How to Take Screenshots in Selenium WebDriver: A Complete Guide Great 2025

👉How to Take Screenshots in Selenium WebDriver

Introduction

How to Take Screenshots in Selenium WebDriver: Taking screenshots in Selenium WebDriver is a crucial step in automated testing and bug reporting. Screenshots help debug test failures, capture test evidence, and verify UI elements.

In this guide, you will learn:

✅ How to take screenshots using Selenium WebDriver
✅ How to capture full-page screenshots with Ashot API
✅ How to save and store screenshots in a desired location
✅ How to integrate screenshots into your test reports

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👉How to Take a Screenshot in Selenium WebDriver?

Step 1: Convert WebDriver Object to TakeScreenshot

How to Take Screenshots in Selenium WebDriver: Selenium provides the TakeScreenshot interface, which allows you to capture screenshots.

javaTakesScreenshot screenshot = ((TakesScreenshot) driver);

Step 2: Capture and Save the Screenshot

Use the getScreenshotAs() method to capture the screenshot and store it as a file.

javaFile srcFile = screenshot.getScreenshotAs(OutputType.FILE);

Step 3: Copy the Screenshot to a Desired Location

Use the Apache Commons IO library to move the screenshot to a specific folder.

javaFile destFile = new File("C:\\Screenshots\\testScreenshot.png");
FileUtils.copyFile(srcFile, destFile);

👉Full Example: Selenium WebDriver Screenshot Code

javaimport java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
import org.openqa.selenium.OutputType;
import org.openqa.selenium.TakesScreenshot;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class ScreenshotExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        // Set up WebDriver
        System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "path/to/chromedriver");
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        
        // Open Website
        driver.get("https://www.example.com");
        
        // Capture Screenshot
        TakesScreenshot screenshot = ((TakesScreenshot) driver);
        File srcFile = screenshot.getScreenshotAs(OutputType.FILE);
        
        // Save Screenshot to a specific location
        File destFile = new File("C:\\Screenshots\\testScreenshot.png");
        FileUtils.copyFile(srcFile, destFile);
        
        System.out.println("Screenshot saved successfully!");
        
        // Close the browser
        driver.quit();
    }
}

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👉What is AShot API?

How to Take Screenshots in Selenium WebDriver: AShot is a third-party Selenium utility that allows you to:
✅ Take full-page screenshots (beyond viewport)
✅ Capture specific WebElements
✅ Handle zooming, scaling, and blurring

How to Install AShot API?

You can install AShot in two ways:

1️⃣ Using Maven (Recommended)
Add the following dependency to your pom.xml file:

xml<dependency>
    <groupId>ru.yandex.qatools.ashot</groupId>
    <artifactId>ashot</artifactId>
    <version>1.5.4</version>
</dependency>

2️⃣ Manually Download the AShot JAR

• Download from Maven Repository
• Add it to your project’s Build Path

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👉How to Capture a Full-Page Screenshot Using AShot API?

How to Take Screenshots in Selenium WebDriver: By default, TakeScreenshot only captures the visible portion of the page. To take a full-page screenshot, use AShot API.

Example: Take Full-Page Screenshot with AShot

javaimport java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import ru.yandex.qatools.ashot.AShot;
import ru.yandex.qatools.ashot.Screenshot;
import ru.yandex.qatools.ashot.shooting.ShootingStrategies;

public class FullPageScreenshot {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        // Set up WebDriver
        System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "path/to/chromedriver");
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        
        // Open the webpage
        driver.get("https://www.example.com");
        
        // Capture full-page screenshot
        Screenshot screenshot = new AShot()
                .shootingStrategy(ShootingStrategies.viewportPasting(1000))
                .takeScreenshot(driver);
        
        // Save the screenshot
        ImageIO.write(screenshot.getImage(), "PNG", new File("C:\\Screenshots\\fullPageScreenshot.png"));
        
        System.out.println("Full-page screenshot saved successfully!");
        
        // Close the browser
        driver.quit();
    }
}

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👉How to Capture a WebElement Screenshot in Selenium?

How to Take Screenshots in Selenium WebDriver: AShot also allows you to capture a screenshot of a specific WebElement.

Example: Take Screenshot of a WebElement

javaimport java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import ru.yandex.qatools.ashot.AShot;
import ru.yandex.qatools.ashot.Screenshot;

public class ElementScreenshot {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        // Set up WebDriver
        System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "path/to/chromedriver");
        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
        
        // Open the webpage
        driver.get("https://www.example.com");
        
        // Locate the WebElement
        WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.id("logo"));
        
        // Capture WebElement Screenshot
        Screenshot screenshot = new AShot().takeScreenshot(driver, element);
        
        // Save the screenshot
        ImageIO.write(screenshot.getImage(), "PNG", new File("C:\\Screenshots\\elementScreenshot.png"));
        
        System.out.println("Element screenshot saved successfully!");
        
        // Close the browser
        driver.quit();
    }
}

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👉Comparison: TakeScreenshot vs. AShot API

Feature	TakeScreenshot (Selenium)	AShot API (Third-Party)
Captures full-page screenshot	❌ No	✅ Yes
Captures WebElement screenshot	❌ No	✅ Yes
Supports zooming & scaling	❌ No	✅ Yes
Requires external dependency	❌ No	✅ Yes
Works on all browsers	✅ Yes	✅ Yes

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👉Common Issues & Solutions in Selenium Screenshots

Issue	Solution
Screenshot not saving	Ensure the file path is correct. Use C:\\Screenshots\\ for Windows.
FileNotFoundException	Add Apache Commons IO JAR for FileUtils.copyFile().
Full-page screenshot not working	Use AShot API instead of TakeScreenshot.
Element screenshot cropped	Ensure the WebElement is fully visible before capturing.

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👉Conclusion

How to Take Screenshots in Selenium WebDriver: Taking screenshots in Selenium WebDriver is essential for debugging test failures and creating test reports.

👉Key Takeaways:

✔ How to Take Screenshots in Selenium WebDriver: Use TakeScreenshot for basic screenshots
✔ Use AShot API for full-page and element-specific screenshots
✔ Store screenshots in a structured directory for better test reporting
✔ Integrate screenshots into TestNG Reports for better analysis

Start capturing Selenium screenshots today for better test debugging!

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