A PDF is a file in the wiki's files folder, beside images, linked from a page with an ordinary markdown
link.[1] A build copies into the site only the PDFs its pages link, so a PDF linked only from an internal
page stays out of a user build.[2]A PDF is not a citation: a reference that
links one is refused, as Citations describes.[3] What refuses a PDF link is
described on PDFs.
Links
A page links a PDF by its path from the page's own file, and the site points the link at its own copy of the
PDF.[1] The PDF's size follows the link, such as (PDF, 2.4 MB), rounded up, in whole kilobytes under a
megabyte and in megabytes to one decimal place above.[4] A page's markdown copy points the same link at
the site's copy.[5]
The rules are in the [Refund policy](../files/refund-policy.pdf).
Publishing
Only a PDF directly in the files folder is published.[1] A link to a PDF anywhere else, or in a
folder inside files, would lead nowhere once the site is on a host, so wiki check refuses it.[6]
A PDF larger than 20 MB is refused too.[7] A PDF that is a symbolic link to a file outside the folder
stops the build, and so does a files folder that is itself a symbolic link, so no file from outside the
wiki is published.[8] A PDF no page links any more is
removed from the site by the next build.[9]
Viewer
A plain click on a PDF link opens the PDF over the page in a lightbox, so the reader keeps their
place.[10] The lightbox shows the link's text as its title, the PDF in the browser's own PDF viewer, and
three controls: Open in new tab, Download and Close.[10]The link stays a real link: a right
click, a middle click, or a click with Ctrl, ⌘, Shift or Alt held does what the browser does with any link,
such as opening the PDF in a new tab.[11] It is the lightbox pictures open in, described on
Pictures.
Close or a click on the backdrop closes the lightbox, and focus goes back to the link.[12] A click
closes it only when the press began on the backdrop too, so dragging out from the title to select it does
not.[12] While it is open, the page behind cannot be used or scrolled, and Tab moves only between its
controls and the PDF.[12]
Escape closes the lightbox unless focus is inside the PDF itself, where the browser's PDF viewer takes the
keyboard.[13]Close is always in view above the PDF.[13] The PDF stays in the Tab order, so a reader
can scroll and search it with the keyboard.[13]
A phone or tablet opens the PDF itself instead, and so does a browser with no PDF viewer of its own,
because Safari on iOS draws only the first page of a PDF inside a page and older Chrome on Android offers to
download it.[14]
Last updated 15 September 2026Last audited never495 wordsabout 2 minutes to read14 sources cited0 claims with no source