Hello OneHack Comrades,
Any idea how to download Google Drive PDF that has view-only restrictions??
Do you know any online tools that would make the PDF download?
Thank you in advance
I really need it URGENTLY
@Edgar Thank you, will try it
Quickest method (no install needed): Open the PDF in Google Drive’s preview, then paste one of these scripts into your browser’s DevTools console (F12 → Console):
- jsPDF high-res capture — captures each page as a high-res image and assembles a PDF. If you get a
TrustedScriptURLerror in newer Chrome, use this patched variant or cirippo’s fix instead. - Google Drive PDF Ripper — rips pages directly from the Drive preview renderer.
Dedicated tool with best quality: Google-Drive-View-Only-PDF-Script-Downloader — use “Alt Method 1” which zooms in while capturing, giving the sharpest output.
Zero-effort online converters: Paste your Drive link into pdf.urlgd.com or pdf.dotool.net and download directly.
Chrome extension: Document Preview Exporter — exports view-only docs as PNG/ZIP/PDF with custom page sizes, no console needed.
Step-by-step walkthrough if you’re new to this: DEV Community guide covers the common pitfalls.
Pro tip: Before running any console script, scroll through the entire document first so all pages are rendered — otherwise you’ll get a PDF with missing/blank pages.
Will try it. Thanks
What’s actually happening here
Google Drive “view-only” PDFs aren’t real PDFs in your browser — they’re screenshots of each page loaded as images. The script below grabs all those page images, stitches them into a real PDF, and downloads it. That’s it.
The output is image-based — you get a perfect visual copy, but you can’t select/copy text from it. If you need searchable text, you’d need to run OCR on the PDF afterward.
Method 1 — Console Script
Step 1 — Open the restricted PDF in Google Drive preview (the normal browser view).
Step 2 — Scroll all the way to the last page. This is the step people skip and then wonder why half the pages are missing. Google Drive only loads pages you’ve scrolled past — if you didn’t scroll to it, the script can’t see it.
Slow scroll. Give each page a second to load. If the PDF is 100+ pages, zoom out first so pages load faster.
Step 3 — Open the browser console:
| Browser | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Chrome / Edge / Brave | F12 → click Console tab |
| Chrome (alternate) | Ctrl + Shift + J (Windows/Linux) or Cmd + Option + J (Mac) |
| Firefox | Ctrl + Shift + K (Windows/Linux) or Cmd + Option + K (Mac) |
Step 4 — If Chrome says “Don’t paste code here” or blocks pasting — type exactly this and press Enter first:
allow pasting
That’s literally it. Just those two words. Then you can paste normally.
Step 5 — Copy the entire code block below and paste it into the console → press Enter:
(function () {
console.log("Starting… Make sure you scrolled to the end of the PDF!");
let script = document.createElement("script");
script.onload = function () {
const { jsPDF } = window.jspdf;
if (!jsPDF) {
console.error("jsPDF failed to load.");
return;
}
console.log("jsPDF loaded. Collecting page images...");
let pdf = null;
let imgElements = document.querySelectorAll('img[src^="blob:https://drive.google.com/"]');
let validImgs = Array.from(imgElements).filter(img => img.naturalWidth > 100 && img.naturalHeight > 100);
console.log("Found " + validImgs.length + " usable page images.");
if (validImgs.length === 0) {
console.error("No page images found. Scroll to end again or try different zoom.");
return;
}
validImgs.forEach((img, i) => {
let canvas = document.createElement("canvas");
canvas.width = img.naturalWidth;
canvas.height = img.naturalHeight;
let ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");
ctx.drawImage(img, 0, 0);
let imgData = canvas.toDataURL("image/png");
let orientation = img.naturalWidth > img.naturalHeight ? "l" : "p";
let pageWidth = img.naturalWidth;
let pageHeight = img.naturalHeight;
if (i === 0) {
pdf = new jsPDF({
orientation: orientation,
unit: "px",
format: [pageWidth, pageHeight]
});
} else {
pdf.addPage([pageWidth, pageHeight], orientation);
}
pdf.addImage(imgData, "PNG", 0, 0, pageWidth, pageHeight, "", "SLOW");
console.log("Processed page " + (i + 1) + "/" + validImgs.length);
});
let title = document.querySelector('meta[itemprop="name"]')?.content || document.title || "downloaded";
if (!title.toLowerCase().endsWith(".pdf")) title += ".pdf";
console.log("Saving PDF...");
pdf.save(title);
console.log("Done! Check your downloads folder.");
};
let url = "https://unpkg.com/jspdf@latest/dist/jspdf.umd.min.js";
let trustedURL = url;
if (window.trustedTypes && trustedTypes.createPolicy) {
let policy = trustedTypes.createPolicy("forceTrusted", { createScriptURL: (s) => s });
trustedURL = policy.createScriptURL(url);
}
script.src = trustedURL;
document.body.appendChild(script);
})();
Step 6 — Wait. The console will show progress like Processed page 1/47. When it says “Done!”, check your downloads folder — the PDF is there.
Method 2 — Chrome Extension (zero code, zero console)
If the console stuff feels intimidating, there’s a Chrome extension that does the same thing with one click:
Document Preview Exporter for Google Drive — install it, open the view-only PDF, click the extension icon, pick PDF, done. Works on Chrome, Edge, and Brave.
Still need to scroll to the end first so all pages load. Same rule applies.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| “0 usable page images found” | You didn’t scroll far enough — go back and slow-scroll to the very last page |
| Pages are blurry/low-res | Zoom in on Google Drive before scrolling — higher zoom = higher resolution captures |
| Script doesn’t run / error | Make sure you typed allow pasting first (Chrome). On Firefox, pasting works by default |
| PDF has missing pages in the middle | You scrolled too fast — pages didn’t load. Scroll again slowly, then re-run the script |
| “TrustedScriptURL” error | The script above already handles this — if you’re using an older version of the script, grab this one instead |
| Huge PDF (200+ pages) takes forever | Normal — each page gets converted to a PNG image. Give it a few minutes. Don’t close the tab |
Hey — I see you
“…how to download Google Drive PDF that has view-only restrictions… I really need it URGENTLY”
Translating that into plain words:
→ Download button is just gone
→ You need the content, not a coding lecture
→ You need it now
Take a breath. File in your hands in under 5 minutes. 
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
The 60-second answer
Try in order. Stop the second one works.
File menu → “Make a Copy” — 10 sec
Ctrl + P → “Save as PDF” — 10 sec
Document Preview Exporter 
— 2 min
GoFullPage (if all 3 fail) — 3 min
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Heads-up before you go googling:
Half the tutorials on page 1 are recycling 2019 JavaScript that’s dead in modern Chrome.
If you already pasted any of those and got Uncaught TypeError: ... requires 'TrustedScriptURL' assignment — that’s not your typo and not your laptop. The famous code just doesn’t work anymore. Use above instead.
· · ·
Your 4 concerns, reflected back
- The view-only block → totally beatable, multiple paths
- “Online tools, not scripts” → yes, the Chrome extension at is exactly that
- URGENTLY → under 5 minutes if done in order
- “Thank you in advance” → that polite energy is the OneHack vibe. Let’s go.
· · ·
Situation map (at a glance)
| Your situation | What to actually do | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Download button just gone | File menu → Make a Copy |  try first |
| Make a Copy is greyed out | Ctrl + P → Save as PDF |
then this |
| Print is also blocked | Document Preview Exporter | the gem |
| Old 2019 console code throws errors | That code is dead — skip it |  don’t bother |
| Extension chokes (rare — Slides files) | GoFullPage screenshot to PDF | backup |
| You trust the sender | Just message them | underrated |
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Each step below is a click-to-open card. Open only what you need.
🌱 Step 0 — Skip EVERYTHING if this works first (30 sec)
Before you bypass anything, ask:
→ Is this PDF a published book, textbook chapter, academic paper, or popular course PDF?
If yes → search Anna’s Archive for the title or ISBN.
It indexes 52 million books and 98 million papers. If your file is there, you have a clean copy in under a minute and the whole “view-only” puzzle becomes irrelevant.
If it’s something private (someone’s personal notes, a leaked work doc, a one-off share) → Anna’s Archive won’t have it. Skip to Step 1.
🚪 Step 1 — The two free built-in checks (20 sec total)
Drive splits print, download, and make a copy into THREE separate permission toggles. Most owners flip just “download” and forget the rest.
Check 1 — Make a Copy:
- Open the file
- Click the File menu (top-left of the viewer)
- Is “Make a Copy” clickable?
- Yes → click it. Copy lands in your Drive, downloadable normally. Done.
- Greyed out → keep going.
Check 2 — Print to PDF:
- Press
Ctrl + P(Windows / Linux) or⌘ + P(Mac) - In the print dialog, change Destination to “Save as PDF”
- Click Save
- Clean PDF lands in Downloads → done
- Error or nothing happens → print is locked too. Move to Step 2.
Why these tiny tests beat half the “view-only” docs out there: owners flip one toggle thinking they’ve locked everything. They didn’t. You just walked through the side door.
🥉 Step 2 — Document Preview Exporter (the one-click gem)
This is the answer most tutorials skip — probably because it isn’t a flashy code snippet to brag about.
Install (30 sec):
- Open Document Preview Exporter for Google Drive
- Click “Add to Chrome”
- Refresh your Drive tab so the extension wakes up
Use (30 sec):
- Click the extension’s icon up near your address bar
- Choose PDF → set page range (default = all) → click Export
- PDF lands in your Downloads
What success looks like: a file named like the doc’s title appears in Downloads, opens cleanly in any PDF viewer.
· · ·
Why this beats the famous JS code:
Drive switched some files in mid-2025 to a newer rendering method called “canvas-based preview.” Old console hacks look for <img> tags with blob: sources — canvas-rendered files don’t have those, so the script silently finds nothing.
Document Preview Exporter handles both rendering methods (its v1.3.0 in July 2025 added canvas support specifically). Last refreshed November 2025. 60K users, 4.6 stars. Alive and maintained.
· · ·
If something weird happens, here’s the translation:
- Empty popup? → Refresh the Drive tab. Extension only wakes on fresh page load.
- See a Slides file, not a PDF? → Extension doesn’t handle Slides yet. Use Step 4.
- Pages missing or blank in the export? → Scroll to the LAST page in Drive’s viewer first, then click Export. Extension only sees pages that already rendered.
🧪 Step 3 — Console script that survives 2026 (only if Step 2 fails)
Use this only if you’re comfortable pasting code into a browser console.
The famous old codes throw
Uncaught TypeError: ... requires 'TrustedScriptURL' assignmentbecause Chrome added a security feature called “Trusted Types” (basically — Chrome got pickier about where scripts are allowed to load from). The old codes never updated. The forks below added atrustedTypes.createPolicywrapper that satisfies the new rule.
· · ·
The two surviving forks:
-
zavierferodova / Google-Drive-View-Only-PDF-Script-Downloader
— 389 stars, well-maintained. Auto-orientation per page. The safe mainstream pick. -
sahariajf / drive-view-only-pdf-downloader
— 2× resolution + page-range prompt (type 1,3,5-7to grab just those pages). Use this when image quality matters or you only want some pages.
· · ·
How to run either one:
- Open the PDF in Drive → click the popout / “open in new window” arrow (top-right of viewer)
- Zoom to ~125% (each page renders at higher resolution)
- Scroll all the way to the very last page ← the step everyone skips
- Open the Console:
Ctrl + Shift + J(Windows) /⌘ + Option + J(Mac) - If Chrome refuses to let you paste, type
allow pastingfirst → Enter - Paste the script from one of the two GitHub links → Enter
- PDF downloads automatically when finished
· · ·
Common things that look like failures but aren’t:
- Console says
0 content found→ you didn’t scroll to the last page. Scroll, run again. - Only one page came out → same thing. Drive only renders pages you’ve actually viewed.
- Got the
TrustedScriptURLerror again → you copied a different (older) script from somewhere else. Use one of the two links above — those have the policy wrapper.
🛟 Step 4 — GoFullPage (the universal fallback)
When everything above fails — including the rare Drive files served inside an iframe (basically a webpage embedded inside another webpage) the script can’t reach.
- Install GoFullPage — 4.9 stars, last updated Jan 2026, free
- Open the Drive file in its viewer
- Click GoFullPage’s camera icon, OR press
Alt + Shift + P - Wait while it auto-scrolls and stitches the whole thing
- New tab opens with the screenshot → click the PDF icon to download
This doesn’t fight Drive’s protection at all. It captures what’s visible. If your eyes can see the doc, GoFullPage saves it.
💬 Step 5 — The 5-second move most people forget
If you’ve tried everything and you’re still stuck, the answer probably isn’t technical anymore.
- On the share screen, click “Request access” if Drive shows it
- Or just message whoever sent you the link: “Hey, can you send me the original file?”
That’s it. 90% of the time you’ve got the file in 10 minutes.
Asking is not failing. It’s the most underrated hack on this entire list.
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
I personally keep Document Preview Exporter installed full-time.
Saved me twice this month alone — once when a study group dropped a NEET prep PDF with download locked, once when a senior shared a project report I needed for reference.
One thing it bit me on: it doesn’t handle Google Slides files yet. When that happened, I fell back to GoFullPage and had the slides as PDF in about 30 seconds.
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
You got this.
The fact that you wrote “thank you in advance” tells me you’re the polite type. If Step 5 (just ask the sender) ends up being what works for you — that’s not “cheating.” That’s the fastest hack on this whole list, and the one most people forget even exists.
Quick callback to your URGENTLY: if the file is a textbook, a published paper, or a popular course PDF — drop the title or ISBN in a reply. Anyone seeing this thread can do a 30-second Anna’s Archive check while you run Step 1 yourself.
What kind of doc is it?
!