How to build file downloads in Bubble

This is the simplest approach. On your page, add a Button element labeled Download. In its workflow, add the action Navigation → Open an external website. For the URL, use the dynamic expression that points to your file field — for example, Current cell's Document's attachment. Check the Open in a new tab option. Images and PDFs will typically display in the browser, while other file types will trigger a download automatically.

Install the Toolbox plugin from the Plugins tab if you have not already. In your download button's workflow, add the action Plugins → Run JavaScript. Enter this code: var link = document.createElement('a'); link.href = 'DYNAMIC_URL'; link.download = 'DYNAMIC_FILENAME'; document.body.appendChild(link); link.click(); document.body.removeChild(link); Replace DYNAMIC_URL with the file's URL and DYNAMIC_FILENAME with the desired filename. Use Bubble's dynamic data insertion to populate these values.

1var link = document.createElement('a');
2link.href = 'https://your-app.bubbleapps.io/file/abc123';
3link.download = 'document.pdf';
4document.body.appendChild(link);
5link.click();
6document.body.removeChild(link);

If you display files in a Repeating Group, add a Link element inside each cell. Set the Link destination to External URL and use Current cell's Document's attachment as the dynamic URL. Set the link text to something like the file title or Download File. Enable Open in a new tab. This creates a clickable download link for every file in the list without needing a separate workflow.

Add a number field called download_count to your file Data Type. In the download button's workflow, add an action before or after the download: Make Changes to Current cell's Document, setting download_count to Current cell's Document's download_count + 1. Display this count in a Text element inside the Repeating Group cell to show how many times each file has been downloaded.