The FileDeck viewer: self-hosted PDF viewing Pro

The inline embed normally shows a PDF with the browser’s built-in viewer, or an external viewer service. FileDeck Pro adds a third option: the FileDeck viewer — a PDF viewer served entirely from your own site (built on Mozilla’s pdf.js, which FileDeck ships), with a toolbar the browser viewer doesn’t give you and none of the external-service constraints.

FileDeck Pro — the FileDeck viewer is included in all Pro plans. See pricing

Why a self-hosted viewer

• Nothing leaves your server. The Microsoft and Google viewers fetch the document from their own servers, so they only work for publicly reachable files — and FileDeck never sends protected files to them. The FileDeck viewer renders in the visitor’s browser from your own URLs, so protected files, signed links, view-only documents and watermarked streams all display — the cases external viewers structurally cannot serve.
• A consistent viewer everywhere. Browsers differ in what their PDF chrome offers (and some mobile browsers just download the file). The FileDeck viewer looks and behaves the same for every visitor.
• A real text layer. Pages render with selectable, screen-reader-readable text, not flat images.

Using it

Per embed:

[filedeck_embed id="123" engine="pdfjs"]

Or pick FileDeck viewer as the engine in the Document Embed block / Elementor widget, or site-wide under Settings → Features → Document viewer. It applies to PDFs in inline embeds; other file types and the preview lightbox keep their normal engines.

The toolbar

• Pages — previous/next and a live "page 2 / 14" position as you scroll.
• Zoom — 50%–400%, re-rendered crisply at each step.
• Find — search the document’s text, jump between matches, with matches highlighted on the page.
• Print — prints just the document, not the page around it.
• Full screen — the embed frame’s full-screen button works here as with every engine, and the optional download link below the viewer follows the embed’s download setting.

Popup mode

Any embed can also open in a popup instead of sitting in the page:

[filedeck_embed id="123" mode="popup"]

Renders a View button; the document opens in an overlay and — unlike an inline embed — loads only when opened, so a page with several popup embeds stays fast. Works with every engine, and the overlay closes with the × button, the backdrop, or Esc. Popup mode is part of Pro.

FAQ

Does this send my PDFs to any third party?

No. The viewer is served from your own site and reads the file from your own URLs. No external viewer service is involved — that’s the point.

Why does a protected Office file still show a download button?

The FileDeck viewer renders PDFs. Office formats can only be rendered by the external viewer services, which FileDeck refuses to hand protected files — so those fall back to a download button. Details: inline embed.

The viewer shows a plain PDF frame instead of the toolbar.

If the viewer cannot load the document — an unreadable file, or JavaScript is unavailable — it falls back to the browser’s own PDF display, so the visitor still sees the document.