How to auto click a button in Chrome

Chrome has no built-in setting to auto click a button on a repeating timer. In Tab Automation, add Click Element, use Pick on page to choose the button, set Repeat, and click Save & Run.

Use this for a known control such as Refresh or Load more. Each step clicks one selected match. Test that selection before leaving the automation running.

Set up a repeating click in the side panel

You’ll need Tab Automation installed. Custom automations are free; Explorer unlocks the full Dashboard. Google Search is coming soon. The side-panel tour covers first-time setup.

1. Open the tab that holds the button — a queue Refresh, a Load more control, or another page you leave running.
2. Open Tab Automation from its toolbar action. The extension opens in Chrome’s side panel.
3. Click New Automation. Under Tab & Startup, turn off Always start this automation in a new tab, then pick the open tab.
4. Click Add Step, then choose Click Element.
5. Click Pick on page, then click that one button. The picker writes the selector. The eye button highlights the match.
6. If the selector matches more than one control, use Which match to use and choose This one.
7. Turn on Repeat at the End block; it is off in a new automation. Its initial wait is 30 seconds, set to Fixed. You can choose No wait, Fixed, or Random range, in seconds from 0 to 3600 where allowed.
8. Click Save & Run.

Each cycle clicks the selected button, then waits before starting again. Pause stops the current run until you Resume it. Remove Automation deletes it.

Repeat can also stop after a set number of cycles or after a duration. Turn Repeat off when you want the graph to run once. The End block controls another cycle; it does not click the button by itself.

Auto click without an extension

For a temporary test, open DevTools, select Console, and paste:

const timer = setInterval(() => document.querySelector("#refresh-button")?.click(), 30000);
// Stop this timer without leaving the page:
// clearInterval(timer);

The delay is 30,000 milliseconds, or 30 seconds. Replace "#refresh-button" with a selector for the intended control before running it. If that element is missing, this example skips the click. Run clearInterval(timer) to stop it.

A navigation or reload removes this timer. The new page does not contain the interval you pasted into the console. The snippet also uses a script-generated click, which can behave differently from a physical click on sites that check user input.

Hidden tabs add another limitation: Chrome can throttle page timers. Tab Automation schedules the next cycle outside the page and can interact with a loaded background tab. Its Repeat wait is subject to Chrome scheduling limits. See auto refresh a background tab for discarded versus hidden tabs.

Reload, then click

Some pages need a fresh load before the button is safe to press.

1. Add Refresh Page first.
2. Add Wait / Delay as a Delay so charts or the queue can finish painting.
3. Add Click Element for the button.
4. Turn Repeat on so the graph starts again after the wait.

For actions on a list of destination pages, put Click Element inside For Each Link.

A wait shorter than the page’s load time can click before the button is ready. The dashboard guide covers matching a wait to load time.

Hover, double-click, or right-click

Choose the action on the Click Element step:

• Hover moves the page pointer onto the selected element and can reveal a dropdown. It does not click or move your operating-system pointer.
• Double-click sends two clicks followed by a double-click event. A button that reacts to each click can therefore act twice.
• Right-click sends the page a script-generated context-menu event. It can trigger a website’s own right-click handler, but does not open Chrome’s browser menu.

Click, Double-click, and Hover use Chrome’s debugger, so Chrome displays a debugging notice while attached. The actions leave the tab and window in the background.

Use hover, then a second Click Element, when hovering reveals the button you want to click.

If a click fails

• Chrome must stay open. Extension alarms do not fire after you quit Chrome. Running automations are rescheduled when Chrome starts again.
• An unavailable button pauses the workflow. Click waits up to six seconds for a missing element. Hidden, covered, disabled, or inert targets also fail. Correct the target and Resume to retry the pending step without replaying completed steps. If input may already have arrived, the error warns that retrying may repeat it. Check Activity.
• Clicks stay within the supported page target. Links and form controls explicitly set to open another tab or window are rejected. Website scripts can still open windows; Tab Automation does not suppress them.
• You pick one control. Tab Automation does not click every link in the window. One automation stays on one assigned tab.
• A click does not keep a login alive by itself. If the site ends the session, the next click can fail. Keep a website from logging you out covers a reload timer, a stay-signed-in button, and an alert if the session still ends. Check Activity instead of assuming the button is still there.
• Some tabs cannot be automated. Chrome UI pages, extension pages, and the Chrome Web Store are excluded.
• Browser support is limited. Use desktop Chrome for this recipe. Firefox, Safari, and mobile are not supported.

Automations stay in chrome.storage.local on this computer. Read the privacy policy for permissions and data handling.