Want to download or save PDF as PDF instead of Brave HTML Link

[albert.peterlin]

Everytime I download or save a pdf file it does not download and save as a pdf file. It saves as a Brave HTML Link. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY INFURIATING

Description of the issue:

Steps to Reproduce (add as many as necessary): 1. 2. 3.

Actual Result (gifs and screenshots are welcome!):

Expected result:

Reproduces how often:

Operating System and Brave Version(See the About Brave page in the main menu):

Additional Information:

[hnktong]

Hi, @albert.peterlin. I have experienced this and agree. Ordinarily we’d bug you about what version of Brave and Windows you’re using, but I don’ think that matters in this case. If the fix(es) below don’t work, then we’ll need that information to troubleshoot further. For reference, typing brave://version in the address bar takes you to a page with that information, and going to Start->Windows Administrative Tool->System Information will get the Windows version.

I believe there are two ways to fix it. One, if you’re using Brave’s PDF viewer, be sure you click the download button in the viewer pane to initiate the download. If that’s what you’re doing, then we need the version information and need to call in heavier hitters. I just tried it in Brave 0.66.100 Chromium: 75.0.3770.142 (Official Build) (64-bit) on Win10 Version 10.0.17763 Build 17763 and it worked fine.

You could also turn off using the PDF viewer and it will download them every time by default. You do this at brave://settings/content/pdfDocuments and as shown below the switch is set to using the built-in PDF viewer.

Click it to the other side and Brave will download by default when you click a link to a PDF.

[fanboynz]

A bit late, but I often use the print function in windows. Print-to-pdf. Would that work?

[hnktong]

I just tried doing it with a PDF displayed in the viewer and it works (ctrl-p, save to pdf). However, depending on what print to PDF driver you’re using, it could result in converting the PDF to an all image PDF, losing the ability to search text and such. Seems safer to use the download button in the viewer since the viewer’s showing the thing, anyway, and that would save the PDF as the viewer retrieved it.

Another option for linked PDFs is to right-click the link and select “Save target as…” but this might break if the link is not to a .pdf, but to a .js (javascript or other script) that generates or retrieves the PDF.

[BillM46]

Thanks so much @hnktong! I turned off the PDF viewer in Brave and now can simply download the files as pdfs without the annoying “invalid or corrupt” error.

I had to hunt a little for the setting to do this. I followed this path: Brave Menu>Settings>Additional Settings>Privacy and security>Site settings>PDF documents. But it was well worth the hunt!

Thanks again.

[hnktong]

Welcome, @BillM46. I’m so glad it worked for you!

As a shortcut, you can use brave-local URLs in the address bar as illustrated above. For example, typing brave://settings/content/pdfDocuments (or copying from here and pasting) in the address bar and hitting return should take you right to the setting for the PDF viewer.