Which folder for a downloadable .pdf file?

  • Resolved blpollock

    (@blpollock)


    10 years, 1 month ago

    I am confused by the WP folder structure on my server. I would like to offer a .pdf document for download by site visitors. I started off by trying to upload it using the Media Library interface, but for some reason, once the .pdf hit the Library, WP automatically turned it into a post – which I don’t want. I want to have a clickable link to take you to the file.

    So then I tried to simply FTP the file directly into (what I thought was)the root directory for my domain (/”public_html”). But when I type in “domain.com/file_name.pdf”, I get a 404. So apparently, the WP file structure is not like a normal html website.

    Can anyone provide guidance on the best way to get this .pdf into my site? Thanks.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Anshu Verma

    (@averma)

    10 years, 1 month ago

    Turned into a post? Do you mean that the PDF file is opening in browsers rather than giving a download option. There are two ways you can force the user to download the pdf file:

    1) change to .htaccess

    <FilesMatch "\.(?i:pdf)$">
  ForceType application/octet-stream
  Header set Content-Disposition attachment
</FilesMatch>

    before making changes to .htaccess, please take backup for your orginal .htaccess file.

    2) HTML5 Way

    <a href="http://link/wp-content/uploads/filename.pdf" download="FileName">Download PDF</a>

    Source: http://updates.html5rocks.com/2011/08/Downloading-resources-in-HTML5-a-download

    Thread Starter blpollock

    (@blpollock)

    10 years, 1 month ago

    Thanks for your response, but that’s not what I mean. Rather than try to describe what happened, maybe I should describe what I want to do. I simply want to load a .pdf document to my site and know what its URL will be so I can link to it and visitors can view it. I know this sounds ridiculously simple, but when I FTP’d the file to my server (into what I assumed was the home directory) and then typed what I assumed to be the URL into my browser (e.g. domain.com/file_name.pdf) the file is not found.

    I’m assuming it’s because the WP file/folder structure works differently?

    Anshu Verma

    (@averma)

    10 years, 1 month ago

    Did you upload the PDF file to public_html or the folder where all other wordpress php file were located?

    Thread Starter blpollock

    (@blpollock)

    10 years, 1 month ago

    To the public_html folder. What would be the correct name for the correct folder? I suspected this was my problem, but I wasn’t sure which folder to aim for. Thanks your help.

    Anshu Verma

    (@averma)

    10 years, 1 month ago

    you would have to upload your PDF file to folder where all your wordpress files and folders are located.

    Thread Starter blpollock

    (@blpollock)

    10 years, 1 month ago

    I’m sorry to be so thick about this, but it’s not clear to me which folder that would be. Within the public_html folder, I have the following folders:

    /cgi-bin
    /wp-admin
    /wp-content
    /wp-includes

    I have tried putting the .pdf into /wp-content (which seems closest to what you have described) but this still returns a 404 when I try to go to domain.com/file_name.pdf.

    Thread Starter blpollock

    (@blpollock)

    10 years, 1 month ago

    Follow-up: I have tried again to use the Media Library uploader to place the .pdf into my server and I appear to have resolved things. Thanks for your assistance.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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