Create a link which opens a file located on a server (HTML)

Question

I have coded a bit in Java and Ada, but I am completely new to HTML so I'm asking for some help here.

A friend of mine (without any coding experience, whatsoever) is setting up a website for his new business, and he asked me to help him. What he wants is a link on his website which downloads a PDF file, or opens the file in a new tab, ie the user clicks the link and downloads/opens the PDF file. Ideally, this file will be located on his computer/server. As the website is made on Wix.com, and as neither one of us has any experience with HTML I have only tried to add code in its built-in "editor".

I've googled for a bit, and I have added a link which opens a PDF file using a URL.

It looks like this:

<a href="https://www.googledriveorsomething.com/document.pdf" target="_blank">Name of the document</a>

What I want to do is something like this:

<a href="servername/document.pdf" target="_blank">Name of the document</a>

Is something like this possible? How do I reach the file? Is it possible to have the file stored on the hard drive on his computer/server? Or does it have to be stored in some cloud-based system?

Also, this is a sort of quick fix, until he has the resources to hire a professional for the task.

Answer 1

You can use an html attribute where you specify that link to file is downloadable as follows:

<a href="servername/document.pdf" download>Clickable text</a>

also you can use it as follows of you want to download it with a specific name:

<a href="servername/document.pdf" download="PDF Filename">Clickable text</a>

About where the file is located, you should upload it to a web server to make it available to others. If it's located in your friend's computer, it won't available to others.