At Brave setting, brave://settings/content/pdfDocuments?search=pdf Default behavior is set to Download pdf. And “Ask where to save each file before downloading” is set to the “off” position.
However, PDF documents are not downloaded directly, and the browser’s Downloads icon pops up, so I have to click to start downloading. How can I bypass this extra step so the downloaded files can be downloaded immediately?
to avoid downloads immediately you have to go to hamburger downloads and have it enabled so that it does not download immediately
Which Brave version are you running and which OS?
I have tested with your settings, and PDF downloads directly into the download folder.