Browser hangs while downloading a file

About Article: 

This article will cover how to resolve the issue of browsers freezing when users attempt to download files.

Description:

When a user tries to download a file (like a PDF) by clicking a link, the browser sometimes hangs and stops working.

This problem occurs because the file download triggers a new tab to open.

This is due to a Chrome driver issue, where the new tab gets stuck, causing the browser to hang.

Solution 1: Modify Links to Prevent Opening New Tabs

If the download link is within an <a href> element, you can prevent it from opening in a new tab by following these steps:

Use the following inline Extension to remove the attribute that opens the link in a new tab.

Execute "[...document.querySelectorAll('a[target=\"_blank\"]')].forEach(e=>e.removeAttribute('target'))"

Explanation:

This expression selects all anchor elements (<a> tags) in the document that have a target attribute set to "_blank" (which typically opens links in a new tab) and removes the target attribute from each of those elements.

In simpler terms, it prevents links with target="_blank" from opening in new tabs.

How to use the Inline Extension:

1. Add the above inline extension before the download test step, this will prevent you from opening the new tab.

Solution 2: Prevent Automatic Switching to New Tabs

Option 1:  Use  Mouse click instead of a standard click.

Option 2: Alternatively, use JavaScript to perform the click by storing the element details and use the selectors to perform the click if the Mouse click doesn’t work.

Note: Even after following the above options if a new tab is opened, to facilitate smooth tab switching back to the primary tab (AUT), choose index-based tab switching over using the previous or next tab options.

Refer to the valid syntax below for switching tabs using the index:

switch to previous tab
switch to next tab
switch tab to 0
switch to tab 3