Google appears to be planning a feature that lets users download edited documents through Chrome’s internal PDF viewer. Chrome Story recently discovered the feature in a code change request that revealed plans to add it as a menu option:
“PDF Viewer: Add UI to download edited PDF
It seems the original uploader of the PDF will have to enable this feature themselves or they won't be able to save any edits to the PDF.
This feature has been a long time coming. Google Chrome has had an internal PDF viewer for nearly ten years now, and people who have used it to edit documents understand that it can be quite problematic.
I once spent a few hours building a Dungeons & Dragons character sheet only for it to appear blank when downloaded. I’m not the only one plagued by this mistake, as many other users have complained about the inability to retain edits through Google Chrome’s Help Center and other forums. Previously, you’d have to click the “Print” button and “Print as PDF” to save your changes, but you’d be unable to edit the document any further if you planned to make further edits.
This issue has always been annoying, but Google Chrome now seems to be on a path that saves users from similar frustration. However, we’re unlike to see this implemented for quite a while, as Google has yet to make any official announcements, and it isn’t available in test versions of the application.
