Tooltips

Easily add tooltips to elements or components via the <b-tooltip> component or v-b-tooltip directive (preferred method).

<div class="text-center my-3">
  <b-button v-b-tooltip.hover title="Tooltip directive content">
    Hover Me
  </b-button>

  <b-button id="tooltip-target-1">
    Hover Me
  </b-button>
  <b-tooltip target="tooltip-target-1" triggers="hover">
    I am tooltip <b>component</b> content!
  </b-tooltip>
</div>

<!-- b-tooltip.vue -->

Overview

Things to know when using tooltip component:

  • Tooltips rely on the 3rd party library Popper.js for positioning.
  • Tooltips require BootstrapVue's custom SCSS/CSS in order to function correctly, and for variants.
  • Triggering tooltips on hidden elements will not work.
  • Specify container as null (default, appends to <body>) to avoid rendering problems in more complex components (like input groups, button groups, etc.). You can use container to optionally specify a different element to append the rendered tooltip to.
  • Tooltips for disabled elements must be triggered on a wrapper element.
  • When triggered from hyperlinks that span multiple lines, tooltips will be centered. Use white-space: nowrap; on your <a>s, <b-link>s and <router-link>s to avoid this behavior.

Target

The target is the trigger element (or component) that will trigger the tooltip. The target is specified via the target prop, and can be any of the following:

  • A string identifying the ID of the trigger element (or ID of the root element of a component)
  • A reference (ref) to an HTMLElement or an SVGElement (e.g. this.$refs.refName)
  • A reference (ref) to a component that has either an HTMLElement or SVGElement as its root element (e.g. this.$refs.refName)
  • A function (callback) that returns a reference to an HTMLElement or SVGElement

For more information on references, see the official Vue documentation.

Note:

The target element must exist in the document before <b-tooltip> is mounted. If the target element is not found during mount, the tooltip will never open. Always place your <b-tooltip> component lower in the DOM than your target element. This rule also applies if a callback function is used as target element, since that callback is called only once on mount.

HTMLElement refers to standard HTML elements such as <div>, <button>, etc, while SVGElement refers to <svg> or supported child elements of SVGs.

Positioning

Twelve options are available for positioning: top, topleft, topright, right, righttop, rightbottom, bottom, bottomleft, bottomright, left, lefttop, and leftbottom aligned. The default position is top. Positioning is relative to the trigger element.

Refer to the Tooltip directive documentation for live examples of positioning.

Triggers

Tooltips can be triggered (opened/closed) via any combination of click, hover and focus. The default trigger is hover focus. Or a trigger of manual can be specified, where the popover can only be opened or closed programmatically.

If a tooltip has more than one trigger, then all triggers must be cleared before the tooltip will close. I.e. if a tooltip has the trigger focus click, and it was opened by focus, and the user then clicks the trigger element, they must click it again and move focus to close the tooltip.

Caveats with focus trigger on <button> elements

For proper cross-browser and cross-platform behavior when using only the focus trigger, you must use an element that renders the <a> tag, not the <button> tag, and you also must include a tabindex="0" attribute.

The following will generate an <a> that looks like a button:

<b-button
  href="#"
  tabindex="0"
  v-b-tooltip.focus
  title="Tooltip title"
>
  Link button with tooltip directive
</b-button>

<b-button id="link-button" href="#" tabindex="0">
  Link button with tooltip component
</b-button>
<b-tooltip target="link-button" title="Tooltip title" triggers="focus">
  Tooltip title
</b-tooltip>

Making tooltips work for keyboard and assistive technology users

You should only add tooltips to HTML elements that are traditionally keyboard-focusable and interactive (such as links, buttons, or form controls). Although arbitrary HTML elements (such as <span>s) can be made focusable by adding the tabindex="0" attribute, this will add potentially annoying and confusing tab stops on non-interactive elements for keyboard users. In addition, most assistive technologies currently do not announce the tooltip in this situation.

Additionally, do not rely solely on hover as the trigger for your tooltip, as this will make your tooltips impossible to trigger for keyboard-only users.

Disabled elements

Elements with the disabled attribute aren’t interactive, meaning users cannot focus, hover, or click them to trigger a tooltip (or popover). As a workaround, you’ll want to trigger the tooltip from a wrapper <div> or <span>, ideally made keyboard-focusable using tabindex="0", and override the pointer-events on the disabled element.

<div>
  <span id="disabled-wrapper" class="d-inline-block" tabindex="0">
    <b-button variant="primary" style="pointer-events: none;" disabled>Disabled button</b-button>
  </span>
  <b-tooltip target="disabled-wrapper">Disabled tooltip</b-tooltip>
</div>

<!-- disabled-trigger-element.vue -->

<b-tooltip> component usage

<b-container fluid>
  <b-row>
    <b-col md="4" class="py-4">
      <b-button id="button-1" variant="outline-success">Live chat</b-button>
    </b-col>
    <b-col md="4" class="py-4">
      <b-button id="button-2" variant="outline-success">Html chat</b-button>
    </b-col>
    <b-col md="4" class="py-4">
      <b-button ref="button-3" variant="outline-success">Alternative chat</b-button>
    </b-col>
  </b-row>

  <!-- Tooltip title specified via prop title -->
  <b-tooltip target="button-1" title="Online!"></b-tooltip>

  <!-- HTML title specified via default slot -->
  <b-tooltip target="button-2" placement="bottom">
    Hello <strong>World!</strong>
  </b-tooltip>

  <!-- Tooltip for an element identified by ref -->
  <b-tooltip :target="() => $refs['button-3']" title="Alternative!"></b-tooltip>
</b-container>

<!-- b-tooltip-component.vue -->

Component options

Prop Default Description Supported values
target null Element String ID, or a reference to an element or component, or a function returning either of them, that you want to trigger the tooltip Required Any valid, in-document unique element ID, element reference or component reference or a function returning any such ID / reference
title null Tooltip content (text only, no HTML). if HTML is required, place it in the default slot Plain text
placement 'top' Tooltip position, relative to the trigger element top, bottom, left, right, auto, topleft, topright, bottomleft, bottomright, lefttop, leftbottom, righttop, rightbottom
fallback-placement 'flip' Auto-flip placement behaviour of the tooltip, relative to the trigger element flip, clockwise, counterclockwise, or an array of valid placements evaluated from left to right
triggers 'hover focus' Space separated list of event(s), which will trigger open/close of tooltip hover, focus, click. Note blur is a special use case to close tooltip on next click, usually used in conjunction with click.
no-fade false Disable fade animation when set to true true or false
delay 50 Delay showing and hiding of tooltip by specified number of milliseconds. Can also be specified as an object in the form of { show: 100, hide: 400 } allowing different show and hide delays 0 and up, integers only.
offset 0 Shift the center of the tooltip by specified number of pixels Any negative or positive integer
container null Element string ID to append rendered tooltip into. If null or element not found, tooltip is appended to <body> (default) Any valid in-document unique element ID.
boundary 'scrollParent' The container that the tooltip will be constrained visually. The default should suffice in most cases, but you may need to change this if your target element is in a small container with overflow scroll 'scrollParent' (default), 'viewport', 'window', or a reference to an HTML element.
boundary-padding 5 Amount of pixel used to define a minimum distance between the boundaries and the tooltip. This makes sure the tooltip always has a little padding between the edges of its container Any positive number
noninteractive false Whether the tooltip should not be user-interactive true or false
variant null Contextual color variant for the tooltip Any contextual theme color variant name
custom-class null A custom classname to apply to the tooltip outer wrapper element A string
id null An ID to use on the tooltip root element. If none is provided, one will automatically be generated. If you do provide an ID, it must be guaranteed to be unique on the rendered page A valid unique element ID string

Noninteractive tooltips

BootstrapVue's tooltips are user-interactive by default for accessibility reasons. To restore Bootstraps default behavior apply the noninteractive prop:

<div class="text-center">
  <div>
    <b-button id="tooltip-button-interactive">My tooltip is interactive</b-button>
    <b-tooltip target="tooltip-button-interactive">I will stay open when hovered</b-tooltip>
  </div>

  <div class="mt-3">
    <b-button id="tooltip-button-not-interactive">Mine is not...</b-button>
    <b-tooltip target="tooltip-button-not-interactive" noninteractive>Catch me if you can!</b-tooltip>
  </div>
</div>

<!-- b-tooltip-interactive.vue -->

Variants and custom class

BootstrapVue's tooltips support contextual color variants via our custom CSS, via the variant prop:

<div class="text-center">
  <b-button id="tooltip-button-variant">Button</b-button>
  <b-tooltip target="tooltip-button-variant" variant="danger">Danger variant tooltip</b-tooltip>
</div>

<!-- b-tooltip-variant.vue -->

Bootstrap default theme variants are: danger, warning, success, primary, secondary, info, light, and dark. You can change or add additional variants via Bootstrap SCSS variables

A custom class can be applied to the tooltip outer wrapper <div> by using the custom-class prop:

<div class="text-center">
  <b-button id="my-button">Button</b-button>
  <b-tooltip target="my-button" custom-class="my-tooltip-class">Tooltip Title</b-tooltip>
</div>

variant and custom-class are reactive and can be changed while the tooltip is open.

Refer to the tooltip directive docs on applying variants and custom class to the directive version.

Programmatically show and hide tooltip

You can manually control the visibility of a tooltip via the syncable Boolean show prop. Setting it to true will show the tooltip, while setting it to false will hide the tooltip.

<template>
  <div class="text-center">
    <div>
      <b-button id="tooltip-button-1" variant="primary">I have a tooltip</b-button>
    </div>

    <div class="mt-3">
      <b-button @click="show = !show">Toggle Tooltip</b-button>
    </div>

    <b-tooltip :show.sync="show" target="tooltip-button-1" placement="top">
      Hello <strong>World!</strong>
    </b-tooltip>
  </div>
</template>
<script>
  export default {
    data: {
      show: true
    }
  }
</script>

<!-- b-tooltip-show-sync.vue -->

To make the tooltip shown on initial render, simply add the show prop on <b-tooltip>:

<div class="text-center">
  <b-button id="tooltip-button-2" variant="primary">Button</b-button>
  <b-tooltip show target="tooltip-button-2">I start open</b-tooltip>
</div>

<!-- b-tooltip-show-open.vue -->

Programmatic control can also be affected by submitting 'open' and 'close' events to the tooltip by reference.

<template>
  <div class="d-flex flex-column text-md-center">
    <div class="p-2">
      <b-button id="tooltip-button-show-event" variant="primary">I have a tooltip</b-button>
    </div>

    <div class="p-2">
      <b-button class="px-1" @click="onOpen">Open</b-button>
      <b-button class="px-1" @click="onClose">Close</b-button>
    </div>

    <b-tooltip ref="tooltip" target="tooltip-button-show-event">
      Hello <strong>World!</strong>
    </b-tooltip>
  </div>
</template>

<script>
  export default {
    methods: {
      onOpen() {
        this.$refs.tooltip.$emit('open')
      },
      onClose() {
        this.$refs.tooltip.$emit('close')
      }
    }
  }
</script>

<!-- b-tooltip-show-ref-event.vue -->

You can also use $root events to trigger the showing and hiding of tooltip(s). See the Hiding and showing tooltips via $root events section below for details.

Programmatically disabling tooltip

You can disable tooltip via the syncable Boolean prop disabled (default is false) Setting it to true will disable the tooltip. If the tooltip is currently visible when disabled is set to false, the tooltip will remain visible until it is enabled or programmatically closed. If the tooltip is disabled/enabled via $root events (see below), your disabled value will be updated as long as you have provided the .sync prop modifier.

<template>
  <div class="d-flex flex-column text-md-center">
    <div class="p-2">
      <b-button id="tooltip-button-disable" variant="primary">I have a tooltip</b-button>
    </div>

    <div class="p-2">
      <b-button @click="disabled = !disabled">
        {{ disabled ? 'Enable' : 'Disable' }} Tooltip by prop
      </b-button>
      <b-button @click="disableByRef">
        {{ disabled ? 'Enable' : 'Disable' }} Tooltip by $ref event
      </b-button>

      <b-tooltip :disabled.sync="disabled" ref="tooltip" target="tooltip-button-disable">
        Hello <strong>World!</strong>
      </b-tooltip>
    </div>
  </div>
</template>

<script>
  export default {
    data() {
      return {
        disabled: false
      }
    },
    methods: {
      disableByRef() {
        if (this.disabled) {
          this.$refs.tooltip.$emit('enable')
        } else {
          this.$refs.tooltip.$emit('disable')
        }
      }
    }
  }
</script>

<!-- b-tooltip-disable.vue -->

Note: In the above example, since we are using the default tooltip triggers of focus hover, the tooltip will close before it is disabled due to losing focus (and hover) to the toggle button.

You can also emit $root events to trigger disabling and enabling of tooltip(s). See the Disabling and enabling tooltips via $root events section below for details.

You can also emit $root events to trigger disabling and enabling of popover(s). See the Disabling and enabling tooltips via $root events section below for details.

v-b-tooltip directive usage

The v-b-tooltip directive makes adding tooltips even easier, without additional placeholder markup:

<b-container fluid>
  <b-row>
    <b-col md="6" class="py-4">
      <b-button v-b-tooltip title="Online!" variant="outline-success">Live chat</b-button>
    </b-col>

    <b-col md="6" class="py-4">
      <b-button
        v-b-tooltip.html
        title="Hello <strong>World!</strong>"
        variant="outline-success"
      >
        Html chat
      </b-button>
    </b-col>
  </b-row>
</b-container>

<!-- b-tooltip-directive.vue -->

Refer to the v-b-tooltip documentation for more information and features of the directive format.

'Global' $root instance events

Using $root instance it is possible to emit and listen events somewhere out of a component, where <b-collapse> is used. In short, $root behaves like a global event emitters and listener. Details about $root instance can be found in the official Vue docs.

Hiding and showing tooltips via $root events

You can close (hide) all open tooltips by emitting the bv::hide::tooltip event on $root:

this.$root.$emit('bv::hide::tooltip')

To close a specific tooltip, pass the trigger element's id, or the id of the tooltip (if one was provided via the id prop), as the argument:

this.$root.$emit('bv::hide::tooltip', 'my-trigger-button-id')

To open a specific tooltip, pass the trigger element's id, or the id of the tooltip (if one was provided via the id prop), as the argument when emitting the bv::show::tooltip $root event:

this.$root.$emit('bv::show::tooltip', 'my-trigger-button-id')

To open all tooltips simultaneously, omit the id argument when emitting the bv::show::tooltip event.

These events work for both the component and directive versions of tooltip.

Note: the trigger element must exist in the DOM and be in a visible state in order for the tooltip to show.

Disabling and enabling tooltips via $root events

You can disable all open tooltips by emitting the bv::disable::tooltip event on $root:

this.$root.$emit('bv::disable::tooltip')

To disable a specific tooltip, pass the trigger element's id, or the id of the tooltip (if one was provided via the id prop), as the argument:

this.$root.$emit('bv::disable::tooltip', 'my-trigger-button-id')

To enable a specific tooltip, pass the trigger element's id, or the id of the tooltip (if one was provided via the id prop), as the argument when emitting the bv::enable::tooltip $root event:

this.$root.$emit('bv::enable::tooltip', 'my-trigger-button-id')

To enable all tooltips simultaneously, omit the id argument when emitting the bv::enable::tooltip event.

These events work for both the component and directive versions of tooltip.

Note: The trigger element must exist in the DOM in order for the tooltip to be enabled or disabled.

Listening to tooltip changes via $root events

To listen to any tooltip opening, use:

export default {
  mounted() {
    this.$root.$on('bv::tooltip::show', bvEvent => {
      console.log('bvEvent:', bvEvent)
    })
  }
}

Refer to the Events section of documentation for the full list of events.

Accessibility

The trigger element, when the tooltip is showing, will have the attribute aria-describedby set with the auto generated ID of the tooltip.

Note: The animation effect of this component is dependent on the prefers-reduced-motion media query. See the reduced motion section of our accessibility documentation for additional details.

Component reference

<b-tooltip>

Properties

All property default values are globally configurable.

Property
(Click to sort Ascending)
Type
(Click to sort Ascending)
Default
Description
boundary
HTMLElement or Object or String'scrollParent'The boundary constraint of the tooltip: 'scrollParent', 'window', 'viewport', or a reference to an HTMLElement or component
boundary-padding
Number or String50The tooltip will try and stay away from the edge of the boundary element by the number of pixels specificed
container
HTMLElement or Object or StringThe container element to append the rendered tooltip when visible. Default's to the body element
custom-class
StringCSS class (or classes) to apply to the tooltip's root element
delay
Number or Object or String50Value for the show and hide delay. Applies to both show and hide when specified as a number or string. Use object form to set show and hide delays individually
disabled
BooleanfalseWhen set to `true`, disables the component's functionality and places it in a disabled state
fallback-placement
Array or String'flip'Placement to use when the tooltip would be out of boundaries. Refer to the docs for more details
id
StringUsed to set the `id` attribute on the rendered content, and used as the base to generate any additional element IDs as needed
no-fade
BooleanfalseWhen set to `true`, disables the fade animation/transition on the component
noninteractive
v2.2.0+
BooleanfalseWether the tooltip should not be user-interactive
offset
Number or String0Offset (in pixels) for the arrow center compared to the trigger target element
placement
String'top'Placement of the tooltip: One of 'top', 'bottom', 'right', 'left', 'topleft', 'topright', 'bottomleft', 'bottomright', 'lefttop', 'leftbottom', 'righttop', 'rightbottom'
show
BooleanfalseWhen set will show the tooltip
target
Required
HTMLElement or SVGElement or Function or Object or StringElement string ID, or a reference to an element or component, that you want to trigger the tooltip
title
StringText to place in the tooltip
triggers
Array or String'hover focus'Specify which triggers will show the tooltip. Supported values are 'click', 'hover', 'focus'. Refer to the docs for special triggers 'blur' and 'manual'
variant
StringApplies one of the Bootstrap theme color variants to the component

Slots

Name
Description
default Slot for tooltip content (HTML/components supported)

Events

Event
(Click to sort Ascending)
Arguments
Description
bv::tooltip::disabled
  1. bvEvent - BvEvent object
Emitted on $root when tooltip becomes disabled
bv::tooltip::enabled
  1. bvEvent - BvEvent object
Emitted on $root when tooltip becomes enabled
bv::tooltip::hidden
  1. bvEvent - BvEvent object
Emitted on $root when tooltip is hidden
bv::tooltip::hide
  1. bvEvent - BvEvent object. Cancelable
Emitted on $root when tooltip is about to be hidden. Cancelable. Call bvEvent.preventDefault() to cancel hide
bv::tooltip::show
  1. bvEvent - BvEvent object. Cancelable
Emitted on $root when tooltip is about to be shown. Cancelable. Call bvEvent.preventDefault() to cancel show
bv::tooltip::shown
  1. bvEvent - BvEvent object
Emitted on $root when tooltip is shown
disabled
  1. bvEvent - BvEvent object
Emitted when tooltip becomes disabled
enabled
  1. bvEvent - BvEvent object
Emitted when tooltip becomes enabled
hidden
  1. bvEvent - BvEvent object
Emitted when tooltip is hidden
hide
  1. bvEvent - BvEvent object. Cancelable
Emitted when tooltip is about to be hidden. Cancelable. Call bvEvent.preventDefault() to cancel hide
show
  1. bvEvent - BvEvent object. Cancelable
Emitted when tooltip is about to be shown. Cancelable. Call bvEvent.preventDefault() to cancel show
shown
  1. bvEvent - BvEvent object
Emitted when tooltip is shown

$root event listeners

You can control <b-tooltip> by emitting the following events on $root:

Event
Arguments
Description
bv::disable::tooltip

id - Tooltip ID to disable (optional)

Disable all or a specific tooltip when this event is emitted on $root
bv::enable::tooltip

id - Tooltip ID to enable (optional)

Enable all or a specific tooltip when this event is emitted on $root
bv::hide::tooltip

id - Tooltip ID to hide (optional)

Close (hide) all or a specific open tooltip when this event is emitted on $root
bv::show::tooltip

id - Tooltip ID to show (optional)

Open (show) all or a specific tooltip when this event is emitted on $root

Importing individual components

You can import individual components into your project via the following named exports:

Component
Named Export
Import Path
<b-tooltip>BTooltipbootstrap-vue

Example:

import { BTooltip } from 'bootstrap-vue'
Vue.component('b-tooltip', BTooltip)

Importing as a Vue.js plugin

This plugin includes all of the above listed individual components. Plugins also include any component aliases.

Named Export
Import Path
TooltipPluginbootstrap-vue

This plugin also automatically includes the following plugins:

  • VBTooltipPlugin

Example:

import { TooltipPlugin } from 'bootstrap-vue'
Vue.use(TooltipPlugin)