tabs.captureVisibleTab()

Creates a data URI encoding the image of an area of the currently active tab in the specified window. You must have the <all_urls> permission to use this method. (Alternately, Chrome allows use of this method with the activeTab permission and a qualifying user gesture).

This is an asynchronous function that returns a Promise.

Syntax

var capturing = browser.tabs.captureVisibleTab(
  windowId,               // optional integer
  options                 // optional extensionTypes.ImageDetails
)

Parameters

windowIdOptional: integer. The target window. Defaults to the current window.
optionsOptional: extensionTypes.ImageDetails.

Return value

A Promise that will be fulfilled with a data URL which encodes the captured image. May be assigned to the 'src' property of an HTML Image element for display. If any error occurs the promise will be rejected with an error message.

Examples

Capture an image of the active tab in the current window, with default settings:

function onCaptured(imageUri) {
  console.log(imageUri);
}

function onError(error) {
  console.log(`Error: ${error}`);
}

browser.browserAction.onClicked.addListener(function() {
  var capturing = browser.tabs.captureVisibleTab();
  capturing.then(onCaptured, onError);
});

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop					Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Opera	Safari	Firefox for Android
`captureVisibleTab`	Chrome Full support Yes Notes Full support Yes Notes Notes The default file format is 'jpeg'.	Edge Full support 15	Firefox Full support 47	Opera Full support Yes Notes Full support Yes Notes Notes The default file format is 'jpeg'.	Safari Full support 14 Notes Full support 14 Notes Notes The default file format is 'jpeg'. Notes `<all_urls>` permission not required to call this.	Firefox Android Full support 54

Legend

Full support: Full support
See implementation notes.: See implementation notes.

Acknowledgements

This API is based on Chromium's chrome.tabs API. This documentation is derived from tabs.json in the Chromium code.

Microsoft Edge compatibility data is supplied by Microsoft Corporation and is included here under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

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Last modified: Sep 30, 2020, by MDN contributors