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Forum Discussion
Open PDF in browser
When I share a link to a PDF, how can I get the PDF to open directly in someone's browser without requiring them to download the file to their hard drive? Thanks.
lportzline wrote:
As you suggested, I've tried the dl=1 and raw=1 parameters with people both inside and outside of my organization, and they're still being taken to a page that wants to make them download the file rather than opening it directly.
Using ?dl=1 will force the file to download so you don't want that one. The default, or ?dl=0, will preview the file on the Dropbox website. So it will stay in the browser, but it will have the Dropbox interface around the PDF. Using ?raw=1 just sends the raw file to the browser and the browser determines how to handle it.
That link opens the PDF file directly in a browser if the browser knows how to handle a PDF file and it's set to open them directly, instead of handing them off to another application or just downloading it. Those settings are in the browser and not part of Dropbox.
- Rich
Super User II
lportzline wrote:
When I share a link to a PDF, how can I get the PDF to open directly in someone's browser without requiring them to download the file to their hard drive?
That's mostly dependent on how they have their browser configured. You can provide a link that either previews on the Dropbox website, forces a download or just sends the raw file to their browser. Assuming you also want to avoid sending them to the Dropbox website to view it, sending the raw file is likely want you'd want in this case, but it will still depend on how they have their browser configured to handle PDF files.
Thanks. As you suggested, I've tried the dl=1 and raw=1 parameters with people both inside and outside of my organization, and they're still being taken to a page that wants to make them download the file rather than opening it directly. Weird.
- Rich
lportzline wrote:
As you suggested, I've tried the dl=1 and raw=1 parameters with people both inside and outside of my organization, and they're still being taken to a page that wants to make them download the file rather than opening it directly.
Using ?dl=1 will force the file to download so you don't want that one. The default, or ?dl=0, will preview the file on the Dropbox website. So it will stay in the browser, but it will have the Dropbox interface around the PDF. Using ?raw=1 just sends the raw file to the browser and the browser determines how to handle it.
That link opens the PDF file directly in a browser if the browser knows how to handle a PDF file and it's set to open them directly, instead of handing them off to another application or just downloading it. Those settings are in the browser and not part of Dropbox.
