# Format rendering of links to (local) pdf files?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/format-rendering-of-links-to-local-pdf-files/135639
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [11 december 2019 om 10:30 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/format-rendering-of-links-to-local-pdf-files/135639 "2019-12-11T10:30:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)
#### Post date: [11 december 2019 om 10:30 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/format-rendering-of-links-to-local-pdf-files/135639/1 "2019-12-11T10:30:34Z")
Is there an easy way (e.g. via CSS) to change the way links to user-uploaded pdf files are shown?
Apparently, [pdf oneboxing is supported](https://meta.discourse.org/t/oneboxing-of-pdfs-and-other-attachments/55972/25) but I’m not sure [under what conditions](https://meta.discourse.org/t/oneboxing-of-pdfs-and-other-attachments/55972/24) this is supposed to work.
Anyway, I don’t intend to re-open the discussion about pdf-oneboxing but am rather looking for viable workarounds for displaying uploaded pdfs somewhat more prominently. Apparently, there was a [previous discussion on this](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-visualization-for-specific-attachment-types/14941/16), but it has been deleted.
A concrete example of a use case are posts created basen on a forwarded email. Here, if the email had a pdf document attached, it is easy to miss that as it appears as a simple link at the very bottom of the post, i.e. after the forwarded email’s signature, if any.
---
### Author:  [@awesomerobot](https://meta.discourse.org/u/awesomerobot)
#### Post date: [11 december 2019 om 19:31 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/format-rendering-of-links-to-local-pdf-files/135639/2 "2019-12-11T19:31:53Z")
As far as I know oneboxing will only work on externally linked PDFs, not uploaded ones.
With CSS you could do something like
```scss
a.attachment[href$=".pdf"] {
color: red;
&:before {
// The attachment icon is added using a pseudo-selector
// so you'd need to edit its styles here
}
}
```
This applies styles to links with the class `attachment` only if the `href` ends in `.pdf`
---
### Author:  [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)
#### Post date: [13 december 2019 om 15:04 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/format-rendering-of-links-to-local-pdf-files/135639/3 "2019-12-13T15:04:01Z")
> [@awesomerobot](#):
>
> This applies styles to links with the class `attachment` only if the `href` ends in `.pdf`
And this excludes one-boxed pdf-links, right? In other words: the CSS code affects only local pdfs?
---
### Author:  [@awesomerobot](https://meta.discourse.org/u/awesomerobot)
#### Post date: [13 december 2019 om 15:17 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/format-rendering-of-links-to-local-pdf-files/135639/4 "2019-12-13T15:17:31Z")
Correct, the oneboxes don’t have the `attachment` class, so it shouldn’t impact those.
---
### Author:  [@osioke](https://meta.discourse.org/u/osioke)
#### Post date: [14 juli 2020 om 08:25 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/format-rendering-of-links-to-local-pdf-files/135639/5 "2020-07-14T08:25:47Z")
And now there is a theme component that helps too @tophee 😉
> [@Inline PDF Previews](https://meta.discourse.org/t/inline-pdf-previews/157649):
>
> discourse2Summary Inline PDF Previews is a desktop-only theme component that will allow you to create previews for pdf attachments.eyeglassesPreview [Preview on Discourse Theme Creator](https://discourse.theme-creator.io/theme/Discourse/inline-pdf-previews) (desktop only)hammer_and_wrenchRepository Link [https://github.com/discourse/discourse-pdf-previews](https://github.com/discourse/discourse-pdf-previews)open_bookNew to Discourse Themes? [Beginner’s guide to using Discourse Themes](https://meta.discourse.org/t/beginners-guide-to-using-discourse-themes/91966) Install this theme component Features before after …