How to solve Playwright timeout errors when interacting with elements
What's actionability check?
By default, Playwright automatically waits for an element to be actionable before performing the action. If the element stays un-actionable for too long, Playwright gives a timeout error.
Playwright performs this actionability check before each action (clicking, hovering, typing) to ensure that the target elements are actionable. These checks verify that the elements are:
- Stable: Not in animation.
- Visible: Has non-empty bounding box and doesn't have
visibility:hiddencomputed style. - Enabled: Not with a
disabledproperty. - Receives Events: Not covered by other elements.
When to turn off Playwright's actionability check
In most cases, you shouldn't turn off Playwright's actionability check because it makes your scripts less reliable. However, there are some cases you might want to turn it off:
- You intentionally need to interact with an element that's normally hidden or partially covered.
- You want to interact with elements that are in constant animation.
- You need to click or type on elements that are partially off-screen or behind overlays.
How to turn off actionability check
You can bypass actionability checks and force Playwright to perform the action immediately by setting the force parameter to True with Playwright actions, such as click or hover. For instance:
You can bypass actionability checks and force Playwright to perform the action immediately by setting the force option to true with Playwright actions, such as click or hover. For instance:
await hiddenElement.click({ force: true });