Installing Selenium WebDriver & Automating with Python on PyCharm (Step-by-Step)

Introduction

Selenium controls real browsers via a small “bridge” program called a browser driver. You can either install drivers manually (ChromeDriver, GeckoDriver, EdgeDriver, SafariDriver) or let Python’s webdriver-manager handle it automatically. Below we show both.

Prerequisites

• Windows/Mac/Linux machine
• Python 3.8+ recommended
• PyCharm Community or Professional
• Google Chrome (or Firefox/Edge/Safari)

Install Python

1. Download from python.org.
2. Windows: Check “Add Python to PATH”.
3. Verify:

Copypython --version
pip --version

Install & Setup PyCharm

1. Install from JetBrains.
2. Create a new project (PyCharm will create a virtual environment).
3. Open the built-in Terminal at the bottom panel.

Install Selenium

In PyCharm’s Terminal (or OS terminal):

Copypip install selenium webdriver-manager

Option A: Automatic Driver (Recommended)

Copyfrom selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options
from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager
import time

options = Options()
options.add_argument("--start-maximized")
# Auto-downloads a compatible ChromeDriver
driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=Service(ChromeDriverManager().install()), options=options)

driver.get("https://www.google.com")
time.sleep(2)

box = driver.find_element(By.NAME, "q")
box.send_keys("BBSEdTech")
box.submit()

time.sleep(3)
driver.quit()

Copyfrom selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.service import Service
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from webdriver_manager.firefox import GeckoDriverManager

driver = webdriver.Firefox(service=Service(GeckoDriverManager().install()))
driver.get("https://www.example.com")
driver.quit()

Copyfrom selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.edge.service import Service
from webdriver_manager.microsoft import EdgeChromiumDriverManager

driver = webdriver.Edge(service=Service(EdgeChromiumDriverManager().install()))
driver.get("https://www.example.com")
driver.quit()

Option B: Manual Browser Driver Setup

If your organization disallows runtime downloads or you need a fixed driver version, install drivers manually and point Selenium to them.

1) Download driver matching your browser

• Chrome → ChromeDriver (version must match your Chrome major version)
• Firefox → GeckoDriver
• Microsoft Edge → EdgeDriver
• Safari (macOS) → SafariDriver (preinstalled; enable “Develop → Allow Remote Automation” in Safari)

2) Put the driver somewhere stable

• Windows: e.g., C:\tools\drivers\
• macOS/Linux: e.g., /usr/local/bin or inside your project

3) Point Selenium at the driver

Copyfrom selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options
import time

options = Options()
options.add_argument("--start-maximized")

chromedriver_path = r"C:\tools\drivers\chromedriver.exe"  # Update path
driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=Service(chromedriver_path), options=options)

driver.get("https://www.google.com")
time.sleep(2)
driver.find_element(By.NAME, "q").send_keys("BBSEdTech")
driver.find_element(By.NAME, "q").submit()
time.sleep(3)
driver.quit()

Copyfrom selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.service import Service

gecko_path = r"C:\tools\drivers\geckodriver.exe"  # Update path
driver = webdriver.Firefox(service=Service(gecko_path))
driver.get("https://www.example.com")
driver.quit()

Copyfrom selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.edge.service import Service

msedge_path = r"C:\tools\drivers\msedgedriver.exe"  # Update path
driver = webdriver.Edge(service=Service(msedge_path))
driver.get("https://www.example.com")
driver.quit()

Your First Automation Script

Use either Option A or Option B above, then try this minimal smoke test with a search:

Copyfrom selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service
from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager  # remove if using manual path
import time

driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=Service(ChromeDriverManager().install()))
driver.get("https://www.google.com")
time.sleep(1)
driver.find_element(By.NAME, "q").send_keys("BBSEdTech")
driver.find_element(By.NAME, "q").submit()
time.sleep(2)
driver.quit()

Common Errors & Fixes (FAQ)

Next Steps

• Use WebDriverWait & expected conditions.
• Organize tests with PyTest & Page Object Model.
• Run UI tests in CI (GitHub Actions/Jenkins).