How to upload a file with Selenium

Browser file controls hand selection to a native picker that WebDriver does not automate. Selenium bypasses that desktop dialog by sending an absolute path to the page's input[type=file] element.

A complete upload test should submit the form and inspect the response returned by the application. A populated file input proves only that the browser accepted the path; it does not prove that the server accepted the file.

The Python example uses local Chrome and a small text fixture stored beside the test script. Remote WebDriver uses a local file detector by default, but the remote server must support file transfer from the test runner to the browser node.

1. Create sample-upload.txt beside the Selenium test script.

   sample-upload.txt

   Quarterly report

2. Create upload_file_test.py with the imports and absolute fixture path.

   upload_file_test.py

   from pathlib import Path
   import shutil
    
   from selenium import webdriver
   from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
   from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
    
    
   upload_file = Path("sample-upload.txt").resolve()

3. Append the initial browser-session section for the file-selection page.

   options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
   options.add_argument("--headless")
   driver_path = shutil.which("chromedriver")
   service = webdriver.ChromeService(executable_path=driver_path) if driver_path else None
   driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=service, options=options)
    
   try:
       driver.get("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/upload")

   If Chrome cannot start, configure the matching browser driver before continuing.
   Related: How to configure ChromeDriver for Selenium

4. Add file selection and form submission inside the existing try block.

       file_input = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "input[type='file']")
       file_input.send_keys(str(upload_file))
       driver.find_element(By.ID, "file-submit").click()

   The absolute path belongs on the file input itself; clicking the control opens an operating system picker that WebDriver cannot automate.

5. Complete the script with filename verification and browser cleanup.

       uploaded_name = WebDriverWait(driver, 10).until(
           lambda browser: browser.find_element(By.ID, "uploaded-files").text
       )
       assert uploaded_name == upload_file.name, uploaded_name
       print(f"Uploaded: {uploaded_name}")
   finally:
       driver.quit()

   The assertion fails when the response does not name the selected file, so the test checks server-side upload completion rather than file-input state alone.
   Related: How to use explicit waits in Selenium

6. Run the completed upload test from the directory containing both files.

   $ python3 upload_file_test.py
   Uploaded: sample-upload.txt