Written by Admin on 2025-05-06

How to View PDFs in WordPress Without Downloading Them

As a website owner, you may want your visitors to be able to view your PDF documents directly on your website. However, with WordPress default settings, visitors are often prompted to download the PDFs instead of viewing them in-browser. This can be inconvenient and lead to a frustrating user experience. This article will guide you through on how to embed a PDF viewer in your WordPress site without requiring visitors to download the file.

Step 1: Install a PDF Viewer Plugin

One of the easiest ways to embed a PDF viewer in WordPress is through the use of a plugin. There are several free PDF viewer plugins available in the WordPress plugin repository. Some of the widely used plugins include PDF Embedder, PDF Viewer for WordPress, and Embed Any Document.

For this tutorial, we'll use PDF Embedder as an example. You can follow the instructions for installing any other PDF viewer plugin of your choice. Here are the steps to install PDF Embedder:

1. Go to your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Add New.
2. In the search field, type "PDF Embedder" then click on the "Install Now" button.
3. Once the plugin installs, click on the "Activate" button to activate the plugin.

Step 2: Upload Your PDF Files

After installing and activating the PDF Embedder plugin, the next step is to upload your PDF files to your WordPress site. You can do this in two ways:

1. Navigate to Media > Add New, and select the PDF file(s) you want to upload from your computer.
2. Drag and drop the PDF files into the Media library.

Step 3: Embed PDF Files in WordPress Pages or Posts

Once your PDF files are uploaded to the media library, you can now embed them into your pages or posts. Here are the steps:

1. Go to the post or page where you want to embed your PDF file.
2. Click on the "Add Media" button located above the text editor.
3. Select the PDF file you want to embed from the Media library.
4. After selecting the PDF file, make sure to set the "Attachment Display Setting" to "Embed Media Player".
5. Then click on the "Insert into post" button.

Step 4: Preview Your PDF Embed

Now that your PDF file is embedded in your WordPress post or page, you can preview it to ensure that it is displaying correctly. To do this, click on the "Preview" button in the WordPress editor.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can easily embed a PDF viewer on your WordPress site without requiring visitors to download the files. This can provide a better user experience for your visitors and may also increase the amount of time they spend on your site.

Remember to choose a PDF viewer plugin that suits your needs, and test it multiple times to ensure that it works as expected.