I received a new version of a PDF with the same file name. How do I force the app to re-download the PDF if it has been cached already?

Modified on Tue, 07 Feb 2023 at 04:32 PM

Media items of type PDF that link to an actual .pdf file on a server are automatically cached in the native apps (iOS and Android). 

If you need to update a PDF file that your attendees may have already downloaded, you can simply append a ?<versionnumber> to the end of your media item URL. 


For example:


Your first version you included in the app had the following link:

http://documents.myserver.org/myevent/overview.pdf


Imagine you have updated the file on the server. The file name on the server remains exactly the same. How would the app know that there is a new version? 

You would update the URL by appending ?1 (either manually in the Conference App Builder or via your data import):

http://documents.myserver.org/myevent/overview.pdf?1


If you update the document again, change the ?1 into ?2 in the Conference App Builder:

http://documents.myserver.org/myevent/overview.pdf?2


This minor version indicator will trigger a new download of the file, even if the user has already downloaded and a cached the original version.