Question

Can we get popovers to be dismissable in the same way as modals, ie. make them close when user clicks somewhere outside of them?

Unfortunately I can’t just use real modal instead of popover, because modal means position:fixed and that would be no popover anymore. 🙁

Answer 1

Update: A slightly more robust solution: http://jsfiddle.net/mattdlockyer/C5GBU/72/

For buttons containing text only:

$('body').on('click', function (e) {
    //did not click a popover toggle or popover
    if ($(e.target).data('toggle') !== 'popover'
        && $(e.target).parents('.popover.in').length === 0) { 
        $('[data-toggle="popover"]').popover('hide');
    }
});

For buttons containing icons use (this code has a bug in Bootstrap 3.3.6, see the fix below in this answer)

$('body').on('click', function (e) {
        //did not click a popover toggle, or icon in popover toggle, or popover
        if ($(e.target).data('toggle') !== 'popover'
            && $(e.target).parents('[data-toggle="popover"]').length === 0
            && $(e.target).parents('.popover.in').length === 0) { 
            $('[data-toggle="popover"]').popover('hide');
        }
    });

For JS Generated Popovers Use '[data-original-title]' in place of '[data-toggle="popover"]'

Caveat: The solution above allows multiple popovers to be open at once.

One popover at a time please:

Update: Bootstrap 3.0.x, see code or fiddle http://jsfiddle.net/mattdlockyer/C5GBU/2/

$('body').on('click', function (e) {
    $('[data-toggle="popover"]').each(function () {
        //the 'is' for buttons that trigger popups
        //the 'has' for icons within a button that triggers a popup
        if (!$(this).is(e.target) && $(this).has(e.target).length === 0 && $('.popover').has(e.target).length === 0) {
            $(this).popover('hide');
        }
    });
});

This handles closing of popovers already open and not clicked on or their links have not been clicked.

---

Update: Bootstrap 3.3.6, see fiddle

Fixes issue where after closing, takes 2 clicks to re-open

$(document).on('click', function (e) {
    $('[data-toggle="popover"],[data-original-title]').each(function () {
        //the 'is' for buttons that trigger popups
        //the 'has' for icons within a button that triggers a popup
        if (!$(this).is(e.target) && $(this).has(e.target).length === 0 && $('.popover').has(e.target).length === 0) {                
            (($(this).popover('hide').data('bs.popover')||{}).inState||{}).click = false  // fix for BS 3.3.6
        }

    });
});

Update: Using the conditional of the previous improvement, this solution was achieved. Fix the problem of double click and ghost popover:

$(document).on("shown.bs.popover",'[data-toggle="popover"]', function(){
    $(this).attr('someattr','1');
});
$(document).on("hidden.bs.popover",'[data-toggle="popover"]', function(){
    $(this).attr('someattr','0');
});
$(document).on('click', function (e) {
    $('[data-toggle="popover"],[data-original-title]').each(function () {
        //the 'is' for buttons that trigger popups
        //the 'has' for icons within a button that triggers a popup
        if (!$(this).is(e.target) && $(this).has(e.target).length === 0 && $('.popover').has(e.target).length === 0) {
            if($(this).attr('someattr')=="1"){
                $(this).popover("toggle");
            }
        }
    });
});