Forum Discussion
Is it possible to restrict download and print of PDF files in SharePoint online?
When we apply the view only permission to PDF files, we are not able to download the files using Edge and Chrome because with those browsers, the PDF files open in the browser by default.
So this seems to be a solution to disable the download for PDFs.
Do you know if with other browsers or extensions, this behaviour can be different?
Neither View Only, Restricted View, or a Custom View will prevent a user from downloading things like PDFs, PNG, video files, and etc.
This is the issue most of us posting are having but the same responses regarding View Only keep coming up. Hitting the three dots will always show the "download" link no matter what. View only does NOT work.
What I really want to understand, are answers such as this: "Any document that has a server-side file handler can be viewed in the browser but not downloaded. File types that do not have a server-side file handler (such as pdf files, video files, png files, etc.) can still be downloaded."
I am not sure what this means since you can clearly preview a pdf entirely within SharePoint. How is that not a server side file handler? Why can't SharePoint simply restrict access to "Preview Only"?
kmktnn I do but it makes no difference. It's rubbish. It does not work as intended. The restricted view wont even let users access the library. This whole application is garbage to be honest. How long has this been around without Microsoft addressing basic issues. The movement of folders for example. It is absolute hell. Whether you do it in modern view, or in file explorer, you either cannot access parent directories, or files just vanish without the system generating a debuggable error. Microsoft is useless when it comes to questions such as this. It's infuriating.
You could create a new permission level 'Restricted Read' (View Items, Open Items, View Pages, Open) and apply it at the site level so users can access the library. Then apply 'Restricted View' (or 'View Only') per library or per folder. Not fun but it seems to work.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-ca/sharepoint/understanding-permission-levels