Skip to main content

Embed PDF Files on Your Blog

Have you noticed our PDF documents appearing on some of our blog posts? I create a PDF file (which may be a public speech or any other important document available in the public domain) and I upload that PDF to a storage service. I then make the file available in a blog post by embedding a specific piece of code. In this post, let me tell you ways you can embed PDF and by extension other files (spreadsheets, presentations, etc.) on your blog.

Let me make a riveting thrilling story from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle available to you through a PDF embedded file on this post. As a first step, if your document is not in the PDF format, you need to convert it. You can use any of the freely available PDF converters out there. Some popular PDF printers are CutePDF, BullZip Printer, PDF Creator, etc.

Once you have the PDF file ready, you can use any of these services to get it uploaded—Slideshare.net or a cloud storage service like Google Drive or Dropbox.

Slideshare Method


Slideshare is a platform for sharing document files, such as PDF, presentations, Word documents, spreadsheets, etc. Go to Slideshare and create an account. Alternatively, you can log in using your Facebook or LinkedIn account. Afterward, you can simply share documents with this service.

As a first step, upload your file to Slideshare.

slideshare pdf sharing platform

Once uploaded, Slideshare will convert the file; optionally, you can input the information that identifies the document, such as the tags, description, etc. This will enable the document to be indexed and searchable by search engines.

adding details to slideshare files

Once uploaded, the file will be available in My Uploads section. Click on the file and select the option ‘Embed’. It will give you the code for embedding it into your blog. You can remove the unnecessary links to Slideshare from the embed code and tweak it for width, height, margin, etc. Here it is:

embedding code from slideshare

<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="511" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/15424875" style="border-width: 1px 1px 0; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px;" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="479"></iframe>

And you can paste the customized code on your blog’s HTML and show the PDF file to your visitors. Slideshare also gives you a shortcode that you can use directly with your WordPress blog.

Using Cloud Services


If you have a cloud account with Google Drive or Dropbox, you can upload and embed PDF documents. It works with any PDF-compatible cloud storage service.

As a first step, upload your PDF file to the cloud provider. For convenience, I will show you Google Drive interface here.

Google drive file upload


As the second step, you need to get the URL of the uploaded file. This is the direct link to the file. In Google Drive, you don’t even need this as it gives you the embed code directly from the ‘File’ menu of a PDF file. You should use that link in order to display the PDF.

In case of Dropbox, you should get the link of the file after uploading.

In Dropbox, after uploading the file, move it to the ‘Public’ folder so that it is accessible to anybody. From here, you can get the public link of the PDF file.

dropbox option copying public link

 Modify the following embed code to include your link.

<iframe height="480" src="Put your link here" width="640"></iframe>

Adjust the width and height and you are done! This will properly display your PDF file on your blog.

There is one other important consideration to this method. If your user’s browser doesn’t provide support for PDF, they will not be able view the file. It is necessary to instruct the customer to download the PDF plugin for their browser. Once it is done properly, you will get an end result similar to the following:

Popular posts from this blog

What Is the Role of a Firewall, and How Does It Secure a Network From Unsafe Traffic?

To understand firewalls, basic understanding of how networks function is requisite. Deep down, how do the packets of information that you send reach the intended receivers? How do the messages intended for you reach you safely? And how does it all function like clockwork? Let’s understand the basics of firewalls and see how a firewall secures the traffic in and out of a network. Consider this scenario for getting an understanding of how firewalls work. Say, you open up your browser to book a flight ticket for your upcoming vacation, and your computer is conveniently insecure without a firewall. Let’s say you come across an intriguing email that gives an offer you can’t refuse. You open the email and click a link, and bam! An unwanted piece of spyware is installed on your system. The spyware then proceeds to sit on your system tray, hidden from your eyes, tracking the keystrokes you make, reading the top-secret files you have, and looking for potentially rewarding information, such...

Which to Select out of the Hot Range of Windows 8 Phones?

Windows Phone 8 operating system will be released by the end of this month. Microsoft has the event scheduled on 29th of this month. In the coming days, a number of phones will be released all containing Windows Phone 8. With the operating system being highly successful after Microsoft’s hot design strategy and awesome interoperability, device manufacturers are highly ambitious about their devices. HTC, Samsung, and Nokia are all set to reveal their Windows 8 smartphones. Let’s look at some of the hot contenders in this category and see which seems to be the good choice for customers. The Devices Here are the Windows Phone 8 phones expected to be launched in the coming days. Nokia: Lumia 920, Lumia 820 HTC: Windows Phone 8X, 8S Samsung: ATIV S Hardware Specifications Being Microsoft’s preferred choice of device manufacturers, Nokia came up with the first breakthrough device after the failure of Symbian, with the Lumia series. Now, they have two phones coming, ...

How to Send Email in Your Own Language Script Through Gmail?

Have you ever had trouble sending an email to a distant relative who speaks a different language altogether? It has never been easy on email applications to send messages in other languages. Google’s popular email service, Gmail has come up with transliteration tools and other language input tools to make the service much better. You can type using Gmail interface in any language that you want. First of all, you need to select the languages that you want to use in composer. For this, go to Gmail settings and you will see the ‘Language’ option under General. Here, go to advanced language options and put a check mark to ‘Enable input tools’. Here, you can transliterate (type in English the words in other languages to have them appear in correct script), use a virtual keyboard, or edit your input method with the help of a regular keyboard to convert words into other alphabet. Transliteration feature was available although limited in Gmail. Select the input tools from the list by d...