Bootstrap 5 Modal
Modal
Bootstrap Modals offer a lightweight, multi-purpose JavaScript popup to add dialogs to yours. Learn how to customize Bootstrap Modals easily. Multiple examples and tutorial.
🤖 Looking for the LLM-optimized version? View llm.md
Other frameworks
CoreUI components are available as native Angular, React, and Vue components. To learn more please visit the following pages.
How it works
Bootstrap modals are lightweight and multi-purpose popups. Modals are split into three primary sections: header, body, and footer. Each has its role and so should be used accordingly. Before getting started with CoreUI for Bootstrap’s modal component, be sure to read the following as our menu options have recently changed.
- Modals are built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They’re positioned over everything else in the document and remove scroll from the
<body>
so that modal content scrolls instead. - Clicking on the modal “backdrop” will automatically close the modal.
- Bootstrap only supports one modal window at a time. Nested modals aren’t supported as we believe them to be poor user experiences.
- Modals use
position: fixed
, which can sometimes be a bit particular about its rendering. Whenever possible, place your modal HTML in a top-level position to avoid potential interference from other elements. You’ll likely run into issues when nesting a.modal
within another fixed element. - Once again, due to
position: fixed
, there are some caveats with using modals on mobile devices. See our browser support docs for details. - Due to how HTML5 defines its semantics, the
autofocus
HTML attribute has no effect in Bootstrap modals. To achieve the same effect, use some custom JavaScript:
const myModal = document.getElementById('myModal')
const myInput = document.getElementById('myInput')
myModal.addEventListener('shown.coreui.modal', () => {
myInput.focus()
})
prefers-reduced-motion
media query. For more information, refer to the reduced motion section of our accessibility documentation.
Keep reading for demos and usage guidelines.
Examples
Modal components
Below is a static modal example (meaning its position
and display
have been overridden). Included are the modal header, modal body (required for padding
), and modal footer (optional). We ask that you include modal headers with dismiss actions whenever possible, or provide another explicit dismiss action.
<div class="modal" tabindex="-1">
<div class="modal-dialog">
<div class="modal-content">
<div class="modal-header">
<h5 class="modal-title">Modal title</h5>
<button type="button" class="btn-close" data-coreui-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></button>
</div>
<div class="modal-body">
<p>Modal body text goes here.</p>
</div>
<div class="modal-footer">
<button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary" data-coreui-dismiss="modal">Close</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary">Save changes</button>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Live demo
Toggle a working modal demo by clicking the button below. It will slide down and fade in from the top of the page.
<!-- Button trigger modal -->
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-coreui-toggle="modal" data-coreui-target="#exampleModal">
Launch demo modal
</button>
<!-- Modal -->
<div class="modal fade" id="exampleModal" tabindex="-1" aria-labelledby="exampleModalLabel" aria-hidden="true">
<div class="modal-dialog">
<div class="modal-content">
<div class="modal-header">
<h5 class="modal-title" id="exampleModalLabel">Modal title</h5>
<button type="button" class="btn-close" data-coreui-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></button>
</div>
<div class="modal-body">
...
</div>
<div class="modal-footer">
<button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary" data-coreui-dismiss="modal">Close</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary">Save changes</button>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Static backdrop
When backdrop is set to static, the modal will not close when clicking outside of it. Click the button below to try it.
<!-- Button trigger modal -->
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-coreui-toggle="modal" data-coreui-target="#staticBackdrop">
Launch static backdrop modal
</button>
<!-- Modal -->
<div class="modal fade" id="staticBackdrop" data-coreui-backdrop="static" data-coreui-keyboard="false" tabindex="-1" aria-labelledby="staticBackdropLabel" aria-hidden="true">
<div class="modal-dialog">
<div class="modal-content">
<div class="modal-header">
<h5 class="modal-title" id="staticBackdropLabel">Modal title</h5>
<button type="button" class="btn-close" data-coreui-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></button>
</div>
<div class="modal-body">
...
</div>
<div class="modal-footer">
<button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary" data-coreui-dismiss="modal">Close</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary">Understood</button>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Scrolling long content
When modals become too long for the user’s viewport or device, they scroll independent of the page itself. Try the demo below to see what we mean.
You can also create a scrollable modal that allows scroll the modal body by adding .modal-dialog-scrollable
to .modal-dialog
.
<!-- Scrollable modal -->
<div class="modal-dialog modal-dialog-scrollable">
...
</div>
Vertically centered
Add .modal-dialog-centered
to .modal-dialog
to vertically center the modal.
<!-- Vertically centered modal -->
<div class="modal-dialog modal-dialog-centered">
...
</div>
<!-- Vertically centered scrollable modal -->
<div class="modal-dialog modal-dialog-centered modal-dialog-scrollable">
...
</div>
Tooltips and popovers
Tooltips and popovers can be placed within modals as needed. When modals are closed, any tooltips and popovers within are also automatically dismissed.
<div class="modal-body">
<h5>Popover in a modal</h5>
<p>This <button class="btn btn-secondary" data-coreui-toggle="popover" title="Popover title" data-coreui-content="Popover body content is set in this attribute.">button</button> triggers a popover on click.</p>
<hr>
<h5>Tooltips in a modal</h5>
<p><a href="#" data-coreui-toggle="tooltip" title="Tooltip">This link</a> and <a href="#" data-coreui-toggle="tooltip" title="Tooltip">that link</a> have tooltips on hover.</p>
</div>
Using the grid
Utilize the Bootstrap grid system within a modal by nesting .container-fluid
within the .modal-body
. Then, use the normal grid system classes as you would anywhere else.
<div class="modal-body">
<div class="container-fluid">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-4">.col-md-4</div>
<div class="col-md-4 ms-auto">.col-md-4 .ms-auto</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-3 ms-auto">.col-md-3 .ms-auto</div>
<div class="col-md-2 ms-auto">.col-md-2 .ms-auto</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6 ms-auto">.col-md-6 .ms-auto</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-sm-9">
Level 1: .col-sm-9
<div class="row">
<div class="col-8 col-sm-6">
Level 2: .col-8 .col-sm-6
</div>
<div class="col-4 col-sm-6">
Level 2: .col-4 .col-sm-6
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Varying modal content
Have a bunch of buttons that all trigger the same modal with slightly different contents? Use event.relatedTarget
and HTML data-coreui-*
attributes to vary the contents of the modal depending on which button was clicked.
Below is a live demo followed by example HTML and JavaScript. For more information, read the modal events docs for details on relatedTarget
.
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-coreui-toggle="modal" data-coreui-target="#exampleModal" data-coreui-whatever="@mdo">Open modal for @mdo</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-coreui-toggle="modal" data-coreui-target="#exampleModal" data-coreui-whatever="@fat">Open modal for @fat</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-coreui-toggle="modal" data-coreui-target="#exampleModal" data-coreui-whatever="@getbootstrap">Open modal for @getbootstrap</button>
<div class="modal fade" id="exampleModal" tabindex="-1" aria-labelledby="exampleModalLabel" aria-hidden="true">
<div class="modal-dialog">
<div class="modal-content">
<div class="modal-header">
<h5 class="modal-title" id="exampleModalLabel">New message</h5>
<button type="button" class="btn-close" data-coreui-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></button>
</div>
<div class="modal-body">
<form>
<div class="mb-3">
<label for="recipient-name" class="col-form-label">Recipient:</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="recipient-name">
</div>
<div class="mb-3">
<label for="message-text" class="col-form-label">Message:</label>
<textarea class="form-control" id="message-text"></textarea>
</div>
</form>
</div>
<div class="modal-footer">
<button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary" data-coreui-dismiss="modal">Close</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary">Send message</button>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
const exampleModal = document.getElementById('exampleModal')
if (exampleModal) {
exampleModal.addEventListener('show.coreui.modal', event => {
// Button that triggered the modal
const button = event.relatedTarget
// Extract info from data-coreui-* attributes
const recipient = button.getAttribute('data-coreui-whatever')
// If necessary, you could initiate an Ajax request here
// and then do the updating in a callback.
// Update the modal's content.
const modalTitle = exampleModal.querySelector('.modal-title')
const modalBodyInput = exampleModal.querySelector('.modal-body input')
modalTitle.textContent = `New message to ${recipient}`
modalBodyInput.value = recipient
})
}
Toggle between modals
Toggle between multiple modals with some clever placement of the data-coreui-target
and data-coreui-toggle
attributes. For example, you could toggle a password reset modal from within an already open sign in modal. Please note multiple modals cannot be open at the same time—this method simply toggles between two separate modals.
<div class="modal fade" id="exampleModalToggle" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="exampleModalToggleLabel" tabindex="-1">
<div class="modal-dialog modal-dialog-centered">
<div class="modal-content">
<div class="modal-header">
<h5 class="modal-title" id="exampleModalToggleLabel">Modal 1</h5>
<button type="button" class="btn-close" data-coreui-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></button>
</div>
<div class="modal-body">
Show a second modal and hide this one with the button below.
</div>
<div class="modal-footer">
<button class="btn btn-primary" data-coreui-target="#exampleModalToggle2" data-coreui-toggle="modal">Open second modal</button>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="modal fade" id="exampleModalToggle2" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="exampleModalToggleLabel2" tabindex="-1">
<div class="modal-dialog modal-dialog-centered">
<div class="modal-content">
<div class="modal-header">
<h5 class="modal-title" id="exampleModalToggleLabel2">Modal 2</h5>
<button type="button" class="btn-close" data-coreui-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></button>
</div>
<div class="modal-body">
Hide this modal and show the first with the button below.
</div>
<div class="modal-footer">
<button class="btn btn-primary" data-coreui-target="#exampleModalToggle" data-coreui-toggle="modal">Back to first</button>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<button class="btn btn-primary" data-coreui-target="#exampleModalToggle" data-coreui-toggle="modal">Open first modal</button>
Change animation
The $modal-fade-transform
variable determines the transform state of .modal-dialog
before the modal fade-in animation, the $modal-show-transform
variable determines the transform of .modal-dialog
at the end of the modal fade-in animation.
If you want for example a zoom-in animation, you can set $modal-fade-transform: scale(.8)
.
Remove animation
For modals that simply appear rather than fade in to view, remove the .fade
class from your modal markup.
<div class="modal" tabindex="-1" aria-labelledby="..." aria-hidden="true">
...
</div>
Dynamic heights
If the height of a modal changes while it is open, you should call myModal.handleUpdate()
to readjust the modal’s position in case a scrollbar appears.
Accessibility
Be sure to add aria-labelledby="..."
, referencing the modal title, to .modal
. Additionally, you may give a description of your modal dialog with aria-describedby
on .modal
. Note that you don’t need to add role="dialog"
since we already add it via JavaScript.
Embedding YouTube videos
Embedding YouTube videos in modals requires additional JavaScript not in Bootstrap to automatically stop playback and more. See this helpful Stack Overflow post for more information.
Optional sizes
Modals have three optional sizes, available via modifier classes to be placed on a .modal-dialog
. These sizes kick in at certain breakpoints to avoid horizontal scrollbars on narrower viewports.
Size | Class | Modal max-width |
---|---|---|
Small | .modal-sm |
300px |
Default | None | 500px |
Large | .modal-lg |
800px |
Extra large | .modal-xl |
1140px |
Our default modal without modifier class constitutes the “medium” size modal.
<div class="modal-dialog modal-xl">...</div>
<div class="modal-dialog modal-lg">...</div>
<div class="modal-dialog modal-sm">...</div>
Fullscreen Modal
Another override is the option to pop up a modal that covers the user viewport, available via modifier classes that are placed on a .modal-dialog
.
Class | Availability |
---|---|
.modal-fullscreen |
Always |
.modal-fullscreen-sm-down |
576px |
.modal-fullscreen-md-down |
768px |
.modal-fullscreen-lg-down |
992px |
.modal-fullscreen-xl-down |
1200px |
.modal-fullscreen-xxl-down |
1400px |
<!-- Full screen modal -->
<div class="modal-dialog modal-fullscreen-sm-down">
...
</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 ofnew coreui.Alert(...)
- In events, please use bs instead of coreui, for example
close.bs.alert
instead ofclose.coreui.alert
- In data attributes, please use bs instead of coreui. For example,
data-bs-toggle="..."
instead ofdata-coreui-toggle="..."
The modal plugin toggles your hidden content on demand, via data attributes or JavaScript. It also overrides default scrolling behavior and generates a .modal-backdrop
to provide a click area for dismissing shown modals when clicking outside the modal.
Via data attributes
Toggle
Activate a modal without writing JavaScript. Set data-coreui-toggle="modal"
on a controller element, like a button, along with a data-coreui-target="#foo"
or href="#foo"
to target a specific modal to toggle.
<button type="button" data-coreui-toggle="modal" data-coreui-target="#myModal">Launch modal</button>
Dismiss
Dismissal can be achieved with the data
attribute on a button within the modal as demonstrated below:
<button type="button" class="btn-close" data-coreui-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></button>
or on a button outside the modal using the data-coreui-target
as demonstrated below:
<button type="button" class="btn-close" data-coreui-dismiss="modal" data-coreui-target="#my-modal" aria-label="Close"></button>
Via JavaScript
Create a modal with a single line of JavaScript:
const myModal = new coreui.Modal(document.getElementById('myModal'), options)
// or
const myModalAlternative = new coreui.Modal('#myModal', options)
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 |
---|---|---|---|
backdrop |
boolean, 'static' |
true |
Includes a modal-backdrop element. Alternatively, specify static for a backdrop which doesn’t close the modal when clicked. |
focus |
boolean | true |
Puts the focus on the modal when initialized. |
keyboard |
boolean | true |
Closes the modal when escape key is pressed. |
Methods
Asynchronous methods and transitions
All our API methods are asynchronous and initiate a transition. They return to the caller as soon as the transition begins but before it concludes. Furthermore, a method call on a transitioning component will be ignored.
Passing options
Activates your content as a modal. Accepts an optional options object
.
const myModal = new coreui.Modal('#myModal', {
keyboard: false
})
Method | Description |
---|---|
dispose |
Destroys an element’s modal. (Removes stored data on the DOM element) |
getInstance |
Static method which allows you to get the modal instance associated with a DOM element. |
getOrCreateInstance |
Static method which allows you to get the modal instance associated with a DOM element, or create a new one in case it wasn’t initialized. |
handleUpdate |
Manually readjust the modal’s position if the height of a modal changes while it is open (i.e. in case a scrollbar appears). |
hide |
Manually hides a modal. Returns to the caller before the modal has actually been hidden (i.e. before the hidden.coreui.modal event occurs). |
show |
Manually opens a modal. Returns to the caller before the modal has actually been shown (i.e. before the shown.coreui.modal event occurs). Also, you can pass a DOM element as an argument that can be received in the modal events (as the relatedTarget property). (i.e. const modalToggle = document.getElementById('toggleMyModal'); myModal.show(modalToggle) |
toggle |
Manually toggles a modal. Returns to the caller before the modal has actually been shown or hidden (i.e. before the shown.coreui.modal or hidden.coreui.modal event occurs). |
Events
CoreUI for Bootstrap’s modal class exposes a few events for hooking into modal functionality. All modal events are fired at the modal itself (i.e. at the <div class="modal">
).
Event | Description |
---|---|
hide.coreui.modal |
This event is fired immediately when the hide instance method has been called. |
hidden.coreui.modal |
This event is fired when the modal has finished being hidden from the user (will wait for CSS transitions to complete). |
hidePrevented.coreui.modal |
This event is fired when the modal is shown, its backdrop is static and a click outside of the modal is performed. The event is also fired when the escape key is pressed and the keyboard option is set to false . |
show.coreui.modal |
This event fires immediately when the show instance method is called. If caused by a click, the clicked element is available as the relatedTarget property of the event. |
shown.coreui.modal |
This event is fired when the modal has been made visible to the user (will wait for CSS transitions to complete). If caused by a click, the clicked element is available as the relatedTarget property of the event. |
const myModalEl = document.getElementById('myModal')
myModalEl.addEventListener('hidden.coreui.modal', event => {
// do something...
})
Customizing
CSS variables
Modals use local CSS variables on .modal
and .modal-backdrop
for enhanced real-time customization. Values for the CSS variables are set via Sass, so Sass customization is still supported, too.
--cui-modal-zindex: #{$zindex-modal};
--cui-modal-width: #{$modal-md};
--cui-modal-padding: #{$modal-inner-padding};
--cui-modal-margin: #{$modal-dialog-margin};
--cui-modal-color: #{$modal-content-color};
--cui-modal-bg: #{$modal-content-bg};
--cui-modal-border-color: #{$modal-content-border-color};
--cui-modal-border-width: #{$modal-content-border-width};
--cui-modal-border-radius: #{$modal-content-border-radius};
--cui-modal-box-shadow: #{$modal-content-box-shadow-xs};
--cui-modal-inner-border-radius: #{$modal-content-inner-border-radius};
--cui-modal-header-padding-x: #{$modal-header-padding-x};
--cui-modal-header-padding-y: #{$modal-header-padding-y};
--cui-modal-header-padding: #{$modal-header-padding}; // Todo in v6: Split this padding into x and y
--cui-modal-header-border-color: #{$modal-header-border-color};
--cui-modal-header-border-width: #{$modal-header-border-width};
--cui-modal-title-line-height: #{$modal-title-line-height};
--cui-modal-footer-gap: #{$modal-footer-margin-between};
--cui-modal-footer-bg: #{$modal-footer-bg};
--cui-modal-footer-border-color: #{$modal-footer-border-color};
--cui-modal-footer-border-width: #{$modal-footer-border-width};
--cui-backdrop-zindex: #{$zindex-modal-backdrop};
--cui-backdrop-bg: #{$modal-backdrop-bg};
--cui-backdrop-opacity: #{$modal-backdrop-opacity};
SASS variables
$modal-inner-padding: $spacer;
$modal-footer-margin-between: .5rem;
$modal-dialog-margin: .5rem;
$modal-dialog-margin-y-sm-up: 1.75rem;
$modal-title-line-height: $line-height-base;
$modal-content-color: var(--#{$prefix}body-color);
$modal-content-bg: var(--#{$prefix}body-bg);
$modal-content-border-color: var(--#{$prefix}border-color-translucent);
$modal-content-border-width: var(--#{$prefix}border-width);
$modal-content-border-radius: var(--#{$prefix}border-radius-lg);
$modal-content-inner-border-radius: subtract($modal-content-border-radius, $modal-content-border-width);
$modal-content-box-shadow-xs: var(--#{$prefix}box-shadow-sm);
$modal-content-box-shadow-sm-up: var(--#{$prefix}box-shadow);
$modal-backdrop-bg: $black;
$modal-backdrop-opacity: .5;
$modal-header-border-color: var(--#{$prefix}border-color);
$modal-header-border-width: $modal-content-border-width;
$modal-header-padding-y: $modal-inner-padding;
$modal-header-padding-x: $modal-inner-padding;
$modal-header-padding: $modal-header-padding-y $modal-header-padding-x; // Keep this for backwards compatibility
$modal-footer-bg: null;
$modal-footer-border-color: $modal-header-border-color;
$modal-footer-border-width: $modal-header-border-width;
$modal-sm: 300px;
$modal-md: 500px;
$modal-lg: 800px;
$modal-xl: 1140px;
$modal-fade-transform: translate(0, -50px);
$modal-show-transform: none;
$modal-transition: transform .3s ease-out;
$modal-scale-transform: scale(1.02);
SASS Loop
Responsive fullscreen modals are generated via the $breakpoints
map and a loop in scss/_modal.scss
.
@each $breakpoint in map.keys($grid-breakpoints) {
$infix: breakpoint-infix($breakpoint, $grid-breakpoints);
$postfix: if($infix != "", $infix + "-down", "");
@include media-breakpoint-down($breakpoint) {
.modal-fullscreen#{$postfix} {
width: 100vw;
max-width: none;
height: 100%;
margin: 0;
.modal-content {
height: 100%;
border: 0;
@include border-radius(0);
}
.modal-header,
.modal-footer {
@include border-radius(0);
}
.modal-body {
overflow-y: auto;
}
}
}
}
CoreUI vs Bootstrap
While this Modal 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