Downloads with an External File

jDownloads supports downloadable files stored on the web on regular web locations and on services such as DropBox, g-drive and similar.

Getting the link for an External File to include in a jD  Download is not always obvious especilly on service providers!  Sometimes there may be unexpected side effects.

The picture opposite shows the 'Files' tab of the front end upload form.  It gives an overview of how to add a file to a Download.

The primary objective here is to determine the contents of the two fields "External File Link" and "File in external Web site".

In most cases the "File in external Web site" field should be set to Yes.

In this article we show what to do if the required file is

1. on a 'normal' web site     
2. on DropBox                      '
3. On Google drive (g-drive)

 1. File located on a web site Server  

This is the simplest case as all that is necessary is to find the location of the file on the web site.  The 'Files' section would appear as shown opposite.

An example would be https://www.some-website/uploads/Website-Brochure-2018.pdf

The only item to consider is the setting of the field "File in External Web site" as this controls whether it is downloaded to a separate page or to the same page

• setting Yes then a separate page/tab
• setting No uses same page/tab

Here is is assumed you have setup a drop box account and have loaded up relevant files.

Getting the file link from DropBox has more steps to go through than for a direct link.

The first step to get the link is to simply right click on the relevant file name

This will show a Drop Down with a Drop Box secton as indicated opposite.

So next click on Share as we need to see if file is shareable.

The Share type needed is " Can view". 

If this is shown then click on Copy link which will copy a link to your Clip Board

If it is not shared then seek advice from Drop box.

The link in the clip board will be something like the opposite.

Note that for secutity the one shown is not a real link

There are four forms that the link might be set to be used as an external link.  One style, noted below as 'Special', involves replacing the part www.dropbox in the link with dl.dropboxusercontent
The other three are different endings a) ?dl=0  b) ?dl=1  c) ?raw=1 

The table below shows the various setting possibilities.  Note that the last three possibilities result in a non standard extension name. Also the 'Special' link used a different file in my examples.

Setting up an External link for a g-drive file is similar to that for Dropbox

Go to your g-drive which is typically a link such as

https://drive.google.com/drive/my-drive

As with Dropbox the File must be set as shareable. If it is not shareable then consult Google Drive

Click on  'Copy link' which will put the link in your Clip Board.

 This time the link can be copied in directly as there are no changes required.

Set the field "Is the main file on an external web page?" to Yes.