Title: PDFs showing as code Last modified: December 16, 2021 --- # PDFs showing as code * Resolved [vauneen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vauneen/) * (@vauneen) * [4 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/pdfs-showing-as-code/) * Hi, We have a problem where all our PDFs show as code in the browser. The out put starts with this kind of string: “%PDF-1.5 %���� 4 0 obj <> endobj xref 4 50 0000000016 00000 n 0000001530 00000 n 0000001626 00000 n……….” Please could you help us? Thank you. * The page I need help with: _[[log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fpdfs-showing-as-code%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US) to see the link]_ Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total) * Thread Starter [vauneen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vauneen/) * (@vauneen) * [4 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/pdfs-showing-as-code/#post-15179560) * Just a quick elaboration. Using the generated download link, all our PDFs show as code in the browser. We are using WP v5.8 and the Download Monitor 4.4.13. The plugin has been working fine for years. And this happens in FF, Edge, Safari and Chrome, so we dont think its a browser issue. * Have you ever seen this problem before? We are so stuck! Any help will be appreciated, Thank you, Vauneen * Thread Starter [vauneen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vauneen/) * (@vauneen) * [4 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/pdfs-showing-as-code/#post-15179581) * more elaboration 🙂 * newly uploaded pdfs have the same issue as older existing ones. * and the direct link (like the one below) work 100% – its just the system generated one that breaks: [https://dynamco.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Golf-Phone-Holder-Cat-v3.pdf](https://dynamco.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Golf-Phone-Holder-Cat-v3.pdf)– works [https://dynamco.com.au/download/30127/](https://dynamco.com.au/download/30127/)– doesnt work * [Razvan Aldea](https://wordpress.org/support/users/raldea89/) * (@raldea89) * [4 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/pdfs-showing-as-code/#post-15179606) * Hello [@vauneen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vauneen/) , * Just tried the [https://dynamco.com.au/download/30127/](https://dynamco.com.au/download/30127/) link but it worked as expected, the PDF file downloaded successfully without any problems. Tried this with Edge and Firefox, no problems occurred. Have you tried from a different PC/laptop ? * Kind Regards! Razvan - This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by [Razvan Aldea](https://wordpress.org/support/users/raldea89/). * Thread Starter [vauneen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vauneen/) * (@vauneen) * [4 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/pdfs-showing-as-code/#post-15180828) * Thanks Razvan. * Thats so odd – we see the jumbled up code on all machine we have used to test. here is a screen shot of what we see: [https://dynamco.com.au/screenshot.png](https://dynamco.com.au/screenshot.png) * and here is a direct link to the pdf in the wp uploads folder: [https://dynamco.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Golf-Phone-Holder-Cat-v3.pdf](https://dynamco.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Golf-Phone-Holder-Cat-v3.pdf) * The pdf, and all our pdfs, seem to be ok, its just when we try access them from the Download Monitor dynamic link with the file ID that we see that strange code. * Have you ever seen this happen before? Please take a look at the screenshot above. * Thanks again, Vauneen * Thread Starter [vauneen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vauneen/) * (@vauneen) * [4 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/pdfs-showing-as-code/#post-15180951) * Razvan – it does seem this might be only an issue on Windows machines. Are you working on a Mac? We are on Windows machines and so are most of our website visitors. * [Razvan Aldea](https://wordpress.org/support/users/raldea89/) * (@raldea89) * [4 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/pdfs-showing-as-code/#post-15180988) * Hey Vauneen, * That code seems to be the code of the PDF, but I tested it again, also 3 colleagues of mine tested the link and everything seems fine. I work on Windows, one of them works on Windows too and the other on Macs. Neither of us have the problem you are experiencing. Could you please try the download link in incognito mode and see if the download works OK? * Kind Regards! Razvan * [beatrice12](https://wordpress.org/support/users/beatrice12/) * (@beatrice12) * [4 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/pdfs-showing-as-code/#post-15197000) * Marking this support thread as resolved due to inactivity. If you have any other questions or need further help please open a new thread. Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total) The topic ‘PDFs showing as code’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/download-monitor/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=3198936) * [Download Monitor](https://wordpress.org/plugins/download-monitor/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/download-monitor/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/download-monitor/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/download-monitor/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/download-monitor/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/download-monitor/reviews/) ## Tags * [code](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/code/) * [output](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/output/) * [pdf](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/pdf/) * 7 replies * 3 participants * Last reply from: [beatrice12](https://wordpress.org/support/users/beatrice12/) * Last activity: [4 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/pdfs-showing-as-code/#post-15197000) * Status: resolved