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How to force a download of pdf?
435pjjau251
Posts: 44
Joined: 17 Jun 11
Trust:
05 Aug 11 6:47 am

How to force a download of pdf?

Not sure if this is in the right section, as I don't know how to begin doing it!

I have several pdfs on my site which I sell using Paypal. I am currently emailing them out on payment, but it's not a very efficient system, so I'm going to use the redirect feature on Paypal to send the buyer to a page with a link to the pdf.

I then want to have a button or link for the buyer to click to download the pdf to their own computer, rather than have the pdf opening up in the browser.

I guess html won't do this? PHP? Javascript? Anybody got a simple script/link where I can copy and paste some simple code?
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essexboyracer
Posts: 105
Joined: 02 May 11
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06 Aug 11 4:14 pm

 I think a lot of this is down to browser preferences, how to handle mime types. I would give simple directions such as , "right mouse button and save target as". If you're really bothered try dynamicdrive.com or http://www.google.com/search?q=jquery+f ... f+download
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PremiumMember
jmpruitt
Posts: 3918
Joined: 19 Jun 09
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06 Aug 11 5:51 pm

 I always save mine into a compressed zip file. then they just download the zip file and extract the pdf doccument.
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thel.online.ph
Posts: 102
Joined: 13 Sep 11
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23 Sep 11 1:42 am

 Hi,

As I research in internet to find some suitable solution, I found these finest tricks on how to force a download a pdf. – by adding the following code into your httaccess file.

FilesMatch "\.(pdf|PDF)"
ForceType application/pdf
Header set Content-Disposition attachment
</FilesMatch>

The code will match perfectly for both lower case and upper case PDF extension by using regular expression and OR operator in the following line.

<FilesMatch "\.(pdf|PDF)">

And thats it… You have now the control in Forcing PDF to download.

Hope that helps
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