Is it possible to make a button which downloads multiple files?
Right now I have users clicking a button for each download, but I have some grouped content that would make sense to download, say 5 items at a time, rather than making 5 separate buttons.
While the zip solution is easy, it would be interesting in theory if a macro could be created that downloaded separate files at the same time. Unfortunately it would also mean files possibly being lost on the computer after download and a greater risk of file corruption during download.
Creating an archive is obviously the way to go here. If I was a visitor, I would actually dislike the fact that when I press on a button, it will start a sequence of many downloads jumping in front of my eyes.
Thanks, but I already am zipping the “grouped content” which I mentioned. It works great: the downloaded zipped file is sent to a file manager (I use “Documents”) and unzips exactly as I want.
But my question is how do the same with multiple zip files; that is, “groups of zips”. Hope that makes sense. Also, I’m trying to avoid the brute force approach of uploading separate “groups of zips” – an unnecessary waste of space.
I may have to resort to the javascript solution – but the post by MDS points out some disadvantages.
The obvious answer is to create a single bigger zip containing those groups and linked from a single button. No need to make this more complicated than necessary.
As I mentioned, this “brute force” approach is a waste of space. Furthermore, it does not allow for flexibility. For example, what if I want to let the user select which items to download? This is a common task, for example when downloading google drive items, etc…
So while my question is to solve a particular problem, I’m also trying to think more generally about how to solve this sort of problem.
You could also just add one drop-down button instead of having a lot of buttons. This would allow you to add multiple items to one drop-down button. Even if you have to use it multiple times on a page, it would be a cleaner looking aproach.