What to do when URL-Linked Document must download before viewing?


Happy May, everyone.  I searched this forum and found no indication that anyone else has encountered this issue, so posing the scenario to all.

I would like to display on my Miro board the document that is pointed to by a URL.  Navigating to that URL outside of Miro results in a document download which then has to be opened to be displayed.  I want to instruct Miro to “open the document located at this URL” not “go to URL”.  This URL links to a PDF document within an OpenText document management collection; OpenText is not one of the many apps integrated with Miro.

It’s important to reference the OpenText URL, not the resultant PDF, so the URL will pull back the most recent version of the PDF.

I’ve attempted Paste iFrame Code, Web page capture, Upload via URL, and a plain embedded URL link.  These all drop a link to the Miro board, but opening the link does not display or download the target document.

 

Thanks in advance,


5 replies

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@Susan Haight 

What happens when you go to the URL by pasting it into a browser’s address bar and pressing enter? If it prompts to download, then is is generally a server setting and it cannot be changed by any external website.

I’ve attempted Paste iFrame Code

Was that using iFrame/embed code generated by the site that hosts your file or did you just paste a URL into Miro’s iFrame embedder?

Thank you, @Robert Johnson .  Yes, the download behavior is that of the document management system (OpenText foundation), so I presumed this was an unlikely to have a resolution, but thought I’d ask in case anyone authored some code that “Opens” a destination link, not just “Goes To” one.

 

It was Miro’s iFrame embedder, btw; and I’m on a free version of Miro only (still awaiting purchase approval from management).

-- Susan

Userlevel 7
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@Susan Haight - You may be able to for your browser to view the PDF by adding an extension to Chrome, or by making settings changes in Chrome, but all other Miro board participants would have to make the same change(s) - NOTE: Install browser extensions at your risk! - more info here.

Userlevel 7
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Thank you, @Robert Johnson .  Yes, the download behavior is that of the document management system (OpenText foundation), so I presumed this was an unlikely to have a resolution, but thought I’d ask in case anyone authored some code that “Opens” a destination link, not just “Goes To” one.

@Susan Haight It actually depends. I mean, it might have a resolution after all! I’m unfortunately not familiar with the infrastructure of OpenText, but it’s quite common for these kind of DAMs and DMSs to use direct download links for PDFs. They are often URL parameters, such as ?dl=1 or ?export=download. Good thing about URL parameters is that they can be altered and removed. 🙂

Do you have an example URL that you would be willing to share with us? You can of course anonymize it by replacing the vital information with some dummy content, I’m only interested in the URL structure. 😊

Thank you @Robert Johnson and @Henrik Ståhl.  I do not have admin control over the OpenText content, but I can certainly share this with my legal IT department.  I cannot share a URL outside of my company from the LEGAL DEPARTMENT DMS (that should not be a surprise) and, even if I substituted content, you would not be cleared to breach the firewall regardless.

I’ll take this to the tech powers that be and report back.  Very appreciative for the tech tips.

 

 

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