Wix Web Designer Tips

 

Retaining Filenames of PDFs in Wix

As a Wix website designer, I often get questions from clients on how to perform certain tasks in Wix. While Wix has a great forum that is filled with answers, it's sometimes hard to find the most commonly answered questions with one clear, concise answer. These pages are dedicated to explaining some of the most common Wix questions that clients ask me. 

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GOOD NEWS: August 2021 Update

Custom PDF filename downloads on Wix websites is to be a feature to all Wix websites soon, it is currently working in BETA, learn more »

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Currently, Wix unfortunately renames the PDFs and other documents you add into the Media library, so when users download PDFs such as forms on your site, it names them with a Wix assigned scrambled  filename like "35ce93_550439b8778148c5a6cbfb9ddbcc3cf4.pdf" instead of what you named the file in the system. This is problematic if you have files you want customers to download with filenames that tell them what it is (like Registration-Form.pdf). While Wix is always improving their system, and this is a Wix Feature Request that has a lot of community support, it may be awhile before they address this issue.

 

So, until they release this feature to all Wix websites (coming soon, hopefully before the end of 2021) for my Wix website design clients, I suggest the following work-around to get around the Wix file renaming issue: 

 

Use Google Drive - Cloud Storage for PDF downloads in Wix:

Google provides this free cloud service where you can upload up to 15GB of files that you can then use their "share" link to link the PDF. 

 

What is even cooler about Google Drive is that it opens PDFs directly in the browser window, showing it the viewer immediately, and it gives them options to save, print etc. When they Download (save) the PDF file, it will retain the filename you originally used when uploading to Google Drive, so it's easy for your users to identify. 

 

Learn more at:

www.google.com/drive/

 

See the screenshots provided here to see what a PDF link looks like in the Google Drive, as well as the second screenshot that shows where you can get the link to use in the Wix editor to add to a button or text link. First, upload your PDF or document, then once it's uploaded, while logged in, view the document, and you'll see a person with a plus symbol icon, that's the "Share" icon. Click on "Share" to popup a window where you can retrieve the link. Make sure to choose "Anyone with the link can view" so that it is a public link, then copy the link provided (click on "Get shareable link" if it's not showing immediately). I actually like this better than linking directly to a PDF in Wix anyway, because it opens up immediately (in most Browsers, most PDF links make the user jump through a hoop by allowing the browser to "trust" the download, but with the Google links, it opens immediately with no popups or hoops to jump through. 

 

Note: There is also a Google Drive App in the Wix app market that also allows you to sync up your Google Drive documents to your website, so check that out as well as an option.