How to add/link/embed a pdf to a storymap?

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02-14-2020 01:41 PM
JacquelynCorpus
New Contributor

I was wondering how to include an important pdf to a storymap that I am making. I was wondering if I could attach it, so that the user can click and download it? Or is my only option is to input it as a photo? 

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9 Replies
OwenGeo
Esri Notable Contributor

Hi Jacquelyn,

I think you have four options:

- Add a button with the link to the PDF

- Add a hyperlink in the story text linking to the PDF

- Add the PDF as an embed and choose the card option

- Add the PDF as a live embed

The first three options give you different styles of a link that will open the PDF in a new browser tab where the reader can download the PDF. The last option will show the PDF in-line in the story and also have options to open it in a new tab and download.

Owen Evans
Lead Product Engineer | StoryMaps
JacquelynCorpus
New Contributor

I tried to drag the pdf from Adobe to a webpage, then followed to copy the link to instert it on to the Story map and followed to link/add a button to the story map with the link and the story map indicates that there is a problem.

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OwenGeo
Esri Notable Contributor

Hi Jacquelyn -- Sorry, I'm not sure of the exact the steps you took related to dragging the PDF from Adobe. Could you please share the link/URL you are trying to embed so I can test it out? Some websites restrict embedding, so it's possible that the link you are using doesn't permit embedding.

Owen Evans
Lead Product Engineer | StoryMaps
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JacquelynCorpus
New Contributor

Sure thing, I dragged it onto google chrome and this was the pdf link that was in the web browser: 

file:///C:/Users/jacquelyn.corpus/Documents/GIS_Projects/Lelani-Pahala%20StoryMap/Scanned%20from%20a... 

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OwenGeo
Esri Notable Contributor

Jacquelyn -- That's a link to a local file on your computer. To embed content in a web page like a story map it needs to first be accessible on the web. Unfortunately, simply dragging a file onto your browser doesn't make it available on the web.

You'll need your PDF available on the web via a link that begins with https://, like this one:

https://mission-bbq.com/pdf/MISSION-BBQ-Sauces.pdf

If you don't have a web server or access to a hosting service like Amazon S3, you can follow the process in the article linked below to upload your file as an item in your ArcGIS content and share it to make it available on the web. The title of the article references photos/images, but it'll work for files like PDFs too.

ArcGIS blog: Adding and using photos and images in ArcGIS Online 

Owen Evans
Lead Product Engineer | StoryMaps
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JessicaHancock
New Contributor II

Hi Owen! You and Jacquelyn made my day with this question-and-answer session about adding PDFs to a Storymap! I am interested in the "Add the PDF as an embed and choose the card option," but when I go to do that, I only see the "link" option. Would you please provide a step-by-step on how to embed the PDF using the card option? Thank you so much! 🙂

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by Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hey Owen Evans,

I'm having issues embedding PDF's too. What I want to do is embed an interactive PDF into Sidecar where you can download it and have other like below,

I've done it before in another story map but either the functionality isn't there anymore or I'm not doing it right and don't remember how I did it. The PDF's are public and on AGOL. Here is the example PDF I'm using, Maine Modeled Distributions of Tree Species.

Now before when I did this I believe I used the REST URL, https://usfs.maps.arcgis.com/sharing/rest/content/items/5668f147f8084f05a64d5654e65f3496/data.

However, when I use this URL and embed in Sidecar the only interactivity I get is being able to zoom in and out.

I can't download the PDF or have any other other functionality.

I tried using the URL that is given after you open the PDF from within AGOL but you end up getting a very long URL that has token in it. When I used this long URL the screen is blank,

I was able to do this in a previous story map,

It is weird though, when I embed the item description page for the PDF like so,

and then open it from here I get the desired effect,

Any idea on what is going on? Thank you!

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OwenGeo
Esri Notable Contributor

Hi Bryan -- It seems the service we use to parse embeds is using a different PDF preview than the standard browser one. I'm not sure what we can do about that in the short term, but we will look into it.

For now, I'd recommend adding a button in the narrative panel that points to the PDF link. That could be used to open the PDF in a new tab with the browser previewer with the download option.

Owen Evans
Lead Product Engineer | StoryMaps
_CameronPearson
New Contributor

Hi Owen,

I'm experiencing a similar issue we have a bunch of word documents that outline a project execution plan hosted on Sharepoint. All of the documents have no permission/access issues but when we try to embed live content into the new builder templates nothing shows up. The goal is to be able to open up a channel within Team's and edit the documents. Those edits will reflect within the StoryMap in real time. The StoryMap is being used as an authoritative living document for our contractors. Please get back to me at you earliest convenience.  

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