page-break-before

Deprecated: This feature is no longer recommended. Though some browsers might still support it, it may have already been removed from the relevant web standards, may be in the process of being dropped, or may only be kept for compatibility purposes. Avoid using it, and update existing code if possible; see the compatibility table at the bottom of this page to guide your decision. Be aware that this feature may cease to work at any time.

Warning: This property has been replaced by the break-before property.

The page-break-before CSS property adjusts page breaks before the current element.

This property applies to block elements that generate a box. It won't apply on an empty

that won't generate a box.

Try it

page-break-before: auto;

page-break-before: always;


  
    
      The effect of this property can be noticed when the document is being
      printed or a preview of a print is displayed.
    
    
    
      Content before the property
      
        Content with 'page-break-before'
      
      Content after the property

.box {
  border: solid #5b6dcd 5px;
  background-color: #5b6dcd;
  margin: 10px 0;
  padding: 5px;
}

#example-element {
  border: solid 5px #ffc129;
  background-color: #ffc129;
  color: black;
}

.hide-element {
  display: none;
}

const btn = document.getElementById("print-btn");
const editorContainer = document.getElementsByClassName(
  "css-editor-container",
)[0];
const exampleHTMLElement = document.getElementById("default-example");

const printableSection = document.createElement("div");
printableSection.setAttribute("id", "printable-section");
printableSection.classList.add("hide-element");
document.body.appendChild(printableSection);

btn.addEventListener("click", () => {
  const exampleContent = exampleHTMLElement.innerHTML;

  editorContainer.classList.add("hide-element");
  printableSection.innerHTML = exampleContent;
  printableSection.classList.remove("hide-element");

  window.print();

  printableSection.classList.add("hide-element");
  printableSection.innerHTML = "";
  editorContainer.classList.remove("hide-element");
});

Syntax

css

/* Keyword values */
page-break-before: auto;
page-break-before: always;
page-break-before: avoid;
page-break-before: left;
page-break-before: right;
page-break-before: recto;
page-break-before: verso;

/* Global values */
page-break-before: inherit;
page-break-before: initial;
page-break-before: revert;
page-break-before: revert-layer;
page-break-before: unset;

Values

auto: Initial value. Automatic page breaks (neither forced nor forbidden).
always: Always force page breaks before the element.
avoid: Avoid page breaks before the element.
left: Force page breaks before the element so that the next page is formatted as a left page. It's the page placed on the left side of the spine of the book or the back side of the page in duplex printing.
right: Force page breaks before the element so that the next page is formatted as a right page. It's the page placed on the right side of the spine of the book or the front side of the page in duplex printing.
recto: If pages progress left-to-right, then this acts like right. If pages progress right-to-left, then this acts like left.
verso: If pages progress left-to-right, then this acts like left. If pages progress right-to-left, then this acts like right.

Page break aliases

The page-break-before property is now a legacy property, replaced by break-before.

For compatibility reasons, page-break-before should be treated by browsers as an alias of break-before. This ensures that sites using page-break-before continue to work as designed. A subset of values should be aliased as follows:

page-break-before	break-before
`auto`	`auto`
`left`	`left`
`right`	`right`
`avoid`	`avoid`
`always`	`page`

Formal definition

Initial value	`auto`
Applies to	block-level elements in the normal flow of the root element. User agents may also apply it to other elements like `table-row` elements.
Inherited	no
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete

Formal syntax

page-break-before = 
  auto     |
  always   |
  avoid    |
  left     |
  right    |
  inherit

Examples

Avoid a page break before an element

css

/* Avoid page break before div elements of class note */
div.note {
  page-break-before: avoid;
}

Specifications

Specification
CSS Logical Properties and Values Level 1 # page
CSS Paged Media Module Level 3 # page-break-before
CSS Fragmentation Module Level 3 # page-break-properties