PDF Knife is a lightweight browser extension that automatically detects and downloads PDF files that are opened in your browser. No more manual right-clicking and saving PDFs - PDF Knife does it for you!
- Automatically download PDFs when they're opened in your browser
- Manual download button for PDFs embedded in custom viewers
- Works with multiple PDF viewing contexts (native browser viewer, Google Drive, custom viewers)
- Exclude specific domains from auto-downloading
- Customize download location within your Downloads folder
- Set conflict handling preferences (unique name, overwrite, prompt)
- Right-click context menu for PDF links
- Auto-rename PDFs using document title
- Download the latest release ZIP file from Releases
- Extract the ZIP file to a folder on your computer
- Open your browser and navigate to
chrome://extensions/ - Enable "Developer mode" using the toggle in the top-right corner
- Click "Load unpacked" and select the extracted folder
- PDF Knife will now be installed and appear in your extensions
- Download the latest
.xpifile from Releases - In Firefox, open the Add-ons Manager (
about:addons) - Click the gear icon and select "Install Add-on From File..."
- Navigate to and select the downloaded
.xpifile - Click "Add" when prompted
Once installed, PDF Knife will automatically download any PDF that opens directly in your browser. Look for a notification when a PDF is downloaded (if enabled in settings).
For PDFs displayed in custom viewers or embedded in websites (like archive.org):
- Click the PDF Knife icon in your toolbar
- Click the "Download Current PDF" button
Right-click on any link to a PDF file to see the "Download PDF with PDF Knife" option.
Access settings by clicking the PDF Knife icon and then clicking "Settings":
- Download Location: Customize where PDFs are saved relative to your Downloads folder
- Auto-rename files: Use the document title as the filename
- File conflict handling: Choose how to handle duplicate filenames
- Notifications: Toggle download notifications
- Domain exclusions: Specify websites where PDF Knife should not auto-download
PDF Knife requires the following permissions:
- Storage: To save your settings and preferences
- Downloads: To download PDFs
- ActiveTab: To access the current page for PDF detection
- Notifications: To show download notifications
- Context Menus: For the right-click download option
PDF Knife operates entirely within your browser. No data is sent to external servers, and no browsing activity is tracked.
If PDFs aren't downloading automatically:
- Make sure PDF Knife is enabled (click the toolbar icon to check)
- Check if the website is in your exclusion list
- Some highly customized PDF viewers may not be detected automatically - use the manual download button
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
If you encounter any issues or have questions, please open an issue or reach out [email protected].
Made with ❤️ for PDF enthusiasts everywhere.