"mw-collapsed"

Adding the mw-collapsed class will cause the element to always be initially collapsed, no matter what happens around it. It is the simplest method for doing so. Using the examples above:

{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
| <strong>Lorem ipsum</strong>
|-
| Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
|}

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|+ class="nowrap" | Winter Olympic Games
|-
|
! scope="col" | City
! scope="col" | Country
|-
! scope="row" | 1994
| Lillehammer || Norway
|-
! scope="row" | 1998
| Nagano || Japan
|}

"autocollapse"

Adding the autocollapse class causes an element to collapse if there are 2 or more collapsible elements on the page. This threshold might be different on other projects and is customizable. The example below, therefore, collapses because there are numerous collapsible elements on this page.

{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible autocollapse"
| <strong>Lorem ipsum</strong>
|-
| Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
|}

"innercollapse" and "outercollapse"

Using this pair of classes, it is possible to make an element collapsed by default only when it is contained within a particular outer element. An element with the mw-collapsible and innercollapse classes is collapsed by default if it is contained within an element with the outercollapse class; otherwise, it is uncollapsed by default. This is mainly useful for templates, which are often nested.

{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible innercollapse"
| This <code>innercollapse</code> element is
|-
| <em>uncollapsed</em> by default
|}

<div class="wikitable outercollapse" style="padding:1em; background:#ccc;">
This is an element with the <code>outercollapse</code> class.

{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible innercollapse"
| This <code>innercollapse</code> element is
|-
| <em>collapsed</em> by default
|}
</div>

Tables with captions

A table without a caption will collapse to its first row. A table with a caption will collapse to its caption, with no rows, therefore no width. Use class="nowrap" or {{nowrap}} to keep the caption from being squeezed into a vertical column when the table is collapsed.

{|class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible" 
|+ class="nowrap" | Somewhat long table caption
! Name !! Score
|-
| John || 59
|-
| Bob || 72
|}

Next example uses {{nowrap}} where the end brackets become the wrap point. <style=max-width:Xem; will not work.

{|class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible" 
|+ {{nowrap|A longer table caption needs to wrap}} for cell phones, etc.
! Name !! Score
|-
| John || 59
|-
| Bob || 72
|}

Sortable tables

Collapsible tables can be combined with the sortable tables functionality without difficulty. However, because the hide/show button is placed with collapsible in the first header cell located or with mw-collapsible in the right header cell (this difference may change), its positioning can look a bit peculiar if the cell is not wide enough:

{|class="wikitable mw-collapsible sortable" style="width:5em"
<!--table width too narrow, on purpose here-->
|-
! Name !! Score
|-
| John || 59
|-
| Bob || 72
|}

A possible alternative is to add a caption over the table. See the following example.

{|class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible" 
|+ class="nowrap" | Caption 
! Name !! Score
|-
| John || 59
|-
| Bob || 72
|}

Customization

Registered users can edit their personal js file to change some of the variables used.

autoCollapse = 4 //how many collapsible tables on the page before autocollapse works (default=2)
var collapseCaption = 'collapse' //text of the [hide] link (default='hide')
var expandCaption = 'uncollapse' //text of the [show] link (default='show')

Limitations

• This functionality requires the end-user's browser to have JavaScript enabled. If JavaScript is disabled, the default behaviour is to show the content.
• It doesn't work on mobile browsers (or desktop browsers in mobile mode) either.