26

I'd like to provide a link to a PDF document in Google Drive like [documenturl]?page=4 and have that link jump to the specified page.

With a quick search, I was only able to find this unresolved forum question: Link to a specific page in an uploaded .pdf

Improve this question

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
14

To link to a specific page in the PDF, use the following URL, but replace:

  • [ID] with the document's ID (long string)
  • [pageNumber] with the specific page's number
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=[ID]#page=[pageNumber]

For example, if your [ID] is Zg_D8hYY2p7ZO2_ZrS and you want to link to [pageNumber] 10, your direct link would be:

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=Zg_D8hYY2p7ZO2_ZrS#page=10

Google may rewrite the URL and there may be a delay while the page resolves.

Improve this answer
5
  • 1
    What is the point of creating a link that can't be used later?
    – Rubén ♦
    Jul 25, 2020 at 14:34
  • 2
    Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. You should use the middle link (the one with export) that on use transforms into the third one, which, as you say, is therefore pointless to use.
    – Jiří Zeman
    Jul 26, 2020 at 18:58
  • Interesting: This works by opening the PDF in a different viewer than the one Drive uses by default. Based on the style it looks like one of the old viewers. Nice find, @JiříZeman
    – Christopher Harwood
    Aug 25, 2020 at 3:22
  • Thank you! I tried your suggestion to share a sheet with several people in a meeting. Some of them have successfully opened it, but some of them got a "permission denied" message. These latter have success to open it using the "regular" link.
    – Binyomin
    Jul 2 at 15:16
  • Verified this works right now. However, the issue with this is that it opens up a view that disallows all of the other features that I would desire to continue to be available, such as clicking on the 3-dot menu and getting the original share link. Usually, I need to have share links that I can keep in notes, and simply click upon them to route to the original PDF viewer page inside Drive for further full featured navigation, such as doing personal research and learning, etc. Also, the "the files take ages to load" might be a non-starter for large PDF files.
    – bgoodr
    Aug 4 at 15:14
22

A work-around that I discovered for this is:

  1. Create a comment on the PDF. Highlight the area that you want to be able to jump to (e.g. a heading on the page).
  2. Click the 3-dot menu on the comment you just created, and choose "Link to this comment..."

You can send the displayed URL to someone and when they open it it will directly jump to that part of the PDF.

The solution by Christopher Harwood does not seem to work any more in the latest version of Google Drive.

Improve this answer
4
  • For me, still worked as a charm: very useful. Please accept my admiration.
    – Vladimir Brasil
    Dec 7, 2018 at 0:36
  • Create a comment in the page of .pdf you want the direct link of and copy the link of this comment. That's all!
    – Mugen
    Jun 23, 2020 at 9:30
  • problem with this solution is if you draw on the pdf and save it locally, the pdf will sync but erase the inserted comment. Which means you can't annotate the pdf.
    – jason
    Aug 11, 2021 at 19:38
  • Unfortunately, this method does not work in a webview for both iOS and Android. Bummer..
    – abbanoob
    Sep 29, 2022 at 3:41
1

Edit: This no longer works.

Incomplete answer: Google Drive displays pages as images, so you can display specific pages by providing the direct image link.

https://DOMAIN/file/d/DRIVE_FILE_ID/image?pagenumber=NUMBER
Improve this answer
1
  • Still not implemented it seems as the above answer does not work. I sent feedback in Google Drive. I encourage others to do the same and link back to this item.
    – bgoodr
    Nov 18, 2017 at 18:26
0

You need to add a comment inside the PDF with Acrobe Reader. Then upload it in drive, click on the three buttons on top of the comment and select "link to". Only in this case it works. If you add a comment directly in Google Drive, it doesn't work.

Improve this answer
0

Many PDF readers will honor open parameters in the link that leads to the PDF file, such as page=5. Use these parameters like this:

https://www.example.org/somefile.pdf#page=5

...or:

https://www.example.org/somefile.pdf#page=5&comment=452fde0e-fd22

To make this work with Google Drive, you need to obtain a googleusercontent.com link to the file. You can get it by downloading the file and noting the download location in chrome://downloads/ or similar download list page. In most browsers, you can open the download list by pressing Control Shift J or Control J. In the Mac Safari browser, use ⌥ ⌘ L.

See PDF Open Parameters.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.