How to start automatic download of a file in Internet Explorer?

Asked 1/10, 2008 at 8:19 Answered 12/11, 2022 at 23:35

Solved javascript html internet-explorer meta-tags

How do I initialize an automatic download of a file in Internet Explorer?

For example, in the download page, I want the download link to appear and a message: "If you download doesn't start automatically .... etc". The download should begin shortly after the page loads.

In Firefox this is easy, you just need to include a meta tag in the header, <meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="n;url"> where n is the number of seconds and url is the download URL. This does not work in Internet Explorer. How do I make this work in Internet Explorer browsers?

Sihun answered 1/10, 2008 at 8:19 Comment(1)

any idea how to do in chrome? – Hippocras 24/4, 2014 at 8:54

112

SourceForge uses an <iframe> element with the src="" attribute pointing to the file to download.

<iframe width="1" height="1" frameborder="0" src="[File location]"></iframe>

(Side effect: no redirect, no JavaScript, original URL remains unchanged.)

Tractarianism answered 1/10, 2008 at 8:34 Comment(10)

Could somebody explain how that should work? I don't see delay for 'n' seconds... Thank you in advance. – Crematorium 10/8, 2010 at 20:8

This is also how audible.com does it apparently. – Benedic 30/6, 2013 at 22:41

Ooh that is clever. You could make it display:none, too. Also, @Budda, some simple Javascript (Oh, no, Javascript?!?!) can add that HTML in after n seconds: HTML: <iframe id="download" width="1" height="1" style="display:none"></iframe> Javascript:

function startDownload () { document.getElementById("download").src="[File Location]"; } setTimeout (startDownload, n * 1000);

– Closeup 2/9, 2013 at 0:41

I like the idea of using this, but it will have issues with certain file types. For example if you wish to provide a download link for a PDF or image (or any content that a browser can display), the browser would just try and display it silently in the hidden iframe. – Aged 4/12, 2014 at 14:41

@NathanHornby, use Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=manual.pdf header on server side and everything will be ok. – Holmen 14/1, 2015 at 13:39

How to apply in IE 11, I really no idea on it can anyone share this to me? – Pavyer 19/6, 2017 at 7:37

IE: pointing the iframe to a src of #24530410 (Cendak) solved this for me. – Rossierossing 29/6, 2017 at 7:45

@Holmen Where on the server do you put Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=manual.pdf header on server side? – Hubert 28/4, 2020 at 22:25

@johnywhy, you place in the header of the server response. So in pseudocode - myResponse.setHeader('Content-Disposition','attachment; filename=manual.pdf'); send(myResponse); – Franconian 1/12, 2021 at 21:44

I tested with a pdf. Works correctly in Firefox, but Chrome does auto-download only if the file src url is relative. – Variolite 27/11, 2022 at 12:23

I hate when sites complicate download so much and use hacks instead of a good old link.

Dead simple version:

<a href="file.zip">Start automatic download!</a>

It works! In every browser!

If you want to download a file that is usually displayed inline (such as an image) then HTML5 has a download attribute that forces download of the file. It also allows you to override filename (although there is a better way to do it):

<a href="report-generator.php" download="result.xls">Download</a>

Version with a "thanks" page:

If you want to display "thanks" after download, then use:

<a href="file.zip" 
   onclick="if (event.button==0) 
     setTimeout(function(){document.body.innerHTML='thanks!'},500)">
 Start automatic download!
</a>

Function in that setTimeout might be more advanced and e.g. download full page via AJAX (but don't navigate away from the page — don't touch window.location or activate other links).

The point is that link to download is real, can be copied, dragged, intercepted by download accelerators, gets :visited color, doesn't re-download if page is left open after browser restart, etc.

That's what I use for ImageOptim

Saxton answered 18/11, 2008 at 23:16 Comment(22)

I like the simplicity of your answer. – Unquote 23/5, 2009 at 10:5

@DavidRobbins and i like the simplicity of your comment. :D – Steric 31/8, 2012 at 11:3

One word of caution. At least in my Chrome 21, the attempt to follow @href gets cancelled if the script from setTimeout tries to move to another page. So this really only works when you can show the thank you page inline. – Moonshiner 27/10, 2012 at 17:32

I totally agree with using a good old link, but there is a problem with this: clients. Sometimes they want what they want no matter what you try and tell them. They've seen it on other sites, and that's what they want on their site. – Sizing 29/1, 2013 at 15:44

@Sizing if you make link work well, then the client won't know. Unless you have clients that view page source and make nonsensical complaints… – Saxton 29/1, 2013 at 15:45

@porneL I don't understand. I thought you were suggesting just using a link to the file INSTEAD of the automatic download after X seconds. – Sizing 29/1, 2013 at 15:49

@Sizing yes, but you can display post-download screen that looks the same as if it was implemented using the messy meta/iframe hack — load the 'thank you' page using AJAX from onclick handler. So if client's requirement is to have such page, you can use the link and still fulfill the requirement. – Saxton 29/1, 2013 at 18:15

The problem is currently safari, notice user wants to automatically start the download and the only way to do that with a link is to snag the element and invoke .click(). safari doesn't support click(). – Westnorthwest 11/11, 2014 at 0:7

@Westnorthwest think what action user takes before you "automatically" start the download. I'll bet that action is a click that goes to your "automatic" page. So move the download one step earlier! – Saxton 11/11, 2014 at 23:55

True but the issue is when you need to generate download content based on something. The current solution is 1 click for generating content and 1 click to download which can be pretty dirty – Westnorthwest 12/11, 2014 at 0:39

Often times you need to do additional work before the download actually starts--like submitting various parameters from JS to an API so that you can prepare the file for downloading. You can't really do that if it's just an href that the user is clicking which links directly to the file content. – Eburnation 8/1, 2015 at 19:21

@BogdanVarlamov: You could include the data in the URL (dynamically modify href if necessary) and have that URL redirect to actual file, e.g. <a href="/api?param=meters&redirect=/download/file">. You can even change href from onclick handler and return true, so you can update it the instant user clicks. – Saxton 9/1, 2015 at 20:1

@porneL: Then one is sending potentially sensitive data in an insecure manner (via URL) instead of being able to send it in the body over HTTPS. – Eburnation 23/1, 2015 at 1:50

@BogdanVarlamov HTTPS is a tunnel hiding all of HTTP protocol, including URLs, so there's no difference. And if filename contains sensitive information, maybe don't put that in the filename anyway? (it'll leak later when saved to disk) – Saxton 23/1, 2015 at 12:19

There are some issues specifically related to URLs which are not typically encountered for body params. Check out #323700 and blog.httpwatch.com/2009/02/20/… for reasons – Eburnation 3/2, 2015 at 20:13

@BogdanVarlamov 1. GET via click vs GET via javascript/iframe hack is still GET (and issues like cross-site referrer leak don't apply to download links you create). 2. sensitive information should go to a cookie with secure flag, and then you won't need to worry about hiding potentially-insecure URL hacks with wonky JS hacks. – Saxton 4/2, 2015 at 12:9

@porneL, Nobody forces you to use a GET method in JS. You can (and should) use a POST/PUT to submit the sensitive parameters in JS in the BODY (see my first comments)... with a url-click you are limited only to the GET the browser sends. – Eburnation 9/2, 2015 at 23:1

@BogdanVarlamov You can still use <form method="post"><button> for JS-hack-free equivalent of <a href>. Other answers to this question use frames or location.href and don't account for POST anyway. – Saxton 10/2, 2015 at 16:17

@porneL, I think what I imagine is a POST/PUT that submits sensitive info which returns a URL based on that criteria which you sent, that the JS client then redirects to for executing the file download. You can avoid this by sticking the sensitive info into the URL as params, sure, but that has security problems as I pointed out. Are you saying that if you had a form submit the params, you could have the server redirect to the right file based on the params? – Eburnation 10/2, 2015 at 21:16

@BogdanVarlamov POST can send the file to download directly, so there's never need to perform any redirect or put any parameters in any URL at any point, e.g. see imageoptim.com/mozjpeg – Saxton 10/2, 2015 at 23:10

Why is Content-Disposition better than download attribute for setting file name? – Burrell 19/3, 2018 at 16:2

I really like the href=<handler> download=<output> usage: I have only ever seen download used as an attribute without the optional value. – Argyrol 13/7, 2021 at 20:28

I recently solved it by placing the following script on the page.

setTimeout(function () { window.location = 'my download url'; }, 5000)

I agree that a meta-refresh would be nicer but if it doesn't work what do you do...

Supercargo answered 1/10, 2008 at 8:29 Comment(4)

should be setTimeout(function () { window.location = 'my download url'; }, 5000) (no strings to setTimeout please) – Tallinn 18/11, 2010 at 10:0

@Cerberus: because of the general idea. – Lidia 27/12, 2012 at 13:45

Probably, the most simple solution. – Oratory 11/7, 2014 at 18:47

or put into code behind like this: Page.ClientScript.RegisterStartupScript(Me.GetType, "filedownload", "setTimeout(function () { window.location = 'http://" & Page.Request.Url.Authority & filename & "'; }, 0)", True) – Mudfish 3/12, 2015 at 21:39

I had a similar issue and none of the above solutions worked for me. Here's my try (requires jquery):

$(function() {
  $('a[data-auto-download]').each(function(){
    var $this = $(this);
    setTimeout(function() {
      window.location = $this.attr('href');
    }, 2000);
  });
});

Usage: Just add an attribute called data-auto-download to the link pointing to the download in question:

<p>The download should start shortly. If it doesn't, click
<a data-auto-download href="/your/file/url">here</a>.</p>

It should work in all cases.

Drover answered 7/3, 2012 at 17:45 Comment(1)

I like that. Nice and clean and you can add it to any link you want. I love finding cool new uses for the data-* attribute! – Cruz 29/10, 2012 at 16:48

A simple bit of jQuery solved this problem for me.

$(function() {
   $(window).bind('load', function() {
      $("div.downloadProject").delay(1500).append('<iframe width="0" height="0" frameborder="0" src="[YOUR FILE SRC]"></iframe>'); 
   });
});

In my HTML, I simply have

<div class="downloadProject"></div>

All this does is wait a second and a half, then append the div with the iframe referring to the file that you want to download. When the iframe is updated onto the page, your browser downloads the file. Simple as that. :D

Gustin answered 25/6, 2011 at 4:59 Comment(0)

I used this, seems working and is just simple JS, no framework:

Your file should start downloading in a few seconds. 
If downloading doesn't start automatically
<a id="downloadLink" href="[link to your file]">click here to get your file</a>.

<script> 
    var downloadTimeout = setTimeout(function () {
        window.location = document.getElementById('downloadLink').href;
    }, 2000);
</script>

NOTE: this starts the timeout in the moment the page is loaded.

Gratia answered 4/10, 2012 at 0:50 Comment(1)

Regarding your flag, that would be something to raise on our meta site. I believe this has come up before, however (there are quite a few similar complaints, but I can't find one directly matching this) – Brass 4/10, 2012 at 3:45

Works on Chrome, firefox and IE8 and above:

var link = document.createElement('a');
document.body.appendChild(link);
link.href = url;
link.click();

Seay answered 28/4, 2016 at 13:48 Comment(2)

works in firefox only if its from the same origin download link – Ortegal 14/4, 2017 at 15:11

@Ortegal try this : function downloadURI(uri, name) { var link = document.createElement("a"); link.download = name; link.href = uri; link.click(); } – Seay 16/4, 2017 at 17:26

This is what I'm using in some sites (requires jQuery).:

$(document).ready(function() {
    var downloadUrl = "your_file_url";
    setTimeout("window.location.assign('" + downloadUrl + "');", 1000);
});

The file is downloaded automatically after 1 second.

Lacy answered 28/1, 2013 at 15:40 Comment(0)

I checked and found, it will work on button click via writing onclick event to Anchor tag or Input button

onclick='javascript:setTimeout(window.location=[File location], 1000);'

Novara answered 16/6, 2012 at 5:44 Comment(0)

Back to the roots, i use this:

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=YOURFILEURL"/>

Maybe not WC3 conform but works perfect on all browsers, no HTML5/JQUERY/Javascript.

Greetings Tom :)

Promenade answered 14/1, 2016 at 14:42 Comment(0)

I hope this will works all the browsers. You can also set the auto download timing.

<html>
<head>
<title>Start Auto Download file</title>
<script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.2.1.min.js"></script>
<script>
$(function() {
$('a[data-auto-download]').each(function(){
var $this = $(this);
setTimeout(function() {
window.location = $this.attr('href');
}, 2000);
});
});
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div class="wrapper">
<p>The download should start shortly. If it doesn't, click
<a data-auto-download href="auto-download.zip">here</a>.</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>

Socialist answered 1/8, 2017 at 6:43 Comment(1)

This answer saves my day. I have a follow up question: if I change "auto-download.zip" to a url like "#157186", it does not work. My purpose is to download the stackoverflow page as html. – Ampoule 18/7, 2020 at 7:58

One more :

var a = document.createElement('a');
a.setAttribute('href', dataUri);
a.setAttribute('download', filename);

var aj = $(a);
aj.appendTo('body');
aj[0].click();
aj.remove();

Splash answered 15/4, 2019 at 9:18 Comment(0)

Be sure to serve up the file without a no-cache header! IE has issues with this, if user tries to "open" the download without saving first.

Residuum answered 3/10, 2008 at 18:11 Comment(0)

This seemed to work for me - across all browsers.

 <script type="text/javascript">
    window.onload = function(){
     document.location = 'somefile.zip';
    }
    </script>

Kendall answered 2/7, 2010 at 11:30 Comment(2)

The lack of such approach is that browser waits for all banners loading... Sometime that takes some time and user is unable to get file due to stupid banners... – Crematorium 9/8, 2010 at 17:8

Except for some browsers + the content is one that could be viewed directly in the browser (like video files), does not actually force the download in all circumstances. – Morie 8/9, 2019 at 5:50

I think this will work for you. But visitors are easy if they got something in seconds without spending more time and hence they will also again visit your site.

<a href="file.zip" 
   onclick="if (event.button==0) 
     setTimeout(function(){document.body.innerHTML='thanks!'},500)">
 Start automatic download!
</a>

Adnah answered 7/1, 2012 at 8:1 Comment(0)

For those trying to trigger the download using a dynamic link it's tricky to get it working consistently across browsers.

I had trouble in IE10+ downloading a PDF and used @dandavis' download function (https://github.com/rndme/download).

IE10+ needs msSaveBlob.

Katheleenkatherin answered 7/7, 2015 at 21:4 Comment(0)

Nice jquery solution:

jQuery('a.auto-start').get(0).click();

You can even set different file name for download inside <a> tag:

Your download should start shortly. If not - you can use
<a href="/attachments-31-3d4c8970.zip" download="attachments-31.zip" class="download auto-start">direct link</a>.

Crystlecs answered 19/2, 2019 at 6:11 Comment(1)

Not all browsers let you click an anchor tag with JS. Safari, for example, especially if the url is cross-domain – Morie 8/9, 2019 at 5:52

<meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="n;url">

That's It. Easy, Right?

<meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="n;url">

Antibiosis answered 9/6, 2020 at 15:39 Comment(0)

This is an old question but in case anyone wants to use automatic download of files with Flask, Python. You can do this:

from flask import Flask, make_response, send_from_directory

file_path = "Path containing the file" #e.g Uploads/images

@app.route("/download/<file_name>")
def download_file(file_name):
    resp = make_response(send_from_directory(file_path, file_name)
    resp.headers['Content-Disposition'] = f"attachment; filename={file_name}"
    return resp

Inside a template or html page, index for example

<div>
  <a class="btn btn-outline-warning" href={{url_for( 'download_file', name='image.png' )}} ">Download Image</a>
</div>

Clicking on the link will download the file without opening another page. For more info on:

Towrope answered 12/11, 2022 at 23:35 Comment(0)

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Dead simple version:

Version with a "thanks" page:

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