IE8 does not support querySelectorAll

Asked 4/6, 2013 at 14:24 Answered 4/6, 2013 at 14:33

Solved javascript internet-explorer-8 w3c selectors-api

I tried to use document.querySelectorAll(), but IE8 throw error, that

Object doesn't support this property or method

var titleCheckBox = document.querySelectorAll("");

Here http://www.quirksmode.org/dom/w3c_core.html#t13 written, that IE8 support this method. What I doing wrong?

Dom answered 4/6, 2013 at 14:24 Comment(0)

Check that your page isn't in Quirks mode or Compatibility mode. You can use the F12 dev tools to confirm this. Press F12 and look in the top-right corner of the resulting window. If you see "Compatibility" or "Quirks" in the mode description, then you've found the problem.

Quirks mode: this is usually triggered by a missing or broken Doctype. If this is the case, make sure your page starts with the following:
```
<!DOCTYPE html>
```
Compatibility mode (IE7 mode): This may be triggered if you're viewing the page locally (ie running it on your local machine, eg for testing, or on your local network). In this case, you are being hit by an IE config setting that you should disable. Go to the Tools menu, and pick the Comaptibility View Settings option. Untick the compatibility options, and the page should start working.

Compat mode may also be triggered (or avoided) by an X-UA-Compatibility meta tag. If you're having trouble with compatibility mode, this is a good way to avoid it: Add the following line to your code:
```
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
```

Either (or both) of the above could be the problem, but my guess is that the problem is compatibility mode. The compat-mode-on-intranet-sites setting is suprisingly little known, and catches a lot of people out, even some seasoned developers.

Piers answered 4/6, 2013 at 14:33 Comment(4)

Good point about Compatibility View - I believe IE throws the same error in that mode as well, if it in fact does not work there. – Farthing 4/6, 2013 at 14:34

Thanks,Compatibility Issue Fix helped me to solve a Jquery Datepicker issue in IE – Zimmer 17/11, 2013 at 8:35

I had the issue that a <base> tag was between the <html> and the <head> tag, so just make sure your HTML structure is valid. – Folklore 26/3, 2015 at 5:55

Thanks a lot! Compatibility helped me as well. – Tarbes 14/2, 2018 at 15:31

IE8 only supports querySelectorAll() in standards mode. From MSDN:

The Selectors API is defined as part of the Selectors API specification and is only available to Web pages displayed in IE8 standards mode.

Chances are your page doesn't have a proper DOCTYPE declaration; you will need to add one.

Farthing answered 4/6, 2013 at 14:28 Comment(2)

also, it will only select dom nodes using css 2 selectors. – Stilbite 4/6, 2013 at 14:38

No, it selects nodes using whichever selectors it supports. Some CSS3 selectors are known to be supported by IE8, including all attribute selectors and the ~ combinator. – Farthing 18/1, 2014 at 9:16

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