Recommended way to embed PDF in HTML?

Question

What is the recommended way to embed PDF in HTML?

• iFrame?
• Object?
• Embed?

What does Adobe say itself about it?

In my case, the PDF is generated on the fly, so it can't be uploaded to a third-party solution prior to flushing it.

Answer 1

This is quick, easy, to the point and doesn't require any third-party script:

<embed src="http://example.com/the.pdf" width="500" height="375" 
 type="application/pdf">

UPDATE (1/2018):

The Chrome browser on Android no longer supports PDF embeds. You can get around this by using the Google Drive PDF viewer

<embed src="https://drive.google.com/viewerng/
viewer?embedded=true&url=http://example.com/the.pdf" width="500" height="375">

Answer 2

You can also use Google PDF viewer for this purpose. As far as I know it's not an official Google feature (am I wrong on this?), but it works for me very nicely and smoothly. You need to upload your PDF somewhere before and just use its URL:

<iframe src="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://example.com/mypdf.pdf&embedded=true" style="width:718px; height:700px;" frameborder="0"></iframe>

What is important is that it doesn't need a Flash player, it uses JavaScript.

Answer 3

You do have some control over how the PDF appears in the browser by passing some options in the query string. I was happy to this working, until I realized it does not work in IE8. :(

It works in Chrome 9 and Firefox 3.6, but in IE8 it shows the message "Insert your error message here, if the PDF cannot be displayed."

I haven't yet tested older versions of any of the above browsers, though. But here's the code I have anyway in case it helps anyone. This sets the zoom to 85%, removes scrollbars, toolbars and nav panes. I'll update my post if I do come across something that works in IE as well.

<object width="400" height="500" type="application/pdf" data="/my_pdf.pdf?#zoom=85&scrollbar=0&toolbar=0&navpanes=0">
    <p>Insert your error message here, if the PDF cannot be displayed.</p>
</object>

Answer 4

Using both <object> and <embed> will give you a wider breadth of browser compatibility.

<object data="http://yoursite.com/the.pdf" type="application/pdf" width="750px" height="750px">
    <embed src="http://yoursite.com/the.pdf" type="application/pdf">
        <p>This browser does not support PDFs. Please download the PDF to view it: <a href="http://yoursite.com/the.pdf">Download PDF</a>.</p>
    </embed>
</object>

Answer 5

Convert it to PNG via ImageMagick, and display the PNG (quick and dirty).

<?php
  $dir = '/absolute/path/to/my/directory/';
  $name = 'myPDF.pdf';
  exec("/bin/convert $dir$name $dir$name.png");
  print '<img src="$dir$name.png" />';
?>

This is a good option if you need a quick solution, want to avoid cross-browser PDF viewing problems, and if the PDF is only a page or two. Of course, you need ImageMagick installed (which in turn needs Ghostscript) on your webserver, an option that might not be available in shared hosting environments. There is also a PHP plugin (called imagick) that works like this but it has it's own special requirements.

Answer 6

Have a look for this code- To embed the PDF in HTML

<!-- Embed PDF File -->
<object data="YourFile.pdf" type="application/x-pdf" title="SamplePdf" width="500" height="720">
    <a href="YourFile.pdf">shree</a> 
</object>