Tracking Documents from File Manager

[mfinocchiaro]

We have software data sheets in the File Manager that we link to on our site for customer download. We need to have the ability to track how many times these pdfs are downloaded for viewing, as well as being able to see what web pages these linked documents can be found.

[AmandaElmore]

Definitely need this asap! Sales Documents don't suffice.

[abarosz]

Agreed, also this feature is already available for docs that are uploaded under Sales > Documents so one would think it would also be available via Marketing > Files. At the end of the day all files are hosted on HS, so why is one istance tracked and the other isnt?

[BS4D]

Yes I agree and was looking for this feature so I found this chat:

I would like to include it in lead scoring if peopel access documents/files.
It is important to track files that are part of gated content but not gated individually. E.g. a customer gets access to my gated content and downloads a PDF and a Power Point, or nothing. It does make a big difference. I would really like to track this.

[SebastianT]

I really agree with this requirement. If you have personal reach outs to prospects that you dont want them to fill out a form on a landing page. instead, you are adding the file to the download directly. what you want is to track their engagements and include them in the lead scoring calculation.

[CharlotteMico]

I agree, we send pdf document to customers in emails and depending on the mailbox they have, CTA's dont appear so we would like to send in the email a link to the PDF and be abe to track people who opened this link and saw the PDF online . 

Thanks

[JenBergren]

Links should be clickable in the preview of documents in the documents tool. Or a CTA area should be added into the preview screen area similar to "share" and Download" but a customizable cta for the next step you want readers to take ("watch video" "Call us" etc). I have a pdf with a clickable link to watch a video and the link is not clickable if we use the documents tool... unless people download the pdf. How many people are going to download and view the PDF again instead of just reading in their browser? Regular PDFs are clickable when opened in a browser window. But not in Hubspot's preview browser for the documents tool.

If this isn't possible then the file manager should be able to track opens, clicks on documents, length of time people open the documents, and send notifications when people open a document. All the similar tools of the documents tool but with clickable links on the PDFs.

[RW9ine]

I completely agree. It's crazy that you can't find out how many times a file has been downloaded or who by. This feature needs to be added.

[evelynekq]

Yes, 

This is really important! For example, if you have a white paper PDF, and you're using it on many different maketing channels and campaigns, it's crucial to report document pdf view.

[johannesinvers]

I am suprised this is inquired since 2017. Have the same problem but more specifically, we provide PDFs with lots of content to read through. Most leads read through it in a couple of seconds. If I knew they downloaded it afterwards I can assume they are interested in it. If they dont download it is also an interesting indicator to follow-up on.

[davidrevis]

Completely agree - can't believe it's not possible to track document downloads at all unless they are gated!

[Andreas]

Please give us an update, HubSpot. This feature is neccessary for several of the companies i work with. 

[yusuf]

Agreed. This would be a very useful feature.

[JelenaHYCU]

I upvote this idea 100%.

So, what HS typically recommends in these sorts of situations is placing the asset (let's say PDF file) as the link behind a HubSpot CTA, and placing that CTA in the HubSpot Landing Pages, Blog Posts, Emails or embedding it on your own website (e.g. WordPress platform). Then, you can create a list based on whether a contact has clicked the CTA and use the list further for reporting (e.g. attributing SalesForce campaign to everyone on the list). 

It is not the most elegant solution. I'm 100% for having the ability to track a pdf document.

So, HS Product team, if you are reading this, as many users would benefit from using this feature please, please consider developing it 🙂

Thank you in advance!

Jelena

[kdeleon]

Any updates from HubSpot??? Building tracking URLs for every PDF or file is not sustainable.

[amwilkinson86]

Usually when HubSpot ideas have this many upvotes there is a planned feature/function! What's going on @HubspotAdmin 

[Ryden]

Upvoted!!!

[sditto]

Upvoting! How is this not implemented yet? 

[LisaMarketing]

Upvoted again! 

[brandREACH]

Agree. To track who, when and how often requests a document should be standard functionality.

[CaitlinS]

Hoping to bring this back up to the surface for review. If I am wanting to see how many people have visited a particular brochure (that is housed in Hubspot) and they arrive there through Hubspot CTA buttons but also a variety of different means, there is currently no way to see how many people have visited the PDF file. It would be great if this could be added into the analytics tools, or perhaps added as a component that you can create a list from to track success.