Can I prevent people from downloading the documents?
Most people use the Document Library Pro plugin to allow users to download the files to their computer. However, you don't have to use it in this way.
This article will describe two ways to create a document library where users are prevented from downloading the documents, and must instead view them online.
Method 1: Document previews
With this option, your document library includes a 'Preview' button but no download buttons. Users can click these to view the file in a lightbox, but will not be able to download it.
To use this method, you must configure the following three options:
- Enable the preview option
- Disable the Link to document option so that people cannot download the file from the main document library page
- Set the clickable fields option to "none" so that no one can access the single document page (which contains a download link)
Method 2: Embed documents in the page
With this method, you can embed the document into the single document page on your website. That way, people can access it directly on your website without being able to download it to their computer.
To use this method, you must configure the following three options:
- When you create a document, DO NOT upload a file to the "Document Link" field. If you do this then it will appear as a download button on the single document page, and you don't want this! Instead, just embed the document in the content field (see step 3, below).
- Disable the Link to document option so that people cannot download the file from the main document library page.
- Edit the document and embed the document in the single document page. For example, you can upload the file to Google Drive and embed it using a plugin like EmbedPress; or use a tool like Flipsnack to embed the document as an interactive page turning flip book. For audio and video content, you can embed audio and video players directly into the single document page.
When users click on the title of a document in the library, they will