Downloading Documents

Over the past few months, there have been several inquiries about downloading documents from the Chicago Debate League Blog.  This post is meant to clarify the distinction between previewing a document (what happens when you click one of our document links) and downloading a document (what users need to do in order to edit and save documents), and to show users how to download a document from the CDL Blog.

Previewing:

When users click on a document link on the CDL Blog, it doesn’t download the document. Instead, clicking a document link opens up a “preview” of that document (much like Gmail gives you the option to preview attachments instead of downloading them).  A preview isn’t the document itself, but rather a representation of what the document would look like if you were to download it.  There are pros and cons to this approach, but the idea is that previewing saves users time and hard drive space if they only want to glance at a document. It should be noted that while previewing is often a good representation of what a document will look like, it isn’t always 100% accurate, particularly with regards to document formatting.

Downloading:

If users would like to download a document, it only takes one additional step. To do so, first click on a document link like you normally would. Then, once the preview has loaded, simply click the downward facing arrow icon on the bottom right hand corner of the previewing screen.

Once users click the downward facing arrow, an additional menu should pop-up asking users if they would like to “open” the document with an application or “save” it to their computer.  Whether you chose to open the document or save it, the document will then be downloaded (although if you choose to open the document, you’ll need to manually save it to your computer if you’d like to revisit that document at a later date).

As always, if you have any questions about downloading, previewing, or anything else blog or debate related, feel free to leave a comment or send us an email.

Thanks.