Fix "Element Not Clickable at Point" in Selenium

Causes of the "Element is Not Clickable at Point" Exception

• WebElement to be clicked is disabled.
• WebElement is not yet available (or loaded) on the web page.
• WebElements overlap with each other.
• Failure in locating WebElement using coordinates on the page.

Cause 1: WebElement to be Clicked is Disabled

In a web application, if you skip filling out any mandatory fields in a form or while creating an account, you will come across the submit (or create account) WebElement in a disabled state.

When trying to interact with such a WebElement, the "element is not clickable at point" exception pops up.

Cause 2: WebElement is not yet Available (or Loaded)

Most websites use AJAX for the dynamic loading of web content. Therefore, the test cases should be implemented considering this dynamism. You will encounter the said exception if the test script is trying to interact with the WebElement, which is not yet available in the Document Object Model (DOM).

Cause 3: WebElements Overlap With Each Other

You might have overlapping WebElements on a webpage, which poses significant challenges when running Selenium automated tests on the page. For example, when trying to interact with an element with another element overlapping, it would throw the exception "element is not clickable at point".

Since this makes an interesting scenario, let's look at this with an example. We will run the tests on an online Selenium Grid by TestMu AI.

TestMu AI is an AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform that lets developers and testers perform automation testing using Selenium at scale, thereby attaining better browser coverage, faster test execution, and accelerated software release cycles. Furthermore, parallel test execution is one of the major advantages of running tests on a cloud-based platform like TestMu AI.

The following test scenario will be used for demonstration purposes.

Test Scenario

• Navigate to the TestMu AI eCommerce Playground website.
• Click on the Shop by Category menu.
• Try clicking on the Blog menu on the home page.
• It should throw the "element is not clickable at point" exception.

The following code will run the test scenario using Selenium WebDriver on Chrome 122 and Windows 10 on the TestMu AI cloud platform.

public class ExceptionsDemoTest {
    WebDriver driver;
    private final String USERNAME = System.getenv("LT_USERNAME") == null ? "LT_USERNAME" : System.getenv("LT_USERNAME");
    private final String ACCESS_KEY = System.getenv("LT_ACCESS_KEY") == null ? "LT_ACCESS_KEY" : System.getenv("LT_ACCESS_KEY");
    private final String GRID_URL = "@hub.lambdatest.com/wd/hub";

    @BeforeTest
    public void setup() {
        try {
            driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL("http://" + USERNAME + ":" + ACCESS_KEY + GRID_URL), getChromeOptions());
        } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
            System.out.println("Could not start the remote session on LambdaTest cloud grid");
        }
        driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(Duration.ofSeconds(20));
    }

    @Test
    public void testElementNotClickableException() {

        driver.get("https://ecommerce-playground.lambdatest.io/");
        WebElement shopByCategory = driver.findElement(By.linkText("Shop by Category"));
        shopByCategory.click();

        WebElement blogLink = driver.findElement(By.linkText("Blog"));
        blogLink.click();

    }


    public ChromeOptions getChromeOptions() {
        final var browserOptions = new ChromeOptions();
        browserOptions.setPlatformName("Windows 10");
        browserOptions.setBrowserVersion("122.0");
        HashMap<String, Object> ltOptions = new HashMap<String, Object>();
        ltOptions.put("project", "Selenium LambdaTest Demo");
        ltOptions.put("build", "[Java] How to Deal with Element is not clickable at point Exception");
        ltOptions.put("name", "[Java] How to Deal with Element is not clickable at point Exception");
        ltOptions.put("w3c", true);
        ltOptions.put("plugin", "java-testNG");

        browserOptions.setCapability("LT:Options", ltOptions);

        return browserOptions;
    }

    @AfterTest
    public void tearDown() {
        driver.quit();
    }

}

Code Walkthrough:

As the tests are run on the TestMu AI cloud platform, it is mandatory to provide the required capabilities. These capabilities can be generated from the TestMu AI Automation Capabilities Generator.

Based on the capabilities selected, the capabilities generator website automatically generates the required configuration code to help us run the code on the TestMu AI cloud grid.

Next, the TestMu AI Username and Access Key are required. These can be found on the Profile > Account Settings > Password & Security page once you log into TestMu AI.

As the Username and Access Key are confidential values, you should not hardcode them within the code. Therefore, it is recommended to set the Username and Access Key in the environment variables.

Next, the capabilities need to be provided for which the getChromeOption() method is created. It has all the required capabilities to run the test successfully on Chrome Browser 122 version on the Windows 10 platform.

We will use the RemoteWebDriver() instance to instantiate the WebDriver instance using the setup() method to run the test on the TestMu AI platform.

This method also implements implicit waits so all WebElements load correctly before the actual test execution begins.

Finally, the test method testElementNotClickableException() will be executed. It will first navigate to the TestMu AI eCommerce Playground website and click on the Shop by Category menu. Next, it will locate the Blog menu and try to click on it.

Let's execute this test and check out the result.

Test Execution:

On executing the test on TestMu AI, it is expected that Selenium should throw the "element is not clickable at this point" exception.

The following screenshot of the test execution performed using IntelliJ IDEA shows the exception in the console log.

Below is the stack trace of the error:

Many times, you would need to identify the Selenium locators using their coordinates. The coordinates of the elements would differ depending on the window size. Hence, maximizing the browser window when performing Selenium testing is a good practice. You can read our detailed blog on Selenium best practices to avoid issues you may encounter when running Selenium tests.

How to Fix the "Element is Not Clickable at Point" Exception?

There are five proven ways to resolve the "element is not clickable at point" exception in Selenium. Match the fix to the root cause for the fastest resolution.

Fix 1: Adding Waits to Selenium Tests

To handle elements that take some time to load on the web page, you may add waits in Selenium. The added delay helps ensure that the WebElement to be interacted with is available on the web page. Have a look at the different Selenium waits that can help you achieve this task.

You can consider adding implicit waits, explicit waits, or fluent waits, depending upon the requirement. For example, we can add an explicit wait for a specific element so that it loads completely and is identified to be clickable.

WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, 10);
WebElement loginBtn = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.id("Login")));
loginBtn.click();

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Fix 2: Maximizing the Browser Window

When coordinates are used to identify the elements in the tests, it is always considered good practice to maximize your browser window. This ensures that the coordinates defined in your tests match with those on the page, as the browser is in the maximized state. Here is how you can avert the "element is not clickable at point" exception by simply maximizing the web browser window:

WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
driver.manage().window().maximize();

Fix 3: Using JavaScriptExecutor to Perform Mouse Clicks

When the waits don't help resolve the issue, you can use the JavaScriptExecutor to perform the click operation.

JavaScriptExecutor is a key interface that allows you to run JavaScript on the window or page of the browser using Selenium WebDriver. It provides methods to run JavaScript against the window (or page) directly from your test script, bypassing the normal click interception.

WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.id("Login"));
JavascriptExecutor executor = (JavascriptExecutor)driver;
executor.executeScript("arguments[0].click();", element);

Fix 4: Using Actions Class in Selenium

The exception "element is not clickable at point" might be thrown when the element is not under focus or the action is being performed on the incorrect WebElement. In such cases, you have to switch to the actual element and perform the click action.

To handle this scenario, use the Actions class in Selenium to move to the specific element and perform the click operation as shown below:

WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.id("Login"));
Actions actions = new Actions(driver);
actions.moveToElement(element).click().build().perform();

The following test scenario is an extension to the test scenario we previously discussed while learning about the "element is not clickable at this point" exception.

Test Scenario

• Navigate to the TestMu AI eCommerce Playground website.
• Click on the Shop by Category menu.
• Navigate to the Blog menu link using the Actions class in Selenium.
• Click on the Blog menu link.
• Verify that the page header on the Blog page is displayed as LATEST ARTICLES.

While we ran the code previously, it threw the exception; the code below is to handle the exception in Selenium.

@Test
    public void testElementNotClickableExceptionResolved() {

        driver.get("https://ecommerce-playground.lambdatest.io/");
        WebElement shopByCategory = driver.findElement(By.linkText("Shop by Category"));
        shopByCategory.click();

        WebElement menuBar = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(".entry-section div.navbar-collapse"));

        final Actions actions = new Actions(driver);
        actions.moveToElement(menuBar).click().build().perform();

        WebElement blogLink = driver.findElement(By.linkText("Blog"));
        blogLink.click();

        WebElement pageTitle = driver.findElement(By.cssSelector(".entry-section .entry-module h3"));
        assertEquals(pageTitle.getText(), "LATEST ARTICLES");
    }

Code Walkthrough:

The following lines of code will help you navigate the TestMu AI eCommerce website, search for the Shop by Category link, and click on it.

Next, it will locate the menu bar that has the Blog menu displayed in it. Using the Actions class in Selenium, the focus will be moved to the menu bar, and a click will be performed on it. Once the focus is on the menu bar, the Blog menu will be located and clicked.

After the Blog web page is opened, the assertion will be performed to check that the title LATEST ARTICLES is displayed on the page.

Let's execute the test on the TestMu AI cloud platform and check the results.

Test Execution:

The following is the screenshot of the tests executed using IntelliJ IDEA.

This test execution ensures that the Actions class can be used to handle the "element is not clickable at this point" exception in Selenium.

The details of the test execution can be viewed on the TestMu AI Web Automation Dashboard, which provides details like Selenium logs, test execution video, screenshots, and step-by-step test execution details.

You can also log onto the TestMu AI Community to get answers to questions about the "element is not clickable at point" error and more.

Note: Run your Selenium tests across 10,000+ real devices and browsers on TestMu AI. Try TestMu AI free!

Fix 5: Scrolling the Element into View

If the target element is outside the visible viewport, Selenium may throw the "element is not clickable at point" exception because the browser cannot register the click on an off-screen element. Scrolling the element into view before clicking resolves this.

Use JavaScriptExecutor to scroll the element into view, then click it:

WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.id("submitBtn"));
JavascriptExecutor executor = (JavascriptExecutor) driver;
executor.executeScript("arguments[0].scrollIntoView(true);", element);
element.click();

This is especially useful on long pages where the target button or link sits below the fold. After scrolling, the element enters the viewport and becomes fully interactable. See the Selenium with Java docs for setup and configuration options when running on the TestMu AI cloud grid.