I’m trying to show a PDF file inside an iframe on my webpage. I uploaded the PDF to Google Drive using a Python script and got back a document URL that looks something like this:
# After uploading PDF to Google Drive
document_url = drive_service.get_file_link()
print(document_url)
# Output: 'https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AbCdEfGhIjKlMnOpQrStUvWxYz/view'
The problem is when I try to put this URL in an iframe, the PDF viewer keeps redirecting and breaks out of the iframe container. This makes it impossible to embed the document properly on my site.
I remember seeing Google’s embeddable document viewer before, but I’m not sure how to make it work with files that are already stored in Google Drive. Has anyone figured out a way to embed Google Drive PDFs in iframes without the redirect problem? I need the PDF to stay within the iframe boundaries.
I’ve had good luck using Google’s document viewer directly. Skip the Drive URL tweaks and build an embed URL like this: https://docs.google.com/gview?url=YOUR_PDF_URL&embedded=true. You’ll need the direct download link though, not the sharing link. Change /file/d/FILE_ID/view to /uc?export=download&id=FILE_ID in your Drive URL. This skips Drive’s interface completely and loads the PDF through Google’s viewer without redirects. Just make sure your file’s set to public access or the viewer can’t grab it.
Had this exact problem a few months ago with a document management system I was building. You need to tweak the Google Drive URL to force embedded view mode. Don’t use the standard ‘/view’ endpoint - switch it to ‘/preview’ and make sure the file’s sharing is set to ‘anyone with the link can view’. Here’s what worked: grab the file ID from your Drive URL and rebuild it like ‘https://drive.google.com/file/d/YOUR_FILE_ID/preview’. This stops the redirect that breaks iframe embedding. Also check your iframe’s ‘sandbox’ attribute - remove it or configure it properly since some browsers will block embedding otherwise. Preview mode works way better in iframes than standard view.
here’s another workaround: use https://drive.google.com/viewerng/viewer?embedded=true&url= and add your encoded PDF url after it. this doesn’t need you to mess with sharing settings and sometimes works even on restricted files. just url-encode the drive link properly or you’ll get errors.