Easiest way to open a download window without navigating away from the page

This javascript is nice that it doesn't open a new window or tab.

window.location.assign(url);

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7 years have passed and I don't know whether it works for IE6 or not, but this prompts OpenFileDialog in FF and Chrome.

var file_path = 'host/path/file.ext';
var a = document.createElement('A');
a.href = file_path;
a.download = file_path.substr(file_path.lastIndexOf('/') + 1);
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
document.body.removeChild(a);

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I know the question was asked 7 years and 9 months ago but many posted solutions doesn't seem to work, for example using an <iframe> works only with FireFox and doesn't work with Chrome.

Best solution:

The best working solution to open a file download pop-up in JavaScript is to use a HTML link element, with no need to append the link element to the document.body as stated in other answers.

You can use the following function:

function downloadFile(filePath){
    var link=document.createElement('a');
    link.href = filePath;
    link.download = filePath.substr(filePath.lastIndexOf('/') + 1);
    link.click();
}

In my application, I am using it this way:

downloadFile('report/xls/myCustomReport.xlsx');

Working Demo:

function downloadFile(filePath) { var link = document.createElement('a'); link.href = filePath; link.download = filePath.substr(filePath.lastIndexOf('/') + 1); link.click(); } downloadFile("http://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/accessibility/pdfs/accessing-pdf-sr.pdf");

Note:

You have to use the link.download attribute so the browser doesn't open the file in a new tab and fires the download pop-up.

This was tested with several file types (docx, xlsx, png, pdf, ...).

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I always add a target="_blank" to the download link. This will open a new window, but as soon as the user clicks save, the new window is closed.

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Put this in the HTML head section, setting the url var to the URL of the file to be downloaded:

<script type="text/javascript">  
function startDownload()  
{  
     var url='http://server/folder/file.ext';    
     window.open(url, 'Download');  
}  
</script>

Then put this in the body, which will start the download automatically after 5 seconds:

<script type="text/javascript">  
setTimeout('startDownload()', 5000); //starts download after 5 seconds  
</script> 

(From here.)

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I've been looking for a good way to use javascript to initiate the download of a file, just as this question suggests. However these answers not been helpful. I then did some xbrowser testing and have found that an iframe works best on all modern browsers IE>8.

downloadUrl = "http://example.com/download/file.zip";
var downloadFrame = document.createElement("iframe"); 
downloadFrame.setAttribute('src',downloadUrl);
downloadFrame.setAttribute('class',"screenReaderText"); 
document.body.appendChild(downloadFrame); 

class="screenReaderText" is my class to style content that is present but not viewable.

css:

.screenReaderText { 
  border: 0; 
  clip: rect(0 0 0 0); 
  height: 1px; 
  margin: -1px; 
  overflow: hidden; 
  padding: 0; 
  position: absolute; 
  width: 1px; 
}

same as .visuallyHidden in html5boilerplate

I prefer this to the javascript window.open method because if the link is broken the iframe method simply doesn't do anything as opposed to redirecting to a blank page saying the file could not be opened.

window.open(downloadUrl, 'download_window', 'toolbar=0,location=no,directories=0,status=0,scrollbars=0,resizeable=0,width=1,height=1,top=0,left=0');
window.focus();

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Using HTML5 Blob Object-URL File API:

/**
 * Save a text as file using HTML <a> temporary element and Blob
 * @see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/49988202/macos-webview-download-a-html5-blob-file
 * @param fileName String
 * @param fileContents String JSON String
 * @author Loreto Parisi
*/
var saveBlobAsFile = function(fileName,fileContents) {
    if(typeof(Blob)!='undefined') { // using Blob
        var textFileAsBlob = new Blob([fileContents], { type: 'text/plain' });
        var downloadLink = document.createElement("a");
        downloadLink.download = fileName;
        if (window.webkitURL != null) {
            downloadLink.href = window.webkitURL.createObjectURL(textFileAsBlob);
        }
        else {
            downloadLink.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(textFileAsBlob);
            downloadLink.onclick = document.body.removeChild(event.target);
            downloadLink.style.display = "none";
            document.body.appendChild(downloadLink);
        }
        downloadLink.click();
    } else {
        var pp = document.createElement('a');
        pp.setAttribute('href', 'data:text/plain;charset=utf-8,' + encodeURIComponent(fileContents));
        pp.setAttribute('download', fileName);
        pp.onclick = document.body.removeChild(event.target);
        pp.click();
    }
}//saveBlobAsFile

/** * Save a text as file using HTML temporary element and Blob * @see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/49988202/macos-webview-download-a-html5-blob-file * @param fileName String * @param fileContents String JSON String * @author Loreto Parisi */ var saveBlobAsFile = function(fileName, fileContents) { if (typeof(Blob) != 'undefined') { // using Blob var textFileAsBlob = new Blob([fileContents], { type: 'text/plain' }); var downloadLink = document.createElement("a"); downloadLink.download = fileName; if (window.webkitURL != null) { downloadLink.href = window.webkitURL.createObjectURL(textFileAsBlob); } else { downloadLink.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(textFileAsBlob); downloadLink.onclick = document.body.removeChild(event.target); downloadLink.style.display = "none"; document.body.appendChild(downloadLink); } downloadLink.click(); } else { var pp = document.createElement('a'); pp.setAttribute('href', 'data:text/plain;charset=utf-8,' + encodeURIComponent(fileContents)); pp.setAttribute('download', fileName); pp.onclick = document.body.removeChild(event.target); pp.click(); } } //saveBlobAsFile var jsonObject = { "name": "John", "age": 31, "city": "New York" }; var fileContents = JSON.stringify(jsonObject, null, 2); var fileName = "data.json"; saveBlobAsFile(fileName, fileContents)

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I feel this is the best way to do it !!

It is also a good practice to call URL.revokeObjectURL(url), when the file is no longer needed to free up the memory

Best solution as per new chrome specification https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2018/02/chrome-65-deprecations

Vanilla JavaScript

public static downloadFile(url: string): void {
     const xmlHttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
     xmlHttp.onreadystatechange = () => {
       if (xmlHttp.readyState === 4 && xmlHttp.status === 200) {
         const blobUrl = window.URL.createObjectURL(xmlHttp.response);
         const e = document.createElement('a');
         e.href = blobUrl;
         e.download = blobUrl.substr(blobUrl.lastIndexOf('/') + 1);
         document.body.appendChild(e);
         e.click();
         document.body.removeChild(e);
       }
     };
     xmlHttp.responseType = 'blob';
     xmlHttp.open('GET', url, true);
     xmlHttp.send(null);
   }

If you're using angular try this.

async downloadBrochure(url: string) {
    try {
      const res = await this.httpClient.get(url, { responseType: 'blob' }).toPromise();
      this.downloadFile(res);
    } catch (e) {
      console.log(e.body.message);
    }
  }

  downloadFile(data) {
    const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(data);
    const e = document.createElement('a');
    e.href = url;
    e.download = url.substr(url.lastIndexOf('/') + 1);
    document.body.appendChild(e);
    e.click();
    document.body.removeChild(e);
  }

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After hours of trying, the function is born :) I had a scenario where I had to display loader in time while the file is preparing for download:

Working in Chrome, Safari and Firefox

function ajaxDownload(url, filename = 'file', method = 'get', data = {}, callbackSuccess = () => {}, callbackFail = () => {}) {
    $.ajax({
        url: url,
        method: 'GET',
        xhrFields: {
            responseType: 'blob'
        },
        success: function (data) {
            // create link element
            let a = document.createElement('a'), 
                url = window.URL.createObjectURL(data);

            // initialize 
            a.href = url;
            a.download = filename;

            // append element to the body, 
            // a must, due to Firefox
            document.body.appendChild(a);

            // trigger download
            a.click();

            // delay a bit deletion of the element
            setTimeout(function(){
                window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
                document.body.removeChild(a);
            }, 100);

            // invoke callback if any 
            callbackSuccess(data);
        },
        error: function (err) {
            // invoke fail callback if any
            callbackFail(err)
        }
    });

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How about:

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5;url=http://site.com/file.ext">

This way works on all browsers (i think) and let you put a message like: "If the download doesn't start in five seconds, click here."

If you need it to be with javascript.. well...

document.write('<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5;url=http://site.com/file.ext">');

Regards

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A small/hidden iframe can work for this purpose.

That way you don't have to worry about closing the pop up.

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