Capture full page screenshot of a webpage

Preconditions (3)

Step 1: Open the browser using Selenium WebDriver

Step 2: Navigate to the target webpage URL (e.g., https://example.com)

Step 3: Wait until the page is fully loaded

Step 4: Capture a full page screenshot

Step 5: Save the screenshot to a file named 'full_page_screenshot.png'

Step 6: Close the browser

✅ Expected Result: A file named 'full_page_screenshot.png' is saved containing the full visible content of the webpage

Automation Requirements - Selenium with Python

Assertions Needed:

Verify the screenshot file 'full_page_screenshot.png' exists after test execution

Verify the screenshot file size is greater than zero bytes

Best Practices:

Use explicit waits to ensure the page is fully loaded before taking the screenshot

Use Selenium's full page screenshot capability (e.g., Chrome DevTools protocol or Firefox full page screenshot)

Handle browser setup and teardown properly

Use clear and maintainable locators if needed

Automated Solution

Selenium Python

import os
import time
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

# Setup Chrome options for headless mode (optional)
chrome_options = Options()
chrome_options.add_argument('--headless=new')
chrome_options.add_argument('--window-size=1920,1080')

# Setup Chrome driver service
service = Service()
driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=service, options=chrome_options)

try:
    # Navigate to the webpage
    driver.get('https://example.com')

    # Wait until the body element is present to ensure page load
    WebDriverWait(driver, 10).until(EC.presence_of_element_located((By.TAG_NAME, 'body')))

    # Pause briefly to allow any dynamic content to load
    time.sleep(1)

    # Take full page screenshot (works in Chrome 59+)
    screenshot_path = 'full_page_screenshot.png'
    driver.get_full_page_screenshot_as_file(screenshot_path)

    # Assertions
    assert os.path.exists(screenshot_path), f"Screenshot file {screenshot_path} does not exist"
    assert os.path.getsize(screenshot_path) > 0, "Screenshot file is empty"

finally:
    driver.quit()

This script uses Selenium WebDriver with Chrome in headless mode to open the webpage https://example.com. It waits explicitly for the <body> tag to be present, ensuring the page is loaded. Then it pauses briefly to allow dynamic content to settle.

The key method get_full_page_screenshot_as_file() captures the entire page, not just the visible viewport. The screenshot is saved as full_page_screenshot.png.

After taking the screenshot, the script asserts that the file exists and is not empty, confirming the screenshot was successfully saved.

Finally, the browser is closed properly in the finally block to avoid resource leaks.

Common Mistakes - 4 Pitfalls

Using driver.save_screenshot() which captures only the visible viewport

Not waiting for the page to load before taking the screenshot

Not closing the browser after the test

Hardcoding sleep times without explicit waits

Bonus Challenge

Now add data-driven testing to capture full page screenshots of three different URLs

Show Hint