Allow Users to Download Images in Knowledge Base

[MMeacham]

We are building a resource library for our customers using the knowledge base within hubspot. We want to give customers access to articles, medical studies, photos, videos and more. 

When a user is reading a published study, we have given them the ability to click on a link that opens up the actual PDF medical study into a new browswer window. From here, they are able to download the study by clicking download (see image 1). 

As I stated earlier, we are also using the knowledge base to store images that a customer can download to use for their marketing. When a user opens up an article with an image (because that is how we are storing the images), there is not a button to download the image when it opens in a new browser (see images 2, 3, and 4). 

The question is, can we customize this so a user can download the image? Can we place a button on the new page that allows the user to download the image? Or maybe a better question is.. how can we use the knowledge base to store, show and allow users to download images? Thanks!

[Jnix284 · Accepted solution]

Hi @MMeacham what you're looking for is called a Digital Asset Manager (DAM) and isn't the intended purpose of Knowledge Base (specifically the image download aspect). You should look into solutions like Bynder or Brand Folder that are designed for this specific need, it'll have more features and capabilities than what you could build with KB.

That's not to say it isn't a good idea or that others wouldn't need similar features, especially downloading PDFs from the KB. I recommend adding your idea here so the product team can review (it's based on upvotes)

[Anton · Accepted solution]

Hi @MMeacham, 

adding custom functionalities like this to the Knowledge base(KB) is currently not possible. 

But there are a few things you can do:

Adding a link (screenshot 3) is a great one. But since most modern browsers are opening images, pdfs etc. in a new tab instead of downloading it, you'll have to make a small adjustment to the the link itself. Once you've created a "Download the file" link, open the source-code view of the article, search for the link and add "download" to it.

Example:

created link:

<a href="/path/to/file" target="_blank">Download the file</a>

"download-triggering" link:

<a href="/path/to/file" target="_blank" download>Download the file</a>

Also: You can add classes to the link to utilize the look & feel of your buttons

<a href="/path/to/file" target="_blank" class="btn primary-btn">Download the file</a>

(those classes are just an example, so they might not work)

Another option would be to create your KB with a blog function. This would give you a drag&drop experience and would allow you to use (custom) modules in the articles. To create such thing, it would require a custom blog template(s) which would provide the same functionalities (and more) as the KB.

Note: Every blog is limited to 10k posts. If you're planing to provide multi-language articles it's cumulative(10k posts in one language, 5k iposts n 2 languages)

If rebuilding the KB with a blog is something you'd like to discuss further, you can drop me a DM. Will be happy to provide more guidance.

best, 

Anton

[Jnix284 · Accepted solution]

Hi @MMeacham what you're looking for is called a Digital Asset Manager (DAM) and isn't the intended purpose of Knowledge Base (specifically the image download aspect). You should look into solutions like Bynder or Brand Folder that are designed for this specific need, it'll have more features and capabilities than what you could build with KB.

That's not to say it isn't a good idea or that others wouldn't need similar features, especially downloading PDFs from the KB. I recommend adding your idea here so the product team can review (it's based on upvotes)