Creating An Automatic Download Link

Are you a blogger sharing digital goodies, or a teacher wanting to make assigning digital resources to your students a little simpler? This tip is for you! I'm sharing step-by-step instructions for creating an automatic download link to a Google Drive resource!

Are you a blogger sharing digital goodies, or a teacher wanting to make assigning digital resources to your students a little simpler? This tip is for you! I'm sharing step-by-step instructions for creating an automatic download link to a Google Drive resource!


The first step is to save your resource to Google Drive. I have many files in my Google Drive, so I have created a folder that is reserved only for the files I plan to share.

Are you a blogger sharing digital goodies, or a teacher wanting to make assigning digital resources to your students a little simpler? This tip is for you! I'm sharing step-by-step instructions for creating an automatic download link to a Google Drive resource!

When you share a file electronically in Google Drive, know that you have options about who you are sharing with. For my purposes, I choose to share with anyone who has the link. That means not everyone has access, unless I want them to!

Are you a blogger sharing digital goodies, or a teacher wanting to make assigning digital resources to your students a little simpler? This tip is for you! I'm sharing step-by-step instructions for creating an automatic download link to a Google Drive resource!

Once that's done, you'll be given the link that others will use to access your resource:

Are you a blogger sharing digital goodies, or a teacher wanting to make assigning digital resources to your students a little simpler? This tip is for you! I'm sharing step-by-step instructions for creating an automatic download link to a Google Drive resource!

Once you have this link you will need to open Notepad or a word processing document so you have somewhere to copy and paste.

Copy and paste the file URL to your work area. It will look something like this:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7gOvS8EhmZSQ1VxbXhfaDVtNjQ/edit?usp=sharing

The next part is the most important! Paste this string into your work area:
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=

It is this piece that creates the auto download.

Next, go back to the shared URL and copy the file ID. It is the long string of numbers and letters that looks like this:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7gOvS8EhmZSQ1VxbXhfaDVtNjQ/edit?usp=sharing

You are going to take that string of characters and paste it to the end of the highlighted URL above, right after the = sign.

That should do it!! Copy the entire address and paste it into your browser's address bar to test it out. You should see your file begin to download automatically!

I'd love to hear how this works for you! Please leave me a message to let me know how you'll use this, or ask for help if you need it!

You might be interested in this package of graphic organizers for fiction for your Google classroom!

Are you a blogger sharing digital goodies, or a teacher wanting to make assigning digital resources to your students a little simpler? This tip is for you! I'm sharing step-by-step instructions for creating an automatic download link to a Google Drive resource!

Take a look at more great technology resources and tips on this Pinterest board!




14 comments

  1. I'd been wondering how people did that! Thanks for sharing :)

    Sasha
    TeachingProducts on TpT

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome, Sasha! Hope it is useful to you! :)

      ~Erin

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  2. this link doesnt work for iphone is there a special way to do so

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  3. Nest idea. Can you provide an example of when I would want to use an although download? I'm thinking for use with students.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by, Kim! I might use this trick with my students if I was wanting to share a digital resource and have each student working on their own copy. Many schools do not have access to Google Classrooms, and this just takes out the extra step of having your students "make a copy" so that a Google Drive master copy isn't edited.

      Hope that helps!
      Erin

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  4. Great tip! I didn't know how to do that.

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  5. Perfect timing! I was just about to set up my first email sign-up freebie! So the visitors never actually access your Google Drive folder, right?

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    Replies
    1. No, they don't, Stephanie! Just pop the URL into a new tab in your browser to test it out!

      Thanks for stopping by!
      Erin

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  6. Thank you for this! I've read about 12 different blogs already, and none of them provided a working URL. Yours however worked like a charm! Big Thanks! :)

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    Replies
    1. I'm glad you found this helpful, James! Thanks for leaving a comment! :)

      Erin

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  7. I am trying this out in 2020 and it works! Thanks a lot

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