Creating a button to open a PDF directly

It is possible to have a button in your app that will open a PDF directly rather than having a document list with only one item in it.

An example of when you may use this would be if you wanted a special button just for your Centre Handbook.

Step 1. Add your PDF to the Media Library

In the CMS, from the Media Library in the top navigation menu, select “Add New” and upload the PDF you would like to appear as a button.

When you upload your PDF be careful to change the setting from Private to Public. When you enter this page the setting will be Private by default but you can change this by clicking on the selection dropdown.

Step 2. Copy the link

Once you have added your PDF, go to Media Library in the top navigation bar and go to all Media. This page will be split images and documents so you will need to choose the documents tab.

Once you see all your uploaded PDFs, you can either right-click on the title and copy the link or click the copy icon next to the trash can. This will copy the PDF URL to your clipboard. 

Step 3. Create your button

From the Manage drop-down select “Manage your buttons” and add new. Go through the usual process when creating a new button, give it a name, icon and colour. Now for button type select Web Views and in the URL field that appears paste the link to the document that you copied in step 2.

Step 4. Finish off your button

Select your permissions then drag and drop it into the place that you want it to appear in your app and you’re done.

FAQs

What is the difference between public and private media?

Private documents are for PDFs that you want only available in the app. These will only work as documents attached to items or in a document list. this is due to it needed the app to pass through the security access details before it will open. If you set a private document as a 'Web Views', the security process will be bypassed so you will just see an error message. By setting the document as public, this creates a unique URL that will open the document that can be opened either attached to items or in a web view button. 

Why can’t I upload my document?

This is normally a matter of size as there is an upload limit of 8mb. As Mallcomm is designed to be a mobile app, to keep it working as fast as possible and to try to limit the apps data usage we have this restriction.

My file is too big, what can I do?

Usually, it is high-resolution images that mean PDFs are large files. For display on a mobile screen, it is unnecessary. I’d recommend running the file through a compression website. I tend to use https://www.ilovepdf.com which is a free online resource with various tools for managing a PDF document.

My file is still too large, is there something else I can try?

If after compression your PDF is still too large I’d recommend splitting it into smaller chunks, you can do this on the I Love PDF website too.