Selenium WebDriver typing very slow in text field on IE browser

Question

I'm running one of my scripts on IE 11 browser with Selenium 2.43.1 when the script types in text field using following:

element.sendKeys("string");

In IE browser, I can see that one character of string is typed in text field and it waits for 1-2 seconds before typing next character. Means for typing one character it's taking 1-2 seconds.

Why is typing so slow with IE?
Is there any alternate way to speed up typing?

possible duplicate of [Why is Selenium InternetExplorerDriver Webdriver very slow in debug mode (visual studio 2010 and IE9)](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8850211/why-is-selenium-internetexplorerdriver-webdriver-very-slow-in-debug-mode-visual) — Manu, Jul 07 '15 at 12:34
possible duplicate of [WebDriver and IE10 very slow input](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14461827/webdriver-and-ie10-very-slow-input) — Louis, Sep 21 '15 at 10:29

Master Slave · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-18T17:57:19.633

59

My issue was with the driver architecture, and fixed it by downloading and using a 32bit one.

To switch to 32 bit here is what you have to do

Download 32 bit driver service from http://selenium-release.storage.googleapis.com/index.html
Instantiate your InterExplorerWeDriver class using InternetExplorerDriverService class with path to 32 bit driver service.

InternetExplorerDriver ieDiver = new InternetExplorerDriver(“Path to the 32 bit Explorer driver”);

OR if using a builder:

System.setProperty(“webdriver.ie.driver”,“C:\\drivers\\IEDriverServer.exe”);
DesiredCapabilities ieCapabilities=DesiredCapabilities.internetExplorer();
ieCapabilities.setCapability(InternetExplorerDriver
 .INTRODUCE_FLAKINESS_BY_IGNORING_SECURITY_DOMAINS,true);
ieCapabilities.setCapability("requireWindowFocus", true);
File ie_temp=newFile(“C:\\Selenium\\IEDrivertemp”);
InternetExplorerDriverService.Builder 
ies=newInternetExplorerDriverService.Builder();
ies.withExtractPath(ie_temp);
InternetExplorerDriverService service=ies.build();
WebDriver driver=newInternetExplorerDriver(service,ieCapabilities))

The thread that helped me resolve

http://forumsqa.com/question/typing-too-slow-in-text-fields-while-replaying-tests/

edited Feb 18 '19 at 17:57

answered Jan 16 '15 at 13:48

Master Slave

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true, edited and explained the gist, but as there are other answer pointing to the same cause, and since I got a downvote, will most likely delete the answer :) – Master Slave Jan 16 '15 at 15:16
1

To check if you have a 32- or 64bit IE running: See https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie8-windows_other/version-of-ie-32-bit-or-64-bit-how-can-i-tell/75488de3-fffa-4782-be0a-c536c9a70151 – Peti Jun 27 '17 at 13:53
4

I am on a 64bit Windows machine, so I thought "why should I use the 32bit WebDriver?" But then I checked; lo and behold, my 64bit machine came with 32bit Internet Explorer. This answer -even though I disregarded it initially- was the only thing that worked. You can download the IEDriverServer.exe on http://www.seleniumhq.org/download/ – neXus Oct 12 '17 at 09:55
The 64 bit WebDriver is just as fast if you check that IE setting “Enable 64-bit processes for Enhanced Protected Mode” (see my answer below). – Marcus Nov 12 '18 at 10:57
It would have been great if you had copy-pasted from that reference link instead of referring us to it. That site's gone down, unfortunately. – Mugen Jan 31 '19 at 06:39
@neXus Thank you, I am using 32 bit mode and it is faster, PLUS the webpages aren't hanging like they did before. Note this fixes for Python language as well. Marcus The problem with that is the tutorial I was following explicitly said to "Uncheck Enhanced Protected Mode" even for both 32 and 64bit. So, my tutorial was wrong. But anyway, just use 32 bit - it's straightforward. :) – Corey Levinson Jan 31 '20 at 20:23
Yep. This worked for me, even though I _am_ running 64 bit IE, I was still better off using the 32-bit driver. Sheesh. – recantha May 19 '20 at 08:43

score 36 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 21 '15 at 08:57

36

For me it worked with 64bit version of IEDriverServer. I added the property requireWindowFocus with "true" value:

DesiredCapabilities capabilities = DesiredCapabilities.internetExplorer();
capabilities.setCapability(InternetExplorerDriver.INTRODUCE_FLAKINESS_BY_IGNORING_SECURITY_DOMAINS, true);
...
capabilities.setCapability("requireWindowFocus", true);
WebDriver driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(capabilities);

I'm using version 2.47 of Selenium/IE Driver

answered Sep 21 '15 at 08:57

PepsiGoose

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Thanks, "requireWindowFocus = true" sure helped for me too. – Nisim Naim Jun 28 '17 at 11:44
Unfortunately this workaround stopped to work after I upgraded Selenium from 3.4.0 to 3.5.1. It also doesn't work in 3.5.2 :( – morgwai Aug 25 '17 at 10:32
@morgwai, how you fixed for 3.5.2 ? – Jugi Apr 05 '18 at 06:46
@Jugi, I haven't: I reported a bug to IEDriver and maintainers closed it right away telling me to switch to 32bit. – morgwai Apr 05 '18 at 10:26
It resolved my problem as well. Thanks a lot. This solution works fine with 64bit driver – 27P Apr 25 '18 at 11:22

score 19 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 22 '18 at 12:05

19

For 64 bit WebDriver:

Open IE
Go to Internet Options → Advanced → Security
Check ☑ Enable 64-bit processes for Enhanced Protected Mode
Click Apply and OK

For 32 bit WebDriver:

Open IE
Go to Internet Options → Advanced → Security
Uncheck ☐ Enable 64-bit processes for Enhanced Protected Mode
Click Apply and OK

strangely:

The setting was necessary no matter if enhanced protected mode was activated or not.
Other than the text says in the dialog, restarting my computer was not necessary.

My setup: Windows 10, IE 11, everything 64 bit, Selenium 3.4

edited Jan 22 '18 at 12:05

Ripon Al Wasim

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answered May 09 '17 at 08:48

Marcus

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Its not working. the webpage getting crash if change the protected mode – NarendraR Sep 26 '18 at 13:38

score 12 · Answer 4 · answered May 13 '16 at 15:37

12

This sped it up for me a little bit. IEDriverServer 2.53.1

InternetExplorerOptions options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
options.IntroduceInstabilityByIgnoringProtectedModeSettings = true;
options.RequireWindowFocus = true;
driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(options);

answered May 13 '16 at 15:37

Demodave

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IntroduceInstabilityByIgnoringProtectedModeSettings and RequireWindowFocus is no longer available in IEDriverServer 3.14.0. Instead use "disableNativeEvents()". – Jimmy Garpehäll Sep 25 '19 at 06:55

score 7 · Answer 5 · edited Oct 07 '17 at 05:44

7

You can change to the 32-bit version, but if 64-bit is required then you can try this solution:

Internet Options -> Security -> Check "Enable Protected Mode" for all zones
Go to Advanced -> Security -> Check "Enable Enhanced Protected Mode"

This results in no more snail typing on 64-bit IE.

edited Oct 07 '17 at 05:44

JonathanDavidArndt

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answered Dec 11 '15 at 07:24

Viet Pham

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Even in the current version (3.6.0), this really does work, with no obvious side effects... except that now Protected Mode is on for all zones! This is a good answer, but the solution itself is poor, as having Protected Mode on for all zones breaks many sites (in my case, this includes several brittle internal vendor products). – JonathanDavidArndt Oct 07 '17 at 03:07

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 03 '17 at 15:01

For tests running on IE11 64bit, setting the NATIVE_EVENTS capability to false worked for me. Without it, using the 64bit driver server 3.0 was extremely slow as reported. The 32bit 3.0 driver server swallowed some of the chars it was supposed to send (e.g. "FluentLenium" became "FlntLnum").

The following resolved both problems.

DesiredCapabilities capabilities = DesiredCapabilities.internetExplorer();
capabilities.setCapability(InternetExplorerDriver.NATIVE_EVENTS, false);
WebDriver driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(capabilities);

I am not sure whether this has additional side effects.

score 2 · Answer 7 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:34

2

I had the same problem when using the 64bit version of IEDriverServer. Change to the 32bit and It worked fine.

Source: WebDriver and IE10 very slow input

edited May 23 '17 at 12:34

Community

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answered Jan 16 '15 at 14:18

Jamie Rees

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score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 16 '15 at 14:49

2

I also had the same issue way back. You can try out by

Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN Settings -> Untick Automatically detect settings.

Hope this helps.

answered Jan 16 '15 at 14:49

Vivek Singh

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score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Nov 24 '17 at 10:38

1

I also faced the same issue with IE11 on Windows x64 bit. I was using 64bit version of IEDriverServer.exe (IE driver-3.7.0 with selenium-3.7.0).

After I changed to 32bit version of IEDriverServer.exe, it solved the issue

answered Nov 24 '17 at 10:38

Srikanth Gurram

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This solved my issue with WebDriver turtle typing in IE, using all the latest versions at the time of this reply – TheFreddyKilo Aug 23 '19 at 22:03

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 25 '19 at 07:01

For IEServerDriver 3.14.0 this works for speeding up typing a bit.

WebDriver browser;
InternetExplorerOptions options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
    options.disableNativeEvents();
    options.requireWindowFocus();
browser = new InternetExplorerDriver(options);

DesiredCapabilities method is deprecated and options.IntroduceInstabilityByIgnoringProtectedModeSettings = true; and options.RequireWindowFocus = true; are no longer available.

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Jan 16 '15 at 13:48

This probably is an issue with the machine you are running the test on. If you experience general lag with the computer, then this will happen.

Is there an alternate way to speed up typing?

Sure, you can create a custom method to clear the text, then use JavaScript to fill the field. (mind you that doing this, might not be able to work with things like "typeahead" and "suggestions as you type")

score 0 · Answer 12 · edited Dec 08 '16 at 21:46

0

I struggled almost a day for finding out. This is because the 64 bit IE Driver sever (IEDriverServer_x64_2.53.1).

I switched to IEDriverServer_Win32_2.53.1 then it worked, it is superfast now!

edited Dec 08 '16 at 21:46

Tom Fuller

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answered Dec 08 '16 at 19:52

S Kotra

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score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Mar 29 '17 at 05:07

0

Disable NATIVE_EVENT resolved my issue

 DesiredCapabilities capabilities = DesiredCapabilities.internetExplorer();
 capabilities.setCapability(InternetExplorerDriver.NATIVE_EVENTS, false);
 driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(capabilities);

answered Mar 29 '17 at 05:07

Naren Chejara

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score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Mar 29 '17 at 06:37

0

You can change to 32 bit version,it will be speed compare to 64 bit.

answered Mar 29 '17 at 06:37

Sivananda Reddy

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Please add more details – Panther Mar 29 '17 at 06:53

score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Jun 03 '17 at 15:12

0

Instead of WebEelement.send.keys, I used Actions object with sendKeys method. This worked like a charm.

answered Jun 03 '17 at 15:12

Nisim Naim

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score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Jan 28 '18 at 10:00

0

to improve the speed for send Keys function, one can perform below steps:-

go to project-->properties->Java compiler-->under the java compliance --deselect the use compliance option and change the compile compliance level to 1.7 and then click to apply.

It will work smoothly.

answered Jan 28 '18 at 10:00

Ruchi Dahiya

1

... and what's for the rest of us, those using C# or Python ? – ManuelJE Jun 28 '19 at 14:47

score 0 · Answer 17 · answered Aug 18 '20 at 10:05

Just some remarks that will not solve the issues from the original question, but may help someone with similar problem today:

For other browsers, their driver version usually depends on browser version, but for IE driver, version depends on the selenium version!

I want to stress this, because it is important and I did not find it pointed out anywhere in the answers. I also didn't know about this until recently. Today (when creating this post), selenium package from public python repository is on version 3.141.0, but selenium.dev page recommends to download 32-bit IE driver version 3.150.1; these two versions are not fully compatible and so I was experiencing the same issue (however, from different reason).

Unfortunately, pieces of advice from this thread, namely setting RequireWindowFocus to True, solved the slow typing issue for me. I say unfortunately, because my tests stayed unstable, and, as a bonus, browser window was still in the front of everything and was physically moving the mouse cursor on clicks, making it impossible for me to execute multiple tests in parallel.

My issue was definitely solved after replacing driver of the newest stable version with the older one matching my selenium package version, and I don't even need to mess with RequireWindowFocus (and all other options I do not want) anymore.

Keep testing!

score -2 · Answer 18 · edited Feb 23 '16 at 09:41

-2

The below code helped me with resolving the issue.

DesiredCapabilities capabilities = DesiredCapabilities.internetExplorer();
capabilities.setCapability(InternetExplorerDriver.INTRODUCE_FLAKINESS_BY_IGNORING_SECURITY_DOMAINS, true);
...
capabilities.setCapability("requireWindowFocus", true);
WebDriver driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(capabilities);

edited Feb 23 '16 at 09:41

vaultah

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answered Feb 23 '16 at 09:40

Chandra

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Selenium WebDriver typing very slow in text field on IE browser

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