This simple widget allows you to do something previously impossible in Muse – display a PDF. While the built-in "Link to File" function has allowed for the download of a linked file, our PDF Viewer provides the ability to properly display a PDF file anywhere within your website – no need to force your site users to download and open additional software to view important documents. Use fullscreen display, constrained view, or even multiple scrollable PDF documents in one page!
Widget Compatibility: Highly Compatible (No known issues when combining with other MuseThemes widgets)
Current Version: 1.0
Supported Devices: Desktop, Tablet, Phone
Release Log
1.0: Adds collapsible panel functionality and support for responsive Muse
L11.3: Improved browser support for multiple PDF instances (11/20/2015)
Setup
Drag the widget from the library and drop into your project in Design mode.
Click the "Add File" button and select a PDF file.
The PDF View setting determines the way the PDF will appear when previewed or published:
Fullscreen: This mode displays the PDF across the entire browser window, regardless of the size or shape of the brower window. The width of the PDF will adapt to the browser width, and will apply a vertical scrollbar if the document requires scrolling to reach the end of the last page. This mode should only be used if all you intend to show is the PDF. You cannot add additional elements to the page. This is useful for pages where you will have multiple links to PDF documents on a page where your user loads the PDF in a separate window and closes when done viewing.
Fit to Bounding Box: This mode constrains the PDF to the widget container dimensions. The PDF width is constrained to the widget continer width. Longer PDF's will scroll within this area when they are longer than the widget height. Multiple PDF "previews" can be displayed with this technique, using shorter widget containers. Users can browse through several PDFs in a small area without leaving the page.
Incompatible Browser Message: Some older or outdated browsers may not support a PDF viewer. The message entered into this box will display instead of the PDF in these rare instances.
Commonly Asked Questions
Why doesn't the PDF show up in my browser?
A couple possible reasons are browser limitation or outdated Adobe Reader versions. If you feature important PDF documents on your site, it might be a good idea to place a reminder to make sure that site visitors have the latest version of Adobe Reader. You can also add your own custom text in the widget panel that shows up when a display error has occurred.
What if I want to display PDFs on my page, but I'm tight on space?
Our widget features an option to "fit to bounding box". This means that however you size the widget box, the PDF displayed in-browser will be confined to the area of the widget container. That means that if the widget box is set to approximately half of the height of one page of the PDF, the entire PDF document will display in a half-height window. Users can scroll through the document with the scrollbar or mouse wheel.
Known Issues/Conflicts
Browser Limitations: Fallback occurs in IE10 / Edge (Windows) and Firefox (OS X) due to user-side browser limitations, or possible outdated Adobe Reader versions. A download link for the PDF will be presented instead of the embedded viewer.