How can I save a pdf file from a link (without opening it first) as a pdf? I click on it, tell it to download, and it downloads it as an xml file. If I just open the file from the link, it is a pdf file, so it isn't a problem with the link. The site I'm downloading from has a separate link to a Word document, and that one works just fine to save it as a Word document. Why wouldn't the pdf one work as it should?
Some sites that are using a content management system (e.g. Drupal, etc.) establish server-side links on the site that point to the real file on the server, and by doing that, these links need not administratively altered for external access, if the actual PDF file has a name change.
You will know if you are looking at a CMS managed site, because the browser status bar link will not end in a file.pdf.
In that case, you will have to click that link to get the CMS to resolve it to the actual server-side PDF file that will then appear in your browser, and that you can then save locally. Some of these CMS links actually have a directive (target="_blank") in the link that forces it to open in a new browser window or tab. These, you won't be able to right-click and download.
Does this happen to all pdf file downloads from links? Or just certain ones from certain places?
Maybe not optimal, but one workaround you might try is to use the control-click "Download Linked File as..." option and explicitly tack the .pdf onto the filename if it isn't already there.
The file.pdf was an example filename. Perhaps I should have used (e.g. file.pdf, etc.).
In Safari 13.1.2, do you see the following when you right-click on that PDF filename link:
And does the Download Linked File As… give you the PDF filename?
Can you post the url to a webpage with a pdf file that you've had this problem with?
I just checked. The file does end in .pdf (but not in file.pdf, if you meant it has to be exactly that). I've checked other sites too, and can't download from the link from them either. Could I have some setting somewhere that needs to be changed? I really appreciate your help with this!
I have to do ctrl+click to get that popup list. But then yes, download linked file as gives me the correct document name, ending in .pdf. But when I tell it to download, it changes it to .pdf.xml, which then I cannot open. I just looked and have Safari 13.1. Would that make a difference?
Old Toad, it is https://www.mybsf.org/lessons
When I save a pdf document from a link, it saves it as an xml file rather than pdf
