How to use chrome webdriver in selenium to download files in python?

Try this. Executed on windows

(How to control the download of files with Selenium Python bindings in Chrome)

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options

options = Options()
options.add_experimental_option("prefs", {
  "download.default_directory": r"C:\Users\xxx\downloads\Test",
  "download.prompt_for_download": False,
  "download.directory_upgrade": True,
  "safebrowsing.enabled": True
})

I think that the easiest way to save arbitrary file (i.e. image) using WebDriver is to execute JavaScript which will save file. No configuration required at all!

I use this library FileSaver.js to save a file with desired name with ease.

from selenium import webdriver
import requests

FILE_SAVER_MIN_JS_URL = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eligrey/FileSaver.js/master/dist/FileSaver.min.js"

file_saver_min_js = requests.get(FILE_SAVER_MIN_JS_URL).content

chrome_options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
driver = webdriver.Chrome('/usr/local/bin/chromedriver', options=chrome_options)

# Execute FileSaver.js in page's context
driver.execute_script(file_saver_min_js)

# Now you can use saveAs() function
download_script = f'''
    return fetch('https://cdn.sstatic.net/Sites/stackoverflow/company/img/logos/so/so-logo.svg?v=a010291124bf',
        {{
            "credentials": "same-origin",
            "headers": {{"accept":"image/webp,image/apng,image/*,*/*;q=0.8","accept-language":"en-US,en;q=0.9"}},
            "referrerPolicy": "no-referrer-when-downgrade",
            "body": null,
            "method": "GET",
            "mode": "cors"
        }}
    ).then(resp => {{
        return resp.blob();
    }}).then(blob => {{
        saveAs(blob, 'stackoverflow_logo.svg');
    }});
    '''

driver.execute_script(download_script)
# Done! Your browser has saved an SVG image!

Some tips:

1. chromium and chromedriver should have same version.

   Typically chromium package should have chromedriver inside, you can find it in the install dir. If you are using ubuntu/debian, execute dpkg -L chromium-chromedriver.

2. Have a correct Chrome preference config.

   as Satish said, use options.add_experimental_option("prefs", ...) to config selenium+chrome. But sometimes the config may change by time. The beset way to get newest and workable prefs is to check it in the chromium config dir. For example,

   • Launch a chromium in Xorg desktop
   • Change settings in menu
   • Quit chromium
   • Find out the real settings in ~/.config/chromium/Default/Preferences
   • Read it, pick out the exact options you need.

In my case, the code is:

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.desired_capabilities import DesiredCapabilities

options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
options.gpu = False
options.headless = True
options.add_experimental_option("prefs", {
    "download.default_directory" : "/data/books/chrome/",
    'profile.default_content_setting_values.automatic_downloads': 2,
    })

desired = options.to_capabilities()
desired['loggingPrefs'] = { 'performance': 'ALL'}
driver = webdriver.Chrome(desired_capabilities=desired)