ms-3 my-1" href="#item-1-2">Item 1-2</a>
    </nav>
    <a class="nav-link" href="#item-2">Item 2</a>
    <a class="nav-link" href="#item-3">Item 3</a>
    <nav class="nav nav-pills flex-column">
      <a class="nav-link ms-3 my-1" href="#item-3-1">Item 3-1</a>
      <a class="nav-link ms-3 my-1" href="#item-3-2">Item 3-2</a>
    </nav>
  </nav>
</nav>

<div data-coreui-spy="scroll" data-coreui-target="#navbar-example3" data-coreui-offset="0" tabindex="0">
  <h4 id="item-1">Item 1</h4>
  <p>...</p>
  <h5 id="item-1-1">Item 1-1</h5>
  <p>...</p>
  <h5 id="item-1-2">Item 1-2</h5>
  <p>...</p>
  <h4 id="item-2">Item 2</h4>
  <p>...</p>
  <h4 id="item-3">Item 3</h4>
  <p>...</p>
  <h5 id="item-3-1">Item 3-1</h5>
  <p>...</p>
  <h5 id="item-3-2">Item 3-2</h5>
  <p>...</p>
</div>

Example with list-group

Scrollspy also works with .list-groups. Scroll the area next to the list group and watch the active class change.

Item 1 Item 2 Item 3 Item 4

Item 1

Item 2

Item 3

Item 4

<div id="list-example" class="list-group">
  <a class="list-group-item list-group-item-action" href="#list-item-1">Item 1</a>
  <a class="list-group-item list-group-item-action" href="#list-item-2">Item 2</a>
  <a class="list-group-item list-group-item-action" href="#list-item-3">Item 3</a>
  <a class="list-group-item list-group-item-action" href="#list-item-4">Item 4</a>
</div>
<div data-coreui-spy="scroll" data-coreui-target="#list-example" data-coreui-offset="0" class="scrollspy-example" tabindex="0">
  <h4 id="list-item-1">Item 1</h4>
  <p>...</p>
  <h4 id="list-item-2">Item 2</h4>
  <p>...</p>
  <h4 id="list-item-3">Item 3</h4>
  <p>...</p>
  <h4 id="list-item-4">Item 4</h4>
  <p>...</p>
</div>

Usage

Heads up! In our documentation, all examples show standard CoreUI implementation. If you are using a Bootstrap-compatible version of CoreUI, remember to use the following changes:

In the constructor, please use bootstrap instead of coreui. For example, new bootstrap.Alert(...) instead of new coreui.Alert(...)
In events, please use bs instead of coreui, for example close.bs.alert instead of close.coreui.alert
In data attributes, please use bs instead of coreui. For example, data-bs-toggle="..." instead of data-coreui-toggle="..."

Via data attributes

To easily add scrollspy behavior to your topbar navigation, add data-coreui-spy="scroll" to the element you want to spy on (most typically this would be the <body>). Then add the data-coreui-target attribute with the ID or class of the parent element of any Bootstrap .nav component.

body {
  position: relative;
}

<body data-coreui-spy="scroll" data-coreui-target="#navbar-example">
  ...
  <div id="navbar-example">
    <ul class="nav nav-tabs" role="tablist">
      ...
    </ul>
  </div>
  ...
</body>

Via JavaScript

After adding position: relative; in your CSS, call the scrollspy via JavaScript:

const scrollSpy = new coreui.ScrollSpy(document.body, {
  target: '#navbar-example'
})

Options

Options can be passed using data attributes or JavaScript. To do this, append an option name to data-coreui-, such as data-coreui-animation="{value}". Remember to convert the case of the option name from “camelCase” to “kebab-case” when using data attributes. For instance, you should write data-coreui-custom-class="beautifier" rather than data-coreui-customClass="beautifier".

Starting with CoreUI 4.2.0, all components support an experimental reserved data attribute named data-coreui-config, which can contain simple component configurations as a JSON string. If an element has attributes data-coreui-config='{"delay":50, "title":689}' and data-coreui-title="Custom Title", then the final value for title will be Custom Title, as the standard data attributes will take precedence over values specified in data-coreui-config. Moreover, existing data attributes can also hold JSON values like data-coreui-delay='{"show":50, "hide":250}'.

Name	Type	Default	Description
`rootMargin`	string	`0px 0px -25%`	Intersection Observer rootMargin valid units, when calculating scroll position.
`smoothScroll`	boolean	`false`	Enables smooth scrolling when a user clicks on a link that refers to ScrollSpy observables.
`target`	string, DOM element	`null`	Specifies element to apply Scrollspy plugin.

Deprecated Options

Up until v5.1.3 we were using offset & method options, which are now deprecated and replaced by rootMargin. To keep backwards compatibility, we will continue to parse a given offset to rootMargin, but this feature will be removed in v6.

Methods

Method	Description
`dispose`	Destroys an element’s scrollspy. (Removes stored data on the DOM element)
`getInstance`	Static method to get the scrollspy instance associated with a DOM element
`getOrCreateInstance`	Static method to get the scrollspy instance associated with a DOM element, or to create a new one in case it wasn’t initialized.
`refresh`	When adding or removing elements in the DOM, you’ll need to call the refresh method.

Here’s an example using the refresh method:

const dataSpyList = document.querySelectorAll('[data-coreui-spy="scroll"]')
dataSpyList.forEach(dataSpyEl => {
  coreui.ScrollSpy.getInstance(dataSpyEl).refresh()
})

Events

Event	Description
`activate.coreui.scrollspy`	This event fires on the scroll element whenever an anchor is activated by the scrollspy.

const firstScrollSpyEl = document.querySelector('[data-coreui-spy="scroll"]')
firstScrollSpyEl.addEventListener('activate.coreui.scrollspy', () => {
  // do something...
})

CoreUI vs Bootstrap

While this Scrollspy component is fully compatible with Bootstrap and follows its core principles, CoreUI delivers a more complete solution for modern app development.

What sets CoreUI apart from Bootstrap?

✅ Fully compatible with Bootstrap – Built directly on Bootstrap, all classes and behaviors work as expected.
🧠 Framework-native versions – CoreUI provides dedicated libraries for React.js, Vue.js, and Angular, unlike Bootstrap which relies on third-party plugins for JavaScript frameworks.
👨‍💻 Maintained by a full-time team – CoreUI is developed as a professional product, not a volunteer-driven project.
📦 More built-in components – Includes additional ready-to-use components like range sliders, multi-selects, steppers, etc.
🛠️ Sass Modules support today – CoreUI already supports Sass Modules, which are planned for Bootstrap 6.
🌍 Better LTR/RTL support – Uses modern CSS logical properties for seamless bidirectional layout support.
🔒 LTS (Long-Term Support) – Bootstrap now offers LTS only via paid third parties like HeroDevs, while CoreUI continues to offer long-term support natively and for free.

Whether you’re building internal tools, dashboards, or SaaS platforms — CoreUI combines the familiarity of Bootstrap with a more powerful, scalable, and production-ready ecosystem.

👉 Explore CoreUI Bootstrap Components
👉 Compare CoreUI vs Bootstrap

Bootstrap 5 Scrollspy

Scrollspy

How it works

Scrollable containers and keyboard access

Example in navbar

First heading

Second heading

Third heading

Fourth heading

Fifth heading

Example with nested nav

Item 1

Item 1-1

Item 1-2

Item 2

Item 3

Item 3-1

Item 3-2

Example with list-group

Item 1

Item 2

Item 3

Item 4

Usage

Via data attributes

Via JavaScript

Options

Methods

Events

CoreUI vs Bootstrap