Scrolling

Scroll elements into view, scroll by an amount, use the W3C wheel actions, handle infinite scroll and sticky headers, and know when Selenium scrolls for you.

Selenium 4 Stable Updated 9 Sept 2026 · Verified against Selenium 4.48.0

Selenium scrolls an element into view automatically before clicking or typing into it. That covers most cases, so the first rule of scrolling is: do not scroll unless a command failed because of it. The exceptions are lazy-loaded content, sticky headers that cover the target after the automatic scroll, infinite feeds, and screenshots of a specific region. This lesson covers each.

Option 1: scrollIntoView via JavaScript

The most common approach, and the one that works in every browser and Selenium version.

Scroll an element into view

Selenium 3 & 4 Stable

WebElement footer = driver.findElement(By.id("footer"));
JavascriptExecutor js = (JavascriptExecutor) driver;

// Align to top of viewport
js.executeScript("arguments[0].scrollIntoView(true);", footer);

// Center it, which avoids sticky headers and footers
js.executeScript("arguments[0].scrollIntoView({block: 'center', inline: 'nearest'});", footer);

footer = driver.find_element(By.ID, "footer")

# Align to top of viewport
driver.execute_script("arguments[0].scrollIntoView(true);", footer)

# Center it
driver.execute_script("arguments[0].scrollIntoView({block: 'center', inline: 'nearest'});", footer)

const footer = await driver.findElement(By.id('footer'));

await driver.executeScript('arguments[0].scrollIntoView(true);', footer);
await driver.executeScript("arguments[0].scrollIntoView({block: 'center', inline: 'nearest'});", footer);

var footer = driver.FindElement(By.Id("footer"));
var js = (IJavaScriptExecutor)driver;

js.ExecuteScript("arguments[0].scrollIntoView(true);", footer);
js.ExecuteScript("arguments[0].scrollIntoView({block: 'center', inline: 'nearest'});", footer);

block: 'center' is the setting to remember. Aligning to the top puts the element under any fixed header, which then intercepts the click.

Option 2: The Actions API Wheel (Selenium 4.2+)

The W3C Actions API includes a wheel input device. Selenium 4.2 added scrollToElement, scrollByAmount and scrollFromOrigin so scrolling is a real user action rather than script injection. It fires the same events a trackpad would, which matters for infinite-scroll implementations that listen to wheel rather than scroll.

Actions-based scrolling

Selenium 4 Stable

import org.openqa.selenium.interactions.Actions;
import org.openqa.selenium.interactions.WheelInput;

Actions actions = new Actions(driver);

// Scroll until the element is in view
WebElement target = driver.findElement(By.id("load-more"));
actions.scrollToElement(target).perform();

// Scroll the page by a delta (positive y = down)
actions.scrollByAmount(0, 500).perform();

// Scroll from an origin: here, from the element's centre, 200px further down
WheelInput.ScrollOrigin origin = WheelInput.ScrollOrigin.fromElement(target);
actions.scrollFromOrigin(origin, 0, 200).perform();

// Scroll inside a scrollable container: origin at the container, delta applies to it
WebElement panel = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(".sidebar-scroll"));
actions.scrollFromOrigin(WheelInput.ScrollOrigin.fromElement(panel), 0, 300).perform();

from selenium.webdriver import ActionChains
from selenium.webdriver.common.actions.wheel_input import ScrollOrigin

actions = ActionChains(driver)

# Scroll until the element is in view
target = driver.find_element(By.ID, "load-more")
actions.scroll_to_element(target).perform()

# Scroll the page by a delta (positive y = down)
actions.scroll_by_amount(0, 500).perform()

# Scroll from an origin
origin = ScrollOrigin.from_element(target)
actions.scroll_from_origin(origin, 0, 200).perform()

# Scroll inside a scrollable container
panel = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, ".sidebar-scroll")
actions.scroll_from_origin(ScrollOrigin.from_element(panel), 0, 300).perform()

const { Origin } = require('selenium-webdriver/lib/input');

const target = await driver.findElement(By.id('load-more'));

// Scroll until the element is in view
await driver.actions().scroll(0, 0, 0, 0, target).perform();

// Scroll the page by a delta from the viewport origin
await driver.actions().scroll(0, 0, 0, 500, Origin.VIEWPORT).perform();

// Scroll from an element origin, 200px further down
await driver.actions().scroll(0, 0, 0, 200, target).perform();

using OpenQA.Selenium.Interactions;

var actions = new Actions(driver);
var target = driver.FindElement(By.Id("load-more"));

// Scroll until the element is in view
actions.ScrollToElement(target).Perform();

// Scroll the page by a delta
actions.ScrollByAmount(0, 500).Perform();

// Scroll from an origin
var origin = new WheelInputDevice.ScrollOrigin { Element = target, XOffset = 0, YOffset = 0 };
actions.ScrollFromOrigin(origin, 0, 200).Perform();

Safari does not implement the wheel action; fall back to JavaScript there.

Scrolling the Window by Pixels or to the Bottom

Window-level scrolling with JavaScript

Selenium 3 & 4 Stable

JavascriptExecutor js = (JavascriptExecutor) driver;

js.executeScript("window.scrollBy(0, 800);");                                   // relative
js.executeScript("window.scrollTo(0, document.body.scrollHeight);");           // to bottom
js.executeScript("window.scrollTo({top: 0, behavior: 'instant'});");           // to top

Long y = (Long) js.executeScript("return window.scrollY;");                    // current offset

driver.execute_script("window.scrollBy(0, 800);")
driver.execute_script("window.scrollTo(0, document.body.scrollHeight);")
driver.execute_script("window.scrollTo({top: 0, behavior: 'instant'});")

y = driver.execute_script("return window.scrollY;")

await driver.executeScript('window.scrollBy(0, 800);');
await driver.executeScript('window.scrollTo(0, document.body.scrollHeight);');
await driver.executeScript("window.scrollTo({top: 0, behavior: 'instant'});");

const y = await driver.executeScript('return window.scrollY;');

var js = (IJavaScriptExecutor)driver;

js.ExecuteScript("window.scrollBy(0, 800);");
js.ExecuteScript("window.scrollTo(0, document.body.scrollHeight);");
js.ExecuteScript("window.scrollTo({top: 0, behavior: 'instant'});");

var y = (long)js.ExecuteScript("return window.scrollY;");

Use behavior: 'instant' in tests. Smooth scrolling animates over several frames, and a screenshot or click taken mid-animation lands in the wrong place.

Infinite Scroll

Feeds that load more items as you approach the bottom need a loop: scroll, wait for new items, repeat until the count stops changing or you have what you need. Waiting on the item count is the reliable signal; waiting a fixed time is not.

Load an infinite feed until an item appears or it stops growing

Selenium 4 Medium

By items = By.cssSelector("[data-testid='feed-item']");
JavascriptExecutor js = (JavascriptExecutor) driver;
WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10));

int previous = -1;
for (int page = 0; page < 20; page++) {
  int count = driver.findElements(items).size();
  if (count == previous) break;                       // feed stopped growing
  previous = count;

  js.executeScript("window.scrollTo(0, document.body.scrollHeight);");
  final int seen = count;
  try {
      wait.until(d -> d.findElements(items).size() > seen);
  } catch (TimeoutException e) {
      break;                                          // nothing more loaded
  }
}
System.out.println("Loaded " + driver.findElements(items).size() + " items");

items = (By.CSS_SELECTOR, "[data-testid='feed-item']")
wait = WebDriverWait(driver, 10)

previous = -1
for _ in range(20):
  count = len(driver.find_elements(*items))
  if count == previous:
      break                                       # feed stopped growing
  previous = count

  driver.execute_script("window.scrollTo(0, document.body.scrollHeight);")
  try:
      wait.until(lambda d: len(d.find_elements(*items)) > count)
  except TimeoutException:
      break                                       # nothing more loaded

print("Loaded", len(driver.find_elements(*items)), "items")

const items = By.css("[data-testid='feed-item']");

let previous = -1;
for (let page = 0; page < 20; page++) {
const count = (await driver.findElements(items)).length;
if (count === previous) break;
previous = count;

await driver.executeScript('window.scrollTo(0, document.body.scrollHeight);');
try {
  await driver.wait(async () => (await driver.findElements(items)).length > count, 10000);
} catch {
  break;
}
}

var items = By.CssSelector("[data-testid='feed-item']");
var js = (IJavaScriptExecutor)driver;
var wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));

int previous = -1;
for (int page = 0; page < 20; page++)
{
  int count = driver.FindElements(items).Count;
  if (count == previous) break;
  previous = count;

  js.ExecuteScript("window.scrollTo(0, document.body.scrollHeight);");
  try { wait.Until(d => d.FindElements(items).Count > count); }
  catch (WebDriverTimeoutException) { break; }
}

Cap the loop. A feed that never ends will otherwise run until the test timeout.

Sticky Headers That Intercept Clicks

The symptom is ElementClickInterceptedException with a message naming the header element. Selenium scrolled the target to the top edge and the header covers it. Fixes, in order of preference:

Scroll with block: 'center' before clicking (above).
Use Actions.scrollToElement, which respects scroll-margin CSS if the app sets it.
As a last resort, hide the header with JavaScript in the test environment.

Click under a sticky header

Selenium 3 & 4 Medium

WebElement link = driver.findElement(By.linkText("Terms"));
((JavascriptExecutor) driver).executeScript(
  "arguments[0].scrollIntoView({block: 'center'});", link);
link.click();

link = driver.find_element(By.LINK_TEXT, "Terms")
driver.execute_script("arguments[0].scrollIntoView({block: 'center'});", link)
link.click()

const link = await driver.findElement(By.linkText('Terms'));
await driver.executeScript("arguments[0].scrollIntoView({block: 'center'});", link);
await link.click();

var link = driver.FindElement(By.LinkText("Terms"));
((IJavaScriptExecutor)driver).ExecuteScript("arguments[0].scrollIntoView({block: 'center'});", link);
link.Click();

Full-Page Screenshots

Selenium’s getScreenshotAs captures the viewport in most browsers (Firefox captures the full page). To capture a long page elsewhere, either resize the window to the document height before the screenshot, or use CDP’s Page.captureScreenshot with captureBeyondViewport on Chromium. The resize approach works everywhere:

Resize to document height, then capture