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SeleniumDecoded

Set the Download Directory and Suppress Prompts

Configure Chrome, Firefox and Edge to save downloads silently into a directory the test controls, including PDFs that would otherwise open inline.

Stable Verified against Selenium 4.48.0

Problem

Downloads go to the user’s default folder, PDFs open in the browser’s viewer instead of downloading, and Firefox asks what to do with the file.

Solution

Set the browser preferences at driver creation. Chrome and Edge share the same preference keys; Firefox uses about:config preferences.

Download preferences per browser
Selenium 4 Stable 
Path dir = Files.createTempDirectory("downloads");


// Chrome and Edge
ChromeOptions chrome = new ChromeOptions();
chrome.setExperimentalOption("prefs", Map.of(
  "download.default_directory", dir.toString(),
  "download.prompt_for_download", false,
  "download.directory_upgrade", true,
  "plugins.always_open_pdf_externally", true,    // download PDFs instead of viewing
  "safebrowsing.enabled", true));


// Firefox
FirefoxOptions firefox = new FirefoxOptions();
firefox.addPreference("browser.download.folderList", 2);                 // 2 = custom dir
firefox.addPreference("browser.download.dir", dir.toString());
firefox.addPreference("browser.download.useDownloadDir", true);
firefox.addPreference("browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting", false);
firefox.addPreference("browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk",
  "application/pdf,text/csv,application/vnd.ms-excel,application/octet-stream,application/zip");
firefox.addPreference("pdfjs.disabled", true);                            // no inline PDF viewer
import tempfile


directory = tempfile.mkdtemp("downloads")


# Chrome and Edge
chrome = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
chrome.add_experimental_option("prefs", {
  "download.default_directory": directory,
  "download.prompt_for_download": False,
  "download.directory_upgrade": True,
  "plugins.always_open_pdf_externally": True,
  "safebrowsing.enabled": True,
})


# Firefox
firefox = webdriver.FirefoxOptions()
firefox.set_preference("browser.download.folderList", 2)
firefox.set_preference("browser.download.dir", directory)
firefox.set_preference("browser.download.useDownloadDir", True)
firefox.set_preference("browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk",
  "application/pdf,text/csv,application/vnd.ms-excel,application/octet-stream,application/zip")
firefox.set_preference("pdfjs.disabled", True)
const dir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'downloads-'));


// Chrome and Edge
const chromeOpts = new chrome.Options().setUserPreferences({
'download.default_directory': dir,
'download.prompt_for_download': false,
'download.directory_upgrade': true,
'plugins.always_open_pdf_externally': true,
'safebrowsing.enabled': true,
});


// Firefox
const firefoxOpts = new firefox.Options()
.setPreference('browser.download.folderList', 2)
.setPreference('browser.download.dir', dir)
.setPreference('browser.download.useDownloadDir', true)
.setPreference('browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk',
  'application/pdf,text/csv,application/vnd.ms-excel,application/octet-stream,application/zip')
.setPreference('pdfjs.disabled', true);
var dir = Directory.CreateTempSubdirectory("downloads").FullName;


// Chrome and Edge
var chrome = new ChromeOptions();
chrome.AddUserProfilePreference("download.default_directory", dir);
chrome.AddUserProfilePreference("download.prompt_for_download", false);
chrome.AddUserProfilePreference("download.directory_upgrade", true);
chrome.AddUserProfilePreference("plugins.always_open_pdf_externally", true);
chrome.AddUserProfilePreference("safebrowsing.enabled", true);


// Firefox
var firefox = new FirefoxOptions();
firefox.SetPreference("browser.download.folderList", 2);
firefox.SetPreference("browser.download.dir", dir);
firefox.SetPreference("browser.download.useDownloadDir", true);
firefox.SetPreference("browser.helperApps.neverAsk.saveToDisk",
  "application/pdf,text/csv,application/vnd.ms-excel,application/octet-stream,application/zip");
firefox.SetPreference("pdfjs.disabled", true);

Why It Works

These are the same settings a user changes in the browser’s preferences, applied to the fresh profile Selenium creates for the session. A temporary directory per session keeps tests isolated and makes cleanup a directory delete.

Gotchas

  • Firefox’s neverAsk.saveToDisk matches the server’s Content-Type exactly; a CSV served as text/plain still prompts. Check the response header in DevTools and add it.
  • Windows paths in Chrome prefs need backslashes or forward slashes consistently; Path.toString() handles it.
  • On a Grid the directory is on the node; prefer Selenium’s managed downloads there.
  • safebrowsing.enabled: true prevents Chrome from blocking “uncommon” downloads in some configurations; keep it.

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