How to Download PDFs from a Website? (Easy Guide)

Have you ever been looking at a PDF on a website for work, study, or hobbies and thought "Wow, this is so useful! I need to download this PDF right now," but couldn't figure out how exactly to download it? Sometimes it's not obvious how you can download a PDF from a website, and trying to figure out how to do that can cause you to lose time and become stressed.

In this article, we'll discuss some common reasons why you can't download PDF from a website, along with some solutions on how to download a PDF from most websites.

Part 1. Why Can't I Download PDF from the Website?

There are many reasons why you might have difficulty downloading a PDF from a website. If a website has many ads or pop-ups, it can be really hard to know which button or link is the correct one to download a PDF, because if you click the wrong one you might end up with a virus.

Or maybe a website has security measures in place that block you from downloading a PDF. This might be because a PDF is copyrighted, or you don't have the proper permissions to download a PDF.

You also might run into issues downloading a PDF because of your web browser. Either your internet connection is too slow, your web browser has an extension active that won't allow you to download PDFs, or the browser cache/cookies are preventing you from downloading files.

If you have run into any of these issues, you know it's very frustrating when you can't download a PDF that you need. In the next section, we'll discuss some solutions to these problems!

Part 2. How to Download the PDF File from a Website Via Download Button?

It's very common for PDFs on websites to have a button where you can directly download the PDF. This is the case if you're looking for PDF templates for newsletters, resumes, birthday cards, and more. However, some websites may have a confusing layout, many ads, or pop-ups, so you will have to specifically look for the "Download" button.

Follow the steps below to download a PDF via the "Download" button.

Step 1 - Find a PDF

Look at your favorite website for PDF resources. Once you've located a PDF that you want to download, make sure the website is open in your browser. In this case, we will download a birthday card template from UPDF website.

Step 2 - Download PDF

Click on the template or file that you want to download, locate the "Download" button, and click on it. The file will automatically download to your computer.

Step 3 - Open the PDF

Now that you have the PDF, you can open it to read, edit, or send to others.

Part 3. How to Download the PDF File from a Website Via Opening the Link?

If you're having trouble finding the "Download" button for a PDF on a website, it probably has a download link, which can be a little more difficult to find. In addition, a PDF that you download with a link will usually open in a browser window, so there are some additional steps you need to take to correctly download the PDF.

Follow these instructions to download a PDF with a URL link.

Step 1 - Locate the Link

Once you've found a PDF that you want to download, you need to find the download link. This is usually located very close to the preview of the PDF, so check the area just above or just below the image of the PDF.

Step 2 - Click Link

Click the download link, and the PDF will open in your browser window. To download the PDF, you will need to click the printer button in the top right corner.

Step 3 - Print to PDF

In the print settings, select "Microsoft Print to PDF", then click Print. Choose a location to save your PDF, and click "Save". Now the PDF is downloaded to your computer.

Part 4. How to Download the PDF File from a Website With Browser Settings?

If you want to download a PDF, and can't find a download button, you'll have to use a download link. But it can be annoying for PDFs to open in your browser window instead of just downloading to your computer. In this case, you can change your browser settings to automatically download PDFs.

Follow these steps to set Google Chrome to automatically download PDFs from websites instead of opening them in your browser window.

Step 1 - Open Permissions

In Chrome, click "Settings" > "Privacy and Security" > "Site Settings". At the bottom, click on "Additional Permissions".

Step 2 - Find PDF Settings

Scroll down to the bottom of Additional Content Settings, and click on PDF Settings.

Step 3 - Change PDF Setting

Once you read this area, just click "Download PDFs". From now on, PDFs will automatically download instead of opening in opening in your browser window.

Part 5. How to Download All PDF Files from a Website?

If you're looking at a website with a lot of great PDF resources, you may want to download all the PDFs together, instead of downloading them one at a time. In this situation, you can use a browser extension that allows you to download many PDFs at once.

However there are some limitations - you can only download all PDF files when they open in the browser, and the PDF links must be in .pdf format.

Step 1 - Download Browser Extension

Navigate to this Google Chrome extension and add it to Chrome. Once it's been added, make sure you activate the extension so that it will work.

Step 2 - Open and Download PDFs

Once you've downloaded the Chrome extension, you can open all the PDFs you want to download in their browser windows. When you're ready, click the extension icon, and they will all be automatically downloaded to your computer.

Part 6. How to Download a Protected PDF from Website?

If you've tried all possible methods to download a PDF, and you still can't figure out how to download the file, then the PDF is probably protected with security measures. You won't be able to download this PDF, but you can use the screenshot tool to take pictures of the PDF.

Just remember that it is illegal to download a protected PDF from a website without the owner's permission.

If you want to use screenshots to take pictures of a protected PDF, follow the steps below.

Step 1 - Take Screenshots

You can take screenshots of whatever pages of the PDF are available. On Windows, you can take a screenshot by pressing "PrtSc" and selecting rectangle, window, full screen, or freeform to choose the area you want to screenshot. You can also take a screenshot by pressing the Windows key + Print Screen key together. This will take a screenshot of the entire screen.

On a Mac, you can take a screenshot by pressing Shift + Command + 3 for the whole screen, or Shift + Command + 4 and then dragging your cursor over the area that you want to screenshot. You can also press Shift + Command + 4 + Space Bar to screenshot a specific window.

Step 2 - Open Screenshots

If you want to put all of your screenshots into one PDF so you can more easily read them, download UPDF by clicking the below button, open UPDF, and drag and drop all of your screenshots into the "Open File" area.

When the pop-up asks if you want to combine all the images into one PDF file, click Yes. Now all of your screenshots are in one easy-to-read PDF.

Part 7. Bonus Tip: How to Edit Downloaded PDF from a Website?

Now that you've downloaded all the PDFs you need, you can use UPDF to edit and annotate PDFs. UPDF has many features that can help you with editing PDFs, including editing existing text, images, or links. Or, you can add completely new content to any PDF.

You can also customize your PDF with UPDF's annotation tools, such as stickers, shapes, drawing tools, sticky notes, comments, and more. If you download an unfillable PDF form, you can use UPDF to convert it into a fillable PDF with only one click!

UPDF has many other features to help with work, study, or personal use of PDFs. UPDF works on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS, so you can access and edit your PDFs on any device.

Ready to try all of UPDF's amazing features? Click the button below to download UPDF and start your free trial today.

Once you've downloaded UPDF, here are some simple steps to start editing your PDFs.

Step 1 - Open PDF

Open your PDF by clicking on the "Open File" box in UPDF, or drag and drop your PDF into this area. When it opens, click "Edit PDF", and you can access the editing tools at the top of the page to add text, images, or links.

Step 2 - Customize PDF

You can also click on "Comment" to access the annotation tools where you can highlight text, add sticky notes, and more.

Step 3 - Save PDF

When you're done customizing your PDF, click "Save as Other" and save your file.

UPDF has many other features, such as an OCR tool to turn an image of text into editable text, password protection for PDFs, and powerful AI tools that can summarize, explain, translate, and generate content!

You can learn more about UPDF by reading this review from Howtogeek and watching the below video tutorial.

If you are using the free trial version of UPDF, you can click the below picture to upgrade to pro version.

Final Thoughts

It can be frustrating when you can't figure out how to download PDF from a website. After reading this article, you know at least five different methods for downloading PDFs from websites! This includes using a download button, using a download link, setting your browser to automatically download PDFs, downloading all PDFs at one time, and using screenshots for protected PDFs.

When you've downloaded all the PDFs you want, you can use UPDF to read, manage, customize, and edit your PDFs. Click the button below to download UPDF and start your free trial to access all of the amazing features.