I have been embedding Google Drive PDFs using iframes on my website for several months without any issues. However, I recently started getting browser console errors that prevent the documents from displaying properly.
The error message indicates that Google has set X-Frame-Options to SAMEORIGIN, which blocks the iframe from loading the content. My site is built with ASP.NET MVC and I’m using multiple iframes like this:
Refused to display content in a frame because it set ‘X-Frame-Options’ to ‘SAMEORIGIN’
Is there a workaround for this issue? I need to continue showing these PDF files to my users but the current approach no longer works. Any suggestions for alternative methods would be appreciated.
Google’s iframe policy changes broke tons of workflows. Hit this same issue at work with client reports embedded everywhere.
Google’s X-Frame-Options header blocks external domains now. You can’t fix this since it’s controlled by their servers.
I ditched iframes entirely and built automation that downloads PDFs from Google Drive, then serves them from our own servers. Now I control the headers and skip the SAMEORIGIN mess.
The system watches for new/updated files, downloads them, and syncs local storage. Users get faster loads, you get reliable embedding without iframe drama.
Used Latenode for this - handles Google Drive API nicely and runs syncs automatically. No more broken embeds when Google changes things again.
Hit this same nightmare when Google randomly changed their iframe policies. Killed our document portal overnight.
Don’t waste time fighting Google’s X-Frame-Options or building custom proxies. You need full automation that ditches the iframe dependency entirely.
I built a workflow that watches Google Drive folders, automatically grabs PDFs when they’re added or updated, processes them for web display, and serves them straight from our infrastructure. No iframe headaches, no dependency on Google’s shifting policies.
The automation handles everything - file detection, download, format optimization, cleanup of old versions. Users get instant PDF loading without third party restrictions.
Your ASP.NET app just serves local files with whatever headers you want. No more surprises when Google decides to flip the script again.
Latenode makes this dead simple to set up. Their Google Drive integration watches for changes and the whole pipeline runs automatically.
Same thing happened to my corporate site three weeks ago. Google changed their iframe rules with zero warning. I fixed it by ditching Google’s iframe and using PDF.js instead. Just download the PDFs locally and serve them through PDF.js - you get full control and don’t have to worry about Google changing things again. Setup takes a bit of work but it’s worth it. You could also use Google Drive API to pull the files directly and stream them through your ASP.NET backend. That needs authentication but it’s solid since you’re serving from your own domain.
Had this exact issue two months ago when Google quietly changed their frame policies. You can’t bypass X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN from the client side - it’s coming from Google’s servers.
I fixed it by building a server-side proxy in my ASP.NET app. Made a controller action that grabs the PDF from Google Drive via their API, then streams it straight to the browser with the right headers. No more iframe headaches.
You’ll need Google Drive API credentials and backend auth handling. Users get the same experience, but now the content comes from your domain instead of fighting Google’s restrictions. Plus you control caching, so it’s actually faster.
Way more reliable than hoping Google won’t change their iframe rules again without warning.
yeah, Google’s new iframe policy is awful. hit the same issue with client PDFs last month. switched to Google’s embed API instead of direct iframes - way more control and skips the x-frame headaches. also try the viewer URL format instead of /preview. works better sometimes.