How to get `page-break-inside: avoid` to work nicely with `flex-wrap: wrap`

Question

I am trying to get page-break-inside: avoid to work in a form that uses a multi-line flexbox layout (with flex-wrap: wrap). The goal is simply to avoid breaking form questions when printing.

This works well with a single line flexbox or without a flexbox. See the print preview of http://jsfiddle.net/MartijnR/nSE3P/1/show/ (note the flexbox class is not applied)

However, when using a multi-line flexbox, it seems to ignore the page-break-inside: avoid css rule. See the print preview of http://jsfiddle.net/MartijnR/nSE3P/2/show/ (note I added the flexbox class to the section element)

<form>
   <section class="flexbox">
        <label class="flex-100">
            <input type="text" />
        </label>
        <label class="flex-100">
            <input type="text" />
        </label>
        <!-- etc -->
        <label class="flex-100">
            <input type="text" />
        </label>
        <label class="flex-100">
            <input type="text" />
        </label>
    </section>
</form>

body, div, article, section, label {
    position: relative;
}
.flexbox {
    display: -ms-flexbox;
    display: -webkit-flex;
    display: flex;
    -webkit-flex-wrap: wrap;
    -ms-flex-wrap: wrap;
    -moz-flex-wrap: wrap;
    flex-wrap: wrap;
    -webkit-flex-direction: row;
    -ms-flex-direction: row;
    -moz-flex-direction: row;
    flex-direction: row;
    -webkit-flex: 100%;
    -ms-flex: 100%;
    flex: 100%;
}
label {
    display: block;
    margin: 10px 0;
    position: relative;
}
.flex-100 {
    min-height: 300px;
    border: 1px solid black;
    min-width: 80%;
    -webkit-flex: 100%;
    -ms-flex: 100%;
    flex: 100%;
}
input {
    display: block;
}
@media print {
    label {
        page-break-inside: avoid;
        -webkit-region-break-inside: avoid;
    }
}

I've tried in both the latest Chrome and IE11 and both demonstrate the same behaviour which makes me think it's not a browser bug. (FF doesn't support multi-line flexboxes yet, so it won't work there until early next year)

Does anybody know how to get flex-wrap: wrap flexbox layouts to play nicely with page-break-inside:avoid?

PS. I'm aware that in the sample code it doesn't seem to make sense to use a multi-line flexbox, but in reality it does make sense for me to create a grid layout.

Answer 1

A little late to this discussion but thought I'd share what I did to have a similar flex-wrap type style for print.

Leveraging what Dimitris Makris had previously added, I also went ahead and added the following bit to each .item to try to preserve height.

.item:nth-child(5n+1){ /* Change this to your liking. (wrap after nth item) */
  clear: left;
}

Answer 2

Played around a bit with your issue. If you are primarily concerned with printing problem only then this should help:

http://jsfiddle.net/nSE3P/3/

Flexbox class is still applied but in case of printing its display property is overridden with:

.flexbox {
        display: block;
}

This made it respect the page break policy. Check the print preview http://jsfiddle.net/nSE3P/3/show

Answer 3

I had the same problem and the only way to overcome it was to use flexbox without flexbox. I did that using the following rules:

.container {
  display: table;
}

.item {
  display: inline-block;
}

You can find more information here: https://kyusuf.com/post/almost-complete-guide-to-flexbox-without-flexbox