[html] Hide the browse button on a input type=file

Is there a way to hide the browse button and only leave the text box that works in all browsers?

I have tried setting the margins but they show up different in each browser

This question is related to html css

The answer is


Just an additional hint for avoiding too much JavaScript here: if you add a label and style it like the "browse button" you want to have, you could place it over the real browse button provided by the browser or hide the button somehow differently. By clicking the label the browser behavior is to open the dialog to browse for the file (don't forget to add the "for" attribute on the label with value of the id of the file input field to make this happen). That way you can customize the button in almost any way you want.

In some cases, it might be necessary to add a second input field or text element to display the value of the file input and hide the input completely as described in other answers. Still the label would avoid to simulate the click on the text input button by JavaScript.

BTW a similar hack can be used for customizing checkboxes or radiobuttons. by adding a label for them, clicking the label causes to select the checkbox/radiobutton. The native checkbox/radiobutton then can be hidden somewere and be replaced by a custom element.


the best way for it

<input type="file" id="file">
<label for="file" class="file-trigger">Click Me</label> 

And you can style your "label" element

#file { 
   display: none;
}
.file-trigger {
/* your style */
}

Came across this question and didn't feel like any of the answers were clean. Here is my solution:

<label>
  <span>Select file</span>
  <input type="file" style="display: none">
</label>

When you click the label the select file dialog will open. No js needed to make it happen.

You can style the label to look like a button.

Here is an example using w3css and font awesome:

<label class="w3-button w3-blue w3-round">
    <span><i class="fas fa-image"></i></span>
    <input type="file" style="display: none" >
</label>

Of course you need to add an event listener to the input to detect a file was chosen.


HTML - InputFile component can be hide by writing some css. Here I am adding an icon which overrides inputfile component.

<label class="custom-file-upload">
    <InputFile OnChange="HandleFileSelected" />
    <i class="fa fa-cloud-upload"></i> Upload
</label>

css-

<style>
    input[type="file"] {
        display: none;
    }

    .custom-file-upload {
        border: 1px solid #ccc;
        display: inline-block;
        padding: 6px 12px;
        cursor: pointer;
    }
</style>

So I found this solution that is very easy to implement and gives a very clean GUI

put this in your HTML

<label class="att-each"><input type="file"></label>

and this in your CSS

label.att-each {
width: 68px;
height: 68px;
background: url("add-file.png") no-repeat;
text-indent: -9999px;
}

add-file.png can be any graphic you wish to show on the webpage. Clicking the graphic will launch the default file explorer.

Working Example: http://www.projectnaija.com/file-picker17.html


You may just without making the element hidden, simply make it transparent by making its opacity to 0.

Making the input file hidden will make it STOP working. So DON'T DO THAT..

Here you can find an example for a transparent Browse operation;


Oddly enough, this works for me (when I place inside a button tag).

.button {
    position: relative;

    input[type=file] {
            color: transparent;
            background-color: transparent;
            position: absolute;
            left: 0;
            width: 100%;
            height: 100%;
            top: 0;
            opacity: 0;
            z-index: 100;
        }
}

Only tested in Chrome (macOS Sierra).


Below code is very useful to hide default browse button and use custom instead:

_x000D_
_x000D_
(function($) {_x000D_
  $('input[type="file"]').bind('change', function() {_x000D_
    $("#img_text").html($('input[type="file"]').val());_x000D_
  });_x000D_
})(jQuery)
_x000D_
.file-input-wrapper {_x000D_
  height: 30px;_x000D_
  margin: 2px;_x000D_
  overflow: hidden;_x000D_
  position: relative;_x000D_
  width: 118px;_x000D_
  background-color: #fff;_x000D_
  cursor: pointer;_x000D_
}_x000D_
_x000D_
.file-input-wrapper>input[type="file"] {_x000D_
  font-size: 40px;_x000D_
  position: absolute;_x000D_
  top: 0;_x000D_
  right: 0;_x000D_
  opacity: 0;_x000D_
  cursor: pointer;_x000D_
}_x000D_
_x000D_
.file-input-wrapper>.btn-file-input {_x000D_
  background-color: #494949;_x000D_
  border-radius: 4px;_x000D_
  color: #fff;_x000D_
  display: inline-block;_x000D_
  height: 34px;_x000D_
  margin: 0 0 0 -1px;_x000D_
  padding-left: 0;_x000D_
  width: 121px;_x000D_
  cursor: pointer;_x000D_
}_x000D_
_x000D_
.file-input-wrapper:hover>.btn-file-input {_x000D_
  //background-color: #494949;_x000D_
}_x000D_
_x000D_
#img_text {_x000D_
  float: right;_x000D_
  margin-right: -80px;_x000D_
  margin-top: -14px;_x000D_
}
_x000D_
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>_x000D_
_x000D_
<body>_x000D_
  <div class="file-input-wrapper">_x000D_
    <button class="btn-file-input">SELECT FILES</button>_x000D_
    <input type="file" name="image" id="image" value="" />_x000D_
  </div>_x000D_
  <span id="img_text"></span>_x000D_
</body>
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_


Just add negative text intent as so:

input[type=file] {
  text-indent: -120px;
}

before:

enter image description here

after:

enter image description here


_x000D_
_x000D_
        .dropZoneOverlay, .FileUpload {_x000D_
            width: 283px;_x000D_
            height: 71px;_x000D_
        }_x000D_
_x000D_
        .dropZoneOverlay {_x000D_
            border: dotted 1px;_x000D_
            font-family: cursive;_x000D_
            color: #7066fb;_x000D_
            position: absolute;_x000D_
            top: 0px;_x000D_
            text-align: center;_x000D_
        }_x000D_
_x000D_
        .FileUpload {_x000D_
            opacity: 0;_x000D_
            position: relative;_x000D_
            z-index: 1;_x000D_
        }
_x000D_
        <div class="dropZoneContainer">_x000D_
            <input type="file" id="drop_zone" class="FileUpload" accept=".jpg,.png,.gif" onchange="handleFileSelect(this) " />_x000D_
            <div class="dropZoneOverlay">Drag and drop your image <br />or<br />Click to add</div>_x000D_
        </div>
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_

I find a good way of achieving this at Remove browse button from input=file.

The rationale behind this solution is that it creates a transparent input=file control and creates an layer visible to the user below the file control. The z-index of the input=file will be higher than the layer.

With this, it appears that the layer is the file control itself. But actually when you clicks on it, the input=file is the one clicked and the dialog for choosing file will appear.