I am currently developing an automated testing suite and I keep encountering the "ElementClickInterceptedException: element not clickable at point" error. Even though the element is present in the DOM, the click fails intermittently. This usually happens on pages with sticky headers or loading overlays. Is there a reliable way to wait for the element to be truly interactive or a JavaScript workaround to force the click when standard Selenium methods fail?
3 answers
This error typically occurs because another element, like a "Loading" spinner or a fixed navigation bar, is overlapping the target element at the exact coordinates Selenium is trying to click. To solve this, you should first try using WebDriverWait with expected_conditions.element_to_be_clickable. If the element is being obscured by a sticky header, you might need to scroll the element into view using element.scrollIntoView(); via JavaScript before clicking. As a last resort, using driver.execute_script("arguments[0].click();", element) bypasses the visual check entirely and triggers the click event directly on the DOM node, which usually resolves the interception issue.
Are you seeing this mostly on Chrome or does it happen across different browsers like Firefox and Safari, as coordinate-based clicking can sometimes vary based on the specific driver implementation?
I usually just use a small sleep or a loop that retries the click. Sometimes the page just needs an extra half-second for the overlay to disappear completely.
I agree with Linda, but I'd suggest using a Fluent Wait instead of a hard sleep. It makes the script much faster because it continues as soon as the element is free, rather than waiting the full time every single time.
Great question, Daniel. I’ve noticed it’s most prevalent in Chrome when the window isn't maximized. If the browser window size changes the layout of responsive elements, could that shift the coordinates enough to cause a mismatch between where Selenium thinks the element is and where it actually sits on the rendered page?