'Send a link to a webpage and automatically download a file

so I have a webpage with a element similar to the following

<a href="docs/some_file.xlsx" download="some_file.xlsx" class="btn btn-primary">Download!</a>

Now I'd like to send a hyperlink to some clients via email so that they would access the webpage and at the same time have the file downloaded without them having to click on it. That way they get the file and I make sure that they see the webpage where there is a lot more information.

So far I thought about a right click and copy link to the button directly from the browser but that hyperlink simply downloads the file if I click on it from ab email and I want the browser to pop up and show the landing page where the button and info is. Any idea?

BTW, the webpage is fully static so no php running. Only HTML and javascript could be used to configure the webpage

javascripthtmldownload


Solution 1:[1]

What you could do - setup a certain parameter for example: https://example.com/?autodownload=1

then add a piece of javascript that either imediately, or after some timeout automatically downloads the file. Something like:

document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function(event) { 
    if (window.location.href.indexOf("autodownload") > -1)
      setTimeout(function(){ 
            window.open("https://example.com/docs/some_file.xlsx");
        }, 3000); //your timeout in miliseconds
    }
});

of course this solution will not work, if browser will block opening new windows. Second possibility with this approach is to replace the window.open function with click on the anchor itself.

Solution 2:[2]

You can trigger a file download with JavaScript by firing click() on an <a> tag with the download attribute. Something like this:

const $link = document.createElement('a');
$link.href = 'docs/some_file.xlsx';
$link.download = 'some_file.xlsx';
$link.click();

Keep in mind, however, that browsers may try to limit automatic file downloads in order to prevent sites doing dodgy things. I've seen this in particular when a site tries to download multiple files, so I think you'll be fine just downloading a single file.

Generally, the best way around this is to ensure that you only perform this action in response to user input, such as a click, but that doesn't sound like it would work for the solution you're looking for here.

Solution 3:[3]

How To Add Automatically Download Link in HTML

It is very easy to make a automatically download link in HTML

And i am going to showe you all how to make a automatically link in HTML (In 5 steps)

  1. Open your Code editor app where are you do codes and create one HTML document

  2. Once you create an HTML document in your Code editor app, Now add  Tag and Href Attribute in your HTML Documents

  3. After adding  Tag and Href Attribute in your HTML Documents, Now Provide the File or Folder location in your Href Attribute

  4. After adding the File or Folder location in your Href Attribute, Now Add the Download Attribute in your Tag

  5. After Adding the Download Attribute in your Tag, Now Save the HTML File and Check the download Link

For Example

<a href="images.png/cat.png" download>Download</a>

you can also check out this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eQQCEMeRfE

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution Source
Solution 1 Nikes
Solution 2 Mark Hanna
Solution 3

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