Force Download from Google Drive – Google Drive is only second to Dropbox and you can easily upload and share files using the awesome cloud storage service. In Google Drive, you can pretty much upload and share almost any and all sorts of files. Moreover, you can collaborate with your team members on editing and modify these uploaded files.
That being said, Just like in Dropbox, there is no easy way to download files or docs from Google Drive as it can pretty easily handle most of the common file types and displays or renders them directly in your browser. Though this is convenient in most cases, this may be a pain if you want people to download your files instead of viewing them right in their browser.
So if you ever want to download files from Google drive, here is a simple tip to force Google Drive to let users download the file instead of rendering them inside the browser.
Related: How to Remote Upload Files to Google Drive
Force Download Files From Google Drive
1. To make this trick happen, all you have to do is change the URL structure of the shared file.
2. For instance, the below URL is a PDF document of Windows 8 shortcuts that we published earlier. If you follow the link below, Google Drive will automatically render and display the PDF document in your browser (if your browser is supported) rather than letting you download it.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2A0jdfON9Y6UGsxWWM5MXRiQ1E/edit?usp=sharing
3. Now, to force download the file from the Google Drive, all you have to do is to copy the “file ID” from the above URL and paste it in the below URL format.
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=FILE_ID
4. Once you have pasted the file ID, the final URL will look something like the below one. Now if you follow the link, the file starts to download instead of rendering inside your browser.
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B2A0jdfON9Y6UGsxWWM5MXRiQ1E
That’s all there is to do and it is that simple to force download files from Google Drive.
Related: How to See the Number of Files in a Google Drive Folder
Hopefully, that helps and do comment below sharing your thoughts and experiences about using this simple tip to force download file from Google Drive.