[Bug]: Not able to drag AutoScroll carousels with <a> tags multiple times

[mtm9ewy]

Which variants of Embla Carousel are you using?

• embla-carousel (Core)
• embla-carousel-react
• embla-carousel-vue
• embla-carousel-svelte
• embla-carousel-autoplay
• embla-carousel-auto-scroll
• embla-carousel-solid
• embla-carousel-auto-height
• embla-carousel-class-names
• embla-carousel-fade
• embla-carousel-docs (Documentation)
• embla-carousel-docs (Generator)

Steps to reproduce

The bug occurs when the following options are enabled:

  const [emblaRef, emblaApi] = useEmblaCarousel(
    {
      loop: true,
      dragFree: true,
      axis: "x"
    },
    [
      Autoscroll({
        speed: 1,
        startDelay: 0,
        stopOnInteraction: false, // Scroll never stops
        stopOnMouseEnter: true,
      }),
    ]
  );

When attempting to drag multiple times on the carousel, the second drag doesn't work and instead it resumes the autoscroll, even though the mouse is still in the carousel.

Expected Behavior

Dragging should continue to work until the mouse leaves the carousel. Then the auto-scroll will resume.

Additional Context

Screen.Recording.2025-11-20.194439.mp4

What browsers are you seeing the problem on?

Firefox, Microsoft Edge

Version

v8.6.0

CodeSandbox

https://codesandbox.io/p/sandbox/embla-carousel-auto-scroll-react-forked-xxx396

Before submitting

• I've made research efforts and searched the documentation
• I've searched for existing issues
• I agree to follow this project's Contributing Guidelines for bug reports

[mtm9ewy]

@davidjerleke have you been able to look into this? totally understand if not

[vytenisstaugaitis]

@mtm9ewy add this to the Autoscroll options:

stopOnFocusIn: false

reference: https://www.embla-carousel.com/plugins/auto-scroll/#stoponfocusin

[davidjerleke]

Hi @mtm9ewy, thanks for following up.

v9 is right around the corner, and I’m fully focused on the release at the moment, so I won’t have time to investigate this issue before then. Once v9 is out, I might be able to take a closer look.

Thanks for your patience — and thanks to @vytenisstaugaitis for the suggested workaround in the meantime.

[mtm9ewy]

The solution from @vytenisstaugaitis worked for the most part! There is still a strange stutter that happens when I hover the carousel, but I can now drag multiple times!

[spencercap]

@vytenisstaugaitis amazing 👏 thanks for this undocumented magic