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 content">Hover Me</b-button>
</div>

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

Overview

Things to know when using tooltip component:

  • Tooltips rely on the 3rd party library Popper.js for positioning.
  • Tooltips with zero-length titles are never displayed.
  • 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.

The <b-tooltip> component inserts a hidden (display:none) <div> intermediate container element at the point in the DOM where the <b-tooltip> component is placed. This may affect layout and/or styling of components such as <b-button-group>, <b-button-toolbar>, and <b-input-group>. To avoid these possible layout issues, place the <b-tooltip> component outside of these types of components.

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 is used as target element, since that callback is called only once on mount.

Note: When using the default slot for the title, <b-tooltip> transfers the rendered DOM from that slot into the tooltip's markup when shown, and returns the content back to the <b-tooltip> component when hidden. This may cause some issues in rare circumstances, so please test your implementation accordingly! The title prop does not have this behavior. For simple tooltips, we recommend using the v-b-tooltip directive and enable the html modifier if needed.

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.

Triggers

Tooltips can be triggered (opened/closed) via any combination of click, hover and focus. The default trigger is hover focus.

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.

<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 0 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
variant null Contextual color variant for the tooltip Any contextual theme color variant name
customClass null A custom classname to apply to the tooltip outer wrapper element A string

Variants and custom class

NEW in 2.0.0-rc.26

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>

Note: Custom classes will not work with scoped styles, as the tooltips are appended to the document <body> element by default.

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 loosing 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 as the argument:

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

To open a specific tooltip, pass the trigger element's id 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 as the argument:

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

To enable a specific tooltip, pass the trigger element's id 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.

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, and 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 users.

Component reference

<b-tooltip>

Properties

PropertyTypeDefault Value
target String or Object or Object or Function
offset Number or String0
no-fade Booleanfalse
container String
show Booleanfalse
disabled Booleanfalse
title String
triggers String or Arrayhover focus
placement Stringtop
fallback-placement String or Arrayflip
variant String
custom-class String
delay Number or Object or String0
boundary String or ObjectscrollParent
boundary-padding Number5

Events

EventArgumentsDescription
show

bvEvent - bvEvent object

Emitted when tooltip is about to be shown. Cancelable. Call bvEvent.preventDefault() to cancel show.
shown

bvEvent - bvEvent object.

Emitted when tooltip is shown
hide

bvEvent - bvEvent object

Emitted when tooltip is about to be hidden. Cancelable. Call bvEvent.preventDefault() to cancel hide.
hidden

bvEvent - bvEvent object.

Emitted when tooltip is hidden
enabledEmitted when tooltip becomes enabled
disabledEmitted when tooltip becomes disabled
bv::tooltip::show

bvEvent - bvEvent object

Emitted on $root when tooltip is about to be shown. Cancelable. Call bvEvent.preventDefault() to cancel show.
bv::tooltip::shown

bvEvent - bvEvent object.

Emitted on $root when tooltip is shown
bv::tooltip::hide

bvEvent - bvEvent object

Emitted on $root when tooltip is about to be hidden. Cancelable. Call bvEvent.preventDefault() to cancel hide.
bv::tooltip::hidden

bvEvent - bvEvent object.

Emitted on $root when tooltip is hidden
bv::tooltip::enabled

bvEvent - bvEvent object.

Emitted on $root when tooltip becomes enabled
bv::tooltip::disabled

bvEvent - bvEvent object.

Emitted on $root when tooltip becomes disabled

$root Event Listeners

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

EventArgumentsDescription
bv::hide::tooltip

id - (optional), tooltip id to hide

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

id - (optional), tooltip id to show

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

id - (optional), tooltip id to disable

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

id - (optional), tooltip id to enable

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

Importing individual components

CHANGED in 2.0.0-rc.22 You can import individual components into your project via the following named exports:

ComponentNamed ExportImport Path
<b-tooltip>BTooltipbootstrap-vue

Example:

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

Importing individual directives

CHANGED in 2.0.0-rc.22 You can import individual directives into your project via the following named exports:

DirectiveNamed ExportImport Path
v-b-tooltipVBTooltipbootstrap-vue

Example:

import { VBTooltip } from 'bootstrap-vue'
// Note: Vue automatically prefixes the directive name with 'v-'
Vue.directive('b-tooltip', VBTooltip)

Importing as a Vue.js plugin

CHANGED in 2.0.0-rc.22 Importing plugins has been simplified.

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

Named ExportImport Path
TooltipPluginbootstrap-vue

Example:

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