Whether a PDF file opens in a browser or downloads is an option left to the end user, not pre-determined by the website. Many people don’t want PDF files opening in web browsers. If you want to guarantee that people will read a PDF file in a browser window you probably want to convert the PDF’s to web pages. One possibility would be to make them publicly accessible Google Doc PDF files.
Is there any easy way to convert the PDFs into web pages without having to actually recreate them? The PDFs do contain links that I would like to remain active, which would rule out just converting them to JPEGs or another bitmap image.
If you want them to be web pages in your site, you’ll have to transcibe them into your sites pages.
I did this for a non profit who puts out 2 newsletters (like a newspaper size) each year. Once the I made the newsletter template, it mostly was a bunch of cutting and pasting.
If you find a way to automatically change the pdf into a html doc I would love to know as well!
The idea of using Google Docs as a delivery medium came to me as I was writing the original answer. You can upload PDF files to Google Docs and they are presented to the user as web pages. If it was my project I would seriously consider that as a possibility. (Or a similar online service that can present PDF files)
The Google Docs URL’s could be presented in an iframe right on your site within WordPress so the user wouldn’t be sent off your site to view.
I had tried a WordPress plugin called Google Doc Embedder the could be used to create a frame on the page and have the PDF display within that frame. The results were not great and varied depending on which browser you were using.
@stvwlf
I Wish I had known about that when I did those newsletters. I wonder, do they present with styling if the pdf is already styled?
Yes, whatever is in the PDF displays. If you have a Google account you already have free access to your own Google Docs area. I suggest you upload one of the PDF’s to Google Docs and see if you are satisfied with the online quality.
