diff --git a/test/smoke/src/areas/common.ts b/test/smoke/src/areas/common.ts
index 96515d7ca49f53288b8c9a6f28f4b8ded71d6b49..aaf753bbfda3467a1863546eb828ba938876b447 100644
--- a/test/smoke/src/areas/common.ts
+++ b/test/smoke/src/areas/common.ts
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ export class CommonActions {
 	}
 
 	public async getTab(tabName: string, active?: boolean): Promise<any> {
-		await this.spectron.command('workbench.action.closeMessages'); // close any notification messages that could overlap tabs
+		await this.closeCurrentNotification(); // close any notification messages that could overlap tabs
 
 		let tabSelector = active ? '.tab.active' : 'div';
 		let el = await this.spectron.client.element(`.tabs-container ${tabSelector}[aria-label="${tabName}, tab"]`);
@@ -56,7 +56,8 @@ export class CommonActions {
 		return undefined;
 	}
 
-	public selectTab(tabName: string): Promise<any> {
+	public async selectTab(tabName: string): Promise<any> {
+		await this.closeCurrentNotification(); // close any notification messages that could overlap tabs
 		return this.spectron.client.click(`.tabs-container div[aria-label="${tabName}, tab"]`);
 	}
 
@@ -162,4 +163,8 @@ export class CommonActions {
 			throw new Error(`Failed to remove ${directory} with an error: ${e}`);
 		}
 	}
+
+	private closeCurrentNotification(): Promise<any> {
+		return this.spectron.command('workbench.action.closeMessages');
+	}
 }
\ No newline at end of file